Underwriters Labs raises questions about E85 pumps (Problems wth ethanol?)

Minneapolis StarTribune (aka The Red Star) ^ | 10/27/06 | Alexei Barrionuevo - NY Times

[MplsSteve]

The farm-produced fuel that is supposed to help wean the United States from its oil addiction is under scrutiny for its potentially corrosive qualities.

E85, a blend of 85 percent corn-based ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, could be eating away at metal and plastic parts in gas station pumps, Underwriters Laboratories, the private product-safety testing group, said this month.

BP, the British oil company, said Thursday that it would delay the expansion of E85 at its U.S. outlets until the laboratories certified an E85 dispensing system.

[MplsSteve]

Interesting. I've been following the growth of ethanol for a while - and truthfully, I didn't see this coming.

It sounds like a relatively easy thing to fix, I think.

Comments or opinions - anyone?

[MplsSteve]

Renewable Energy PING?

[Mr. Lucky]

Fuel pumps in Brazil have dispensed 100% ethanol for years.

[Emmett McCarthy]

So, if it's ruining the gas station pumps, why would I be stupid enogh to put it in my car?

[Uncledave]

Renewable Energy Ping

Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off

[100-Fold_Return]

WOW!!!This hit the wires over one week ago and this is the first I've seen or heard this reported.

Cover-up...just another cover-up...one more cover-up cover-up cover-up... .

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>So, if it's ruining the gas station pumps, why would I be stupid enogh to put it in my car?

So many things I could say...but I won't.

First, mid you, they're talking about E85, not the E10, which is what is commonly available - and has been for years without difficulty. And there are few problems with properly engineered equipment when it comes to E85.

[sitetest]

Dear Emmett McCarthy,

Putting E85 (85% ethanol) in one's car would be stupid, unless one has recently bought a "flex-fuel" vehicle that's equipped to run on E85, or unless one has converted one's vehicle to use E85.

E85 isn't for cars with regular gasoline engines.


sitetest

[HamiltonJay]

I dunno, Ethonol blends have been part of gas in many states for decades, I can remember it back in they late 70s and early 80s in NC where I lived gas being 10 or 15% ethanol routinely.. If it destroyed pumps, I'm sure it would be well documented by now.

[P-40]

I didn't see this coming.

I just assumed that the gas stations would have all been told that they would need to make some pump modifications if they had not already purchased pumps capable of working with a high ethanol content. Sounds like someone skipped the fine print. :)

[AnAmericanMother]

Back when it was first introduced, ethanol ate the rubber up in most German cars -- Beemers and Mercs for sure, I think the others too.

I know 'cause we were living in Jersey and had to replace all the hoses and seals in our 2002 tii . . .

[Fighting Irish]

I'm scratching my head too as the Ethanol I ran in my cars was right out of the tanks from a friend of mine - who ran an Ethanol plant from his farm. If I'm not mistaken he said it was 95%E to 5%G.

I never had a problem running for over a year in my Ford F150.

There is a pretty large lobby out there built to crush Ethanol useage. Who knows....

[Emmett McCarthy]

I admit that I don't know much about it. Hell, I can't remember reading the owner's manual for my car, although I'm pretty sure I have one. From your screen name, I could guess that you would have reason to know about the product with the amount of corn which, I think, Iowa produces. I asked a question. Period.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>> I asked a question. Period.

And I answered. Period.

[PUGACHEV]

I recently took my motorcycle into the shop because it dropped a cylinder, and I was told that since the switch to the higher ethanol blend many bikes have come in with gummed up carburetors, just like mine. It seems that the ethanol-enhanced fuel breaks down the gasoline very quickly, and if a bike is left to sit for more than a week you can expect problems. I was advised to not use premium gas, which has even more ethanol, and to add a 50:1 ratio of 2 cycle oil to every tank of gas I buy from now on.This doesn't seem like progress to me.

[HamiltonJay]

Ethanol goes way way way back before a 2002.. I can remember pumping Ethanol blend into our cars down in NC in the 70s and 80s... Now it may not have been E85 Ethanol, but Ethanol has been added to gasoline for a long long long time, at least in some states.. federal program to subsidize the corn growers or some such.

[AnAmericanMother]

It was the 70s when I was living in Jersey.

Sunoco was the company that put the ethanol in their gas, IIRC.

I don't think anybody knew that it would eat up "furrin" cars like it did. The mechanic told me at the time that it was because the Germans used a particular synthetic rubber that apparently was soluble in alcohol!

I think they've changed it since. We haven't owned a German car since that old 2002 tii, but we have a little Volvo wagon that my daughter drives, and it's had no problem digesting the 10 percent ethanol from the local truck stop (cheapest gas in town.) The ethanol never caused a problem in any of our Fords either.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If anything, ethanol would make your carburettor cleaner. Spark plugs should last almost indefinitely (100,000 miles) unless you're running a 2 stroke.
There is the possibility of phase separation with blended gasoline but it would take longer than a few weeks.

[Beagle8U]

"The ethanol never caused a problem in any of our Fords either."

In the mid 80's I used the E10 in my crown vic, a new carb. was over $1000. Of course it was just out of warranty.

Never again! I'll stick to putting the corn squeezing in MY tank, not whatever I'm driving.

[ClaireSolt]

Only Sadaam Hussein expected things like gas pumps to last forever. They just need a maintenance schedule.