Is E10 petrol safe to use?

[Petetheploughman]

I'm am getting fed up with doing a 10 mile round trip to get E5, instead of doing a 2 mile round trip to get E10 petrol for my lawn mower, strimmer and chainsaw. The only thing is I'm not brave enough to try E10, having heard two friends of mine have wrecked their chainsaws by putting in E10, from my local garage which unfortunately doesn't sell E5.

Would it be safe to use E10 in the lawnmower? As there is not so much rubber in a lawnmower. What has your experience been with E10 so far after a year of being available?

 

[Lincs Lass]

Take bigger cans for the E5 ,,10 is horible stuff ,not heard a good thing about it in small engines

 

[Bullring]

I use E10 in the ride on and quad purely cause it’s used a lot, still use E5 in smaller engines like chainsaw and strimmer as it’s not used as much, E10 doesn’t like being left and not used in tanks.

 

[tepapa]

Buy Aspen petrol/two stroke. Dearer but doesn't go off so you could buy it and keep plenty of stock.

 

[colhonk]

Buy the E10,put say 10 lits into a 20 lits see through plastic drum Ad some runny red food colouring to 3 or 4 lits water. tip into petrol, shake very very well for a fer minutes the let it stand for 24 hours, drain off the petrol from the pink stuff at botton, hey presto E0 petrol.

 

[Exfarmer]

Would not dream of putting anything else in my lawnmowers or saws. Why ?

 

[feilding]

Don't use E10 in anything. Even young cars are starting to have problems. Lack of power, bad starting etc, put E5 in tank and problems are gone, and better MPG on E5. As for lawnmowers/chainsaws/ strimmers etc it's a no-no, they can't cope long term, fuel systems destroyed, I've scrapped two mowers and a strimmer belonging to customers. I'm afraid Aspen is the only option long term. If doing a lot of mowing then E5 is ok ,but keep it fresh, max 3 weeks.
Quads need E5 too. I'm told engines are very down on power using E10.
Even a fuel station manager told me more and more customers are using E5 now. 2 out their 8 pumps are on E5,

 

[Exfarmer]

I believe virtually all US fuel is E10 as a minimum perhaps someone from over the pond can confirm

 

[Petetheploughman]

Thank you all for your replies, it is nice to know I can't be stupid travelling further just to get a bit of petrol! This is a prime example of E10 being inefficient! I now need to drive an extra 8 miles altogether! Whereas, last year and many years before that I only needed 2 miles! How on earth is this good for the environment?

 

[Courier]

Not cheap but transforms performance of small 2 stroke engines.

MotoMix | STIHL

MotoMix premium premixed fuel for 2-stroke engines ➤ Find out more!

m.stihl.co.uk

 

[Norfolk Olly]

My petrol hedge cutter won’t run on e10 unless on full choke, e5 no problem.

 

[Exfarmer]

My petrol hedge cutter won’t run on e10 unless on full choke, e5 no problem.

Sorry but there is absolutely no scientific reason behind this. There may be arguments about seals hoses etc. but nobody out there suggests that e10 requires a richer mix.
As I posted above nearly all US fuels sold are e10 and no small engine manufacturer's have an issue selling their machines over there

 

[feilding]

My petrol hedge cutter won’t run on e10 unless on full choke, e5 no problem.

Yours and everyone else's, classic problem now.

 

[Boohoo]

Interesting thread for the day that E10 became available in Northern Ireland. Looks like I'll be looking for E5

 

[feilding]

Sorry but there is absolutely no scientific reason behind this. There may be arguments about seals hoses etc. but nobody out there suggests that e10 requires a richer mix.
As I posted above nearly all US fuels sold are e10 and no small engine manufacturer's have an issue selling their machines over there

All of suppliers I know,and dealers who sell mowers,saws etc advise not using E10 at all. They say use E5 or Aspen 2 or Aspen 4. Most get it by the pallet load, as it sells so quickly.

 

[TripleSix]

I've not had any issues, pumps, generators, chainsaws, strimmers, mowers.

I've a hayter mower that has a Briggs and Stratton engine made in 1980 and it's absolutely fine on E10, still starts 3rd pull.

My 2003 Skoda doesn't care either

 

[TripleSix]

All of suppliers I know,and dealers who sell mowers,saws etc advise not using E10 at all. They say use E5 or Aspen 2 or Aspen 4. Most get it by the pallet load, as it sells so quickly.

KerCHING!

 

[Exfarmer]

All of suppliers I know,and dealers who sell mowers,saws etc advise not using E10 at all. They say use E5 or Aspen 2 or Aspen 4. Most get it by the pallet load, as it sells so quickly.

Who would not recommend aspen? Getting gullible customers to pay 3-4 times the price of regular fuel is actually quite good for business, would you not agree?
Strange how these same manufacturers are happy to sell their same product in the states to use e10 without a qualm ?

 

[Pistonbroke]

As.long as it's fresh,e10 is no problem. If it's.left in the machine unused it becomes one. There's additives to put in that will help or put Aspen for the last tankfull. E5 still has the ethanol,just half the amount and nobody complained

 

[Farmer Roy]

Err, we have had E10 here for 20 or 30 years
some problems with old rubber seals, fuel lines etc, but everything manufactured in recent years is ok with it.

E10 has been in the US for a long time & California is one of the largest markets in the world

I think in Brazil they have E85