Ethanol free petrol in East Sussex!!

[DavidS]

Local Fuels have a number of petrol stations in East Sussex and apparently are expanding.
Their Super Unleaded petrol is ethanol free
http://local-fuels.co.uk/our-service-stations/1232287
They are already getting a huge rise in classic vehicle customers and I'll be using them from now on for the bikes and mower petrol.

[EarthWorm]

Good shout.
Whilst I can't vouch for other areas, I can confirm the esso super in Abergavenny is Ethanol free,(as of may 2017).
I test it regularly
Might be good if people could put up to date info on the Ethanol content of fuels in a thread.
Most of the info online is out of date or misleading

[Gavinskii]

Can you explain for the naive why this is a good thing?
What are the benefits?
Is it the ethanol which reacts with my fibreglass tank on old twinshock bike?

[Billy Bananahead]

I think we're going to have to put up with it.
http://www.mag-uk.org/en/campaignsdetail/a6973
Though it think the idea below is a bit over the top, I certainly won't be investing in that or owt like it
http://www.ethanil.co.uk/

[DavidS]

Can you explain for the naive why this is a good thing?

What are the benefits?

Is it the ethanol which reacts with my fibreglass tank on old twinshock bike?

Spot on. It's horrible stuff and separates the water from the petrol and helps gum up the carbs, particularly if you lay a bike up for winter.
The classic car and bike community hate it.

Apparently It's only added at the last minute a tanker leaves the refinery because it does so much damage.

[EarthWorm]

Billy, you would indeed do well to avoid that ethanil snake-oil garbage, even if it does what it claims, by removing the Ethanol, it has now left you with a fuel of lower octane rating and not just that, but an unknown octane rating.
Anyone concerned about ethanol in fuel (and there are good reasons to avoid it in certain vehicles and circumstances) should simply source ethanol free fuel.
You are of course right to allude that one day it will be impossible to do this
Personaly it doesnt worry me putting ethanol laced fuel in my bike, but I avoid it when ever possible in another use

[catcitrus]

One thing I found on my recent trip across Europe is that the 97 octane stuff ("Racing" etc ) is pretty available at big stations--and that E10 is labelled and to be avoided at all costs. My little yam runs well on the premium stuff--and i reckon that if you did a proper mpg comparison the additional cost of the higher octane would be outweighed by the lower mpg from the ethanol laced shit--its only supporting the farmers after all. I remember my chief engineer at Perkins years ago (he raced Porches) saying that he had done a check and because the engines advanced until detonation and then backed off--knock sensors on each cylinder--the engine would run more advanced with the higher octane fuel and therefore was more efficient--and the increased fuel cost was negated. Also remember that with ethanol you are paying for some water !

[EarthWorm]

Indeed, but don't forget not all the high octane unleaded is ethanol free, some of it has more ethanol than the low octane grade.
Getting the information from the outlets is difficult, very difficult, but it is of course very easy to test it yourself.

[BIG DON]

MCI-Members-E10-Listings_Aug-2013.pdf

(170.93 KiB) Downloaded 80 times

The above list goes someway to explain some problems and what certain bikes can use.

This stuff as mentioned is horrendous and has even been known to ruin petseal on lined tanks to the effect that manufacturers of tank linings have had to produce an alternative Ethonol friendly product, best avoided but for how long?

[steve the grease]

Can you explain for the naive why this is a good thing?

What are the benefits?

Is it the ethanol which reacts with my fibreglass tank on old twinshock bike?

It is 5 or 10% ( in Eire) of the fuel that we don't have to buy from out friends in the middle east, making a considerable saving in money and reducing to some extent their political influence. Also it is carbon neutral being made of crops grown with sunlight. In it's favour it will stand a huge compression ratio making it an anti knock additive. However it has a lower calorific value than petrol so you need more of it to get the same bang. Amongst it's other disadvantages it absorbs water from the atmosphere which can cause corrosion in tanks etc. Alcohol also attacks alloy , so it causes jet blocking corrosion in carburettors and expains why a lot of car fuel systems have a lot of plastic parts. It attacks fibreglass resin and some plastics. It also causes some plastic tanks to swell, that explains why I can't get my filler cap off then..... is that the dissolved water or the alcohol then? Look up 'swelling tank Ducati'. all in all it's great for speedway bikes, but not so good for anyone else.............