I’m in the market for a lawn mower.
I’m reading the various reviews online and I’m struck y how many negative reviews there are for many of the mowers out there. I suspect that there is the phenomenon of the negative reaction; people trend to rate only when they wanna complain. But still, there are a whole lot of mowers out there that won’t start.
It turns out that ethanol contributes to the failure of these small engines. In order to keep the engine safe, you have to purchase Stay Bil. This is an additive that helps negate the impact of ethanol in the engine. While it is relatively inexpensive, $6 for enough to treat 20 gallons, it’s still a pain in the arse to have to account for.
And wait until we get to E15.
So two of my Stihl lawn implements have been recalled due to Ethanol contamination issues. Here’s a fun fact- the only difference between an E-85 vehicle and a non “Flex-Fuel” vehicle is this: The Flex Fuel vehicle has stainless steel fuel lines (to counteract the high moisture content/corrosive fuel), bigger injectors (needed because more fuel per combustion cycle is required), and different ECU programming (required to due to different fuel mapping characteristics). People pay more for these vehicles that get *significantly less* fuel efficiency for a fuel that *costs more*……
So two of my Stihl lawn implements have been recalled due to Ethanol contamination issues.
I’m afraid I lost a chainsaw.
People pay more for these vehicles that get *significantly less* fuel efficiency for a fuel that *costs more*……
All to use a fuel that requires 1 gallon of fossil fuel to create a gallon of ethanol. The whole time causing food prices to soar and incentivizing farmers to expand farmland and chop down rain forests.
Environmentalists are strange people.