Marine Fuel Additives, Gas System Treatments and Ethanol E10.

Evinride 2+4 Fuel Conditioner- Visit www.evinrude.com

Valvtect Fuel Dri Marine Additive - Visit www.valvtect.com

Startron Gasoline Additive -Visit www.starbrite.com

Protect your marine engine from contaminated gasoline by quickly checking fuel for alcohol and water.

Fuel Test Kit - Site Contents: E10 gas, disadvantages, benefits, precautions, marine use of E10 and renewable gasoline, ..

Ethanol alcohol blend fuels, made from corn & grains, can damage engines.

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CORN FUELS...

Alcohol in E10 ethanol gasoline has caused inconvenience, engine problems & damage,

especially to marine, outboard and boat motors.

Avoid alcohol-containing gas treatment products when using E10 fuel.

Portable Ethanol Fuel Test Kits and Quik-Check will reveal the presence of alcohol in all types of liquid.

Gas additives are often used by marine engine owners.

Now that E10 gas (contains up to 10% alcohol) is sold throughout most of the U.S.

many types of gas additive products are no longer necessary

and may actually increase your risk for water absorption and engine damage.

Ethanol alcohol, used for oxygenating E10 fuel is a

solvent, cleanser, degreaser, antifreeze, readily absorbs water and more.

Additives that once were useful may no longer be necessary when buying e10 gasoline.

Many fuel system products CONTAIN ethanol and other types of ALCOHOL.

View list of Common and Chemical Names of Alcohol.

Additive products most likely to contain alcohol include:

Gasoline Water Removers -

Fuel System Cleansers -

Examples: Mercury Marine Fuel System Cleaner contains 15% isopropanol alcohol and napha solvent.

CD2 Engine Tuneup contains Methanol (60-70%), Isopropanol 20-30%, 2-Butoxyethanol 10-20% and Diacetone alcohol 10-20%.

Fuel Conditioners -

Example: Evinrude BRP/OMC 2+4 contains 95% alcohol!

Fuel Detergents -

Fuel Stabilizers -

Rust Inhibitors -

Octane Enhancers -

Example: Turbo Octane Boost 108 (North American Oil Co. and Blue Magic Company) ingredient list includes only Methanol and t-Butyl alcohol.

All Fuel Additives & Fuel System Treatment Products, that contain alcohol, should be avoided or used with caution with E10/E85.

E10 gas containing alcohol over the legal limit of 10%, often results from the engine owner,

unknowingly adding gas treatment products containing alcohol, to their fuel system.

Since ethanol is an excellent cleanser, solvent, water absorber, degreaser and more - It's not surprising that these products would contain alcohol or chemicals with the exact same chemical properties of ethanol.

Desiccants, like alcohol, also have a strong affinity for moisture and will absorb relatively large amounts of water from the atmosphere, forming a liquid solution. Deliquescent salts include calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, zinc chloride, Carnallite and sodium hydroxide.

In addition to avoiding the use of alcohol-based fuel additives with E10 fuel, several other simple precautions are now necessary.

Alcohol Fuel Test Kits and Quik-Check Solution check both gas and liquid gas additive products for ethanol/alcohol content.

Fuel-Tester's RECOMMENDS using additives that increase the energy of the fuel

Check your STATE ETHANOL LABELING LAWS

Use of Marine Fuel Additives & Gas Treatments With E10

Check if gas additive and fuel treatment products you use contain alcohol.

View MSDS image for K100 MG Marine Gas Treatment Product.

Review more products marine owners often use.

Carefully review ALL ingredients of all fuel treatment products before use.

When using E10 fuels, adding products that contain alcohol to gas tank will dangerously increase gas alcohol content over manufacturer and legal limit of 10%.

- Review the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) and check each ingredient before use -

- Beware when manufacturer refuses to disclose ingredients. MSDS will state something like, "Proprietary or trade secret ingredient(s)". Examples = STP Octane Performance Booster, (Note: there are many others).

- Review the wording and letters of each ingredient listed -

Most alcohol (ethanol type) chemical names end in "ol". E.G. ethan"ol", methan"ol".

- Sometimes the common name of alcohol based ingredients is not so obvious.

Common and Chemical Names of Alcohol

alcohol, grain = ethyl alcohol , alcohol sulfuris = carbon disulfide, alcohol, wood = methyl alcohol, aromatic spirit of ammonia = ammonia in alcohol, denatured alcohol, ethanol = ethyl alcohol, methylcarbinol, methanol = methyl alcohol and methylated spirits, rubbing alcohol = isopropyl alcohol, spirit of wine = ethyl alcohol...

VIEW MORE COMMON/CHEMICAL NAMES FOR ALCOHOLS

- Some fuel sytem products that do not list alcohol in their ingredients, may instead contain a chemical that has similar properties to ethanol - E.G. All fuel additives that are "hygroscopic" or "miscible" (attract and absorb or adsorb water) should be avoided when running on E10.

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The MSDS system (Material Safety Data Sheet) and OSHA assures public access to product ingredients.

The MSDS includes hazard evaluations on the use, storage, handling and emergency procedures related to the materials in a product.

Ingredients can also be reviewed at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Household Products Database:

Link: http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=7006004

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Several companies use deceptve marketing tactics, to convince customers that their "miracle" product will "prevent, fix repair and/or reverse" all ethanol-related fuel problems - No such miracle product exists!

These deceptive and misleading marketing strategies have been seen most often for products marketed and sold to marine and boat engine owners. Every fuel treatment product I have reviewed in recent years, that (deceptively) claims to remove water from ethanol phase-separated/water-contaminated fuel has contained ethanol or other alcohol!

Yes, alcohol does amazingly absorb water and have solvent and cleansing capabilities-

But, why would anyone want to add alcohol to fuel that has already become contaminated because of ethanol alcohol present in E10 ?

Additives that ncrease the alcohol content of gas over 10% will invalidate most engine warranties in engines designed for E10 (10 % ethanol max limit) and all warranties for engines that recommend non-alcohol gasolines. (Check your owners manual and warranty).

To add further insult to customers buying these risky products that already make matters worse, the same companies often falsely claim that their products will "FIX" or "REPAIR" phase-separated gas and return it to it's original composition...Impossible!

If there was a simple product or chemical that could prevent all the negative side-effects of ethanol in fuel, the major gas companies would already be adding it to the gas ingredients.

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For assistance in obtaining MSDS and understanding Gas Treatment Products, that can or can not be used in fuel systems containing E10 gas,

Contact Fuel-Testers

Obtain a Alcohol Fuel Test Kit to test and determine the presence of alcohol type chemicals in the product.

The use and negative effects of alcohol on engines and engine parts is well known and documented.

Several engines can not tolerate any ethanol - E10, or any fuel containing ethanol, methanol, etc. can NOT be used in those engines -

Certain fiberglass tanks and engine parts "melt" and disintegrate from alcohol and alcohol fuels.

Check your owners manual or contact the manufacturer for fuel recommendations.

Consumers are often unaware of what actions they must take to correct the problems resulting from ethanol oxygenation of the public fuel supply and lack knowledge on which fuel treatment and gas additive products should be avoided.

Fuels that contain ethanol have decreased efficiency and mpg.

Studies and reports slightly vary, but all tests report expected MPG (miles per gallon), with use of ethanol blend fuels (E10 & E85), will be significantly decreased.

E10 gasoline lowers MPG by 3 to 7 %. E85 gasoline lowerd MPG by about 40 %.

More information on the fuel efficiency and mpg of alcohol blend fuels.

If your engine owner's manual and/or warranty contract forbids use of alcohol fuels,

you will not be warranty reimbursed for any engine damage that is a result of E10 and alcohol blend fuel use!

Engine manufacturers have in recent years re-designed engines to use E10 gas - Most car and boat engines from 2000-onward permit gas blended with up to 10% ethanol.

E85, FFV's and AFV's are designed to be compatible with blends up to 85 % ethanol.

Find more information on ethanol fuels at navigation menu on left side of page.

Boaters - View: Ethanol Fuel Use in Marine - Boat - Outboard Engines

Be very cautious when adding extra fuel treatment and gas additives

to your boat fuel system when using E10 ethanol fuel.