RedMax Fuel Recommendations

RedMax is a maker of commercial grade outdoor equipment such as chainsaws, string trimmers, blowers, etc. In their warranty statement they say that gasoline containing up to 10% ethanol is acceptable.

Only use gasolines which contain 89 octane or Higher. Gasohol which contains a maximum 10% ethanol (grain alcohol) or 15% MTBE (methyl/tertiary/butyl/ether) is also approved.

Source : RedMax Warranty Statement

Echo Outdoor Power Equipment Fuel Recommendations

Echo Outdoor Power Equipment makes commercial quality power equipment such as string trimmers, blowers, etc. On their website, in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section is their recommendations on fuel.

Gasoline – Use 89 Octane [(R+M)/2] (mid-grade or higher) gasoline or gasohol known to be good quality.
Gasoline may contain up to 10% Ethyl (grain) alcohol (ethanol) or 15% MTBE (methyl teriary-butyl ether).

Source : Echo Website

Stihl Fuel Recommendations

Stihl is a maker of small hand held equipment such as chainsaws, string trimmers, blowers, etc. In the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Stihl website there is a question on the use of ethanol blended fuel.

Will a 10% (E10) blend of ethanol hurt my chain saw, trimmer, or blower?

All STIHL gasoline powered engines are OK for use with up to a 10% (E10) blend of ethanol in gasoline.

Source : Stihl FAQ

Yamaha Outboards Fuel Recommendations

Yamaha, makers of marine outboard engines, maintains a section on their website for frequently asked questions concerning the use of ethanol blended gasoline.

Are Yamaha engines compatible with E10 fuel?

All current models as well as most engines built since the late 1980’s have been designed with fuel system components that are tolerant to fresh fuel containing ethanol up to 10% (E10). Outboard fuel systems can still be affected by: water, dissolved gum, varnish, corrosion particles, and dissolved resins that E10 fuel has cleaned from the distribution system and your boat’s fuel tanks.

Source : Yamaha Outboard FAQs

Iowa E10 Sales Reach 75 Percent of Gasoline Market in 2008

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) announced that Iowans chose E10, a 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline blend, 75 percent of the time in 2008.

According to the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR), in 2008 Iowans purchased:

Type               Gallons       Percentage
E0 Gasoline       397,245,643       25.0%
E10             1,193,833,838       75.0%

Previous E10 Usage in Iowa

2008 75.0%
2007 73.9%
2006 69.3%
2005 75.0%

* Note: These figures do not reflect E85 sales, which are reported separately and at a later date by the IDR.

Source : Iowa Renewable Fuels Association

Using E10 Unleaded In Snowmobiles

Lately there have been several news articles from the North East claiming that use of ethanol blended gasoline in snowmobiles was causing problems. It is hard to understand the difficulties they are having since other parts of the country have used ethanol blended fuel for some time. And examples of E10 being used successfully aren't hard to find.

For instance the Yellowstone National Park was looking for ways to reduce pollution within the park and after studying the situation concluded that the use of E10 in snowmobiles operated within the park would help cut emissions. The two-stroke engines common to snowmobiles typically emit several times more pollutants four-stroke motors. The use of E10 and low emission lubricating oil was found to reduce emission substantially.

Estimates based on the amount of fuel consumed in the 1997-1998 season suggest that use of low-pollution products by the rental machines (which are estimated to have traveled nearly 5 million miles) probably reduced emission of hydrocarbons (primarily unburned fuel and lubrication oil) by as much as 84 tons, and carbon monoxide by about 120 tons. This was a reduction of 16 percent in hydrocarbon emissions and 9 percent in carbon monoxide.

As a result the park started using E10 along with low emission lubricating oil in it's fleet of 100 snowmobiles in 1997. And the snowmobile rental agencies that operate within the park adopted E10 as well.

Project findings caused West Yellowstone snowmobile and snowcoach rental agencies to voluntarily use E-10 and bio-based lube oils to reduce emissions and increase power. The fleet operators experienced a 60 percent reduction in required maintenance calls, avoided carburetor freezing, and had better power and fuel economy.

The use of E10 may be new to the North East but it has been used successfully in other regions of the country with similar climates for some time.

Source : Montana Department of Environmental Quality