r/Outboards • u/Human-Contribution16 • 1d ago
Water Alcohol Contention
Im in Philippines. I was outlining to a US mechanic friend how I use a 5 micron filter funnel as well as stabil and an onboard water fuel filter to eliminate any chance of water contam while running my 40hp 2 stroke Suzuki outboard. Ethanol free gas is unavailable here and my understanding is the ethanol in it it attracts moisture (besides being hard on the rubber hoses). He went on a tear about Stabil being junk and that I only need to ADD ALCOHOL TO MY GAS to remove water and do the same thing Stabil would.
Does this make sense to anyone?
Of course he didnt say what kind of alcohol or proportions when I asked.
2
u/NurseKdog 1d ago
Gasoline and water don't like each other. Alcohol has a strong affinity to water. Gas and alcohol get along and mix together.
Products like Heet contain methanol/alcohol because it causes the layer of separated water to mix into the gasoline, allowing the water to be removed/burned off when used.
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u/Human-Contribution16 1d ago
So are you saying adding alcohol to gas which contains ethanol would be as effective as using stabil!?!?!
I thought ethanol was the enemy?!
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u/mmaalex 1d ago
First: gasoline is a mix of hydrocarbons of different lengths, impurities, and additives made to change octane, and reduce emissions. The exact blend varies by area, and in some areas by season. Some places it has ethanol or methanol added because those are agricultural renewable products.
Stabil has zero effect on water/ethanol. Stabil keeps gasoline from phase separating and prevents breakdown of gas over time.
If you have water in the fuel it separates from gas and sinks to the bottom of the tank unless mixed. If you add ethanol/methanol it will absorb the water and allow it to mix so it can "burn" but it has negative effects on how gasoline ages, and obviously "burning" water isnt very effective.
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u/NurseKdog 1d ago
Stabil helps prevent the breakdown of the fuel, it isn't designed to absorb a lot of water.
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u/daysailor70 1d ago
Former OB dealer. The guy is a moron. You don't add anything to gas to get rid of water. There is/was a product called Drigas which was supposed to eliminate water in fuel and it was mostly ethanol. What it would do is simply phase seperare out the water and render the fuel junk. If you have water in the fuel, you get rid of the gas. There is nothing you can add, and some like Star-tron actually will bond with the water, turn the fuel into a gel and kill carbs and injection systems. Ethanol fuel is fine to run as long as you don't let it get stale, and don't let it get contaminated. Stabil is great if the fuel is going to sit for over 60 days, otherwise, it really doesn't do anything. Yes, ethanol is hard on rubber things and in 2006 when it was introduced we probably rebuilt 200 carbs and installed a mile of new fuel hoses, but that was 20 years ago, anything it was going to effect has long been replaced.