Gasohol

[Bluetongue]

Does anybody expect any problems with small engines from using Gasohol 95. I'm thinking I'll be alright with my 4 stroke pump and sprayer which are reasonably new, but my 2 stroke brushcutters might be another story, as if they aren't enough trouble to start (with) An American site I was reading said to use synthetic 2 stroke oil or you can buy premixed fuel in a can over there (at a price). Does anyone know which of the 2 stroke oils are synthetic. I'll guess I'll go and see if I can trawl the answer now anyway

I'm guessing that the Gasoho 95 is the way to go because of higher octane rather than the 91. By the way I'm starting this because all the local servo's are running out of benzine and saying they cant get it anymore, if this is something that you all already knew about, I must have been asleep that day

[DerkMR]

I started to use G95 on my Honda powered water pump (160 ccm, around 5 hp) as AFAIK the distribution of the benzine 91 is stopped since 01.01.2013, so the sales should be what is lasting in the tanks.

Also the price is like 6 Bath lower and unless stated different modern engines should be able to handle this - in my mini-manual for the pump, there is just mentioned benzine 91 or above.

In Europe there is a quantity of ethanol based benzine fixed by law and the countries are forcing the use of it. 5% is in per default in Germany and 10% was started some time ago creating a huge confusion what cars could run on it.

Apart from some high tuned engines most are able to run it but the efficiency is lower. Combined with just a minimal price difference too few Germans used it until now.

I'm driving a 24 year old Opel (Vauxhall in UK, GM in US) and also have used E85 - 85% Ethanol - in summer without issues (ok, it wasn't as sporty any longer) and saved around 25% costs per km, so in the warm period I'll continue with this. Without modification below 15°C the startup takes longer and below 0°C it may not be possible to start at all.

Bye,

Derk

[ib1b4]

Well it's looking likely I will be stripping the carburetters down and cleaning the gunk out every 2-3 months again as I was doing before the decision was made to only buy benzene. All good eventually come to an end , I am glad that I sold the four cylinder carburettered motorbike, cleaning those out was not fun.

[IsaanAussie]

This should be no surprise to anyone in Thailand. The plans go back 13 years. Ethanol plants and biodiesel plants have been idle here for years as the announced changes have been delayed. Diesel aint deisel here, is it B5 and has been ever since B5 disappeared at the pumps. Look at the investments the Thai Government suggested in agriculture that went pear shaped on returns, ie. palm oil. Days of the car companies calling the shots aint over, but the ag industry and the petro-ag investors have said "Stuff this for a gameof soldiers, enough is enough!"

Edited January 11, 2013 by IsaanAussie

[RedBullHorn]

On the 1st of January this year, went to the station to top my 200 lit barrel, pump attendent said " It starting already, not joking na, very soon 91 will stop, no more 91..."

I was thinking hard on the journey home, what am i going to use to feed the Honda GX200 engines (i got four of them) that pump water to all my pond using long tail pipes !?!!

Will E95 be able do the job, can it match the power of Benzine 91 !?!!

Very lost in thought... will see when my 200 lit run out.

[DerkMR]

Will E95 be able do the job, can it match the power of Benzine 91 !?!!

E95?

G95?

To not confuse the abbreviations - when I referred to G95 it is Gasohol 95 as sold in Thailand.

When I referred to E85 it's Ethanol 85% with 15% Benzine, so what is sold as Bio-Ethanol in Germany.

The european E10 - 10% Ethanol + 91 octane benzine has 94 octane, so would be Gasohol 94 here.

Bye,

Derk

[Khonwan]

RBH, I have two of these Honda GX200 pumps; haven’t used them for ages now but ran them almost exclusively on gasohol in the past with no problems.

Rgds

Khonwan

[RedBullHorn]

Thank you Khonwan, that really bring peace to my mind... Do you run it on gasohol 91 or gasohol 95 ? Which do you recommend ?

[RedBullHorn]

Will E95 be able do the job, can it match the power of Benzine 91 !?!!

E95?

G95?

To not confuse the abbreviations - when I referred to G95 it is Gasohol 95 as sold in Thailand.

When I referred to E85 it's Ethanol 85% with 15% Benzine, so what is sold as Bio-Ethanol in Germany.

The european E10 - 10% Ethanol + 91 octane benzine has 94 octane, so would be Gasohol 94 here.

Bye,

Derk

My mistake, E10/91, Gasohol 91

[Issangeorge]

In Canada years ago there was a company that promoted their gas as cleaner burning. All their gas had up to 10% ethanol in it. It still does as far as I know. This gas has been around as long as I remember and I never heard of anybody complaining about it causing problems. Unless you looked at the small writing at the pumps you would not even know ethanol was in it. I imagine many people still don't. It was only when I came to Thailand I started to read about certain cars that could not use gas with 10% ethanol.

[Gary A]

It appears that we no longer have a choice of regular gasoline or gasohol. Our little village now has nothing but 91 octane gasohol. The sellers said the regular gasoline is finished, there is no more to be had. My Ford Focus needs 95 octane gasohol, 95 octane gasoline or E20. None of that in the village either.

[RedBullHorn]

do what i did... buy a 200 lit drum for ฿600, a squeezer hand pump and modified the end with 1/2'' clear hose for ฿50 then off to the nearest station to fill up, drive back, gather a couple of boys, get a couple old tires lay down to cushion the barrel when transfering from the truck... done ! All is good...

[Gary A]

Eventually you will run out and then you will have no choice. Today I ran my new 5,000 watt generator on gasohol and couldn't tell any difference. The wife is having second thoughts about irrigating with the well and pump. The generator is thirsty and drinks over a liter and a half per hour. That is going to make pretty expensive vegetables.

[Khonwan]

RHB, I always used gasohol 95.

Gary, I’ve never came across a branded petrol pump station that doesn’t sell gasohol 95 – the small independents often only sold benzene but they too must sell gasohol 95 and/or gasohol 91 since benzene supplies stopped on 1^st January. By the way, my Honmar diesel generator runs on half a litre per hour. I rarely use it now but used it every day for years before eventually connecting to the grid 1.6km away; I used to fill the 3-litre tank around 6.39-7.00pm and let it run out 6 hours later. I previously had a Honda petrol genie but it consumed 1 litre per hour.

Rgds

Khonwan

[Gary A]

RHB, I always used gasohol 95.

Gary, I’ve never came across a branded petrol pump station that doesn’t sell gasohol 95 – the small independents often only sold benzene but they too must sell gasohol 95 and/or gasohol 91 since benzene supplies stopped on 1^st January. By the way, my Honmar diesel generator runs on half a litre per hour. I rarely use it now but used it every day for years before eventually connecting to the grid 1.6km away; I used to fill the 3-litre tank around 6.39-7.00pm and let it run out 6 hours later. I previously had a Honda petrol genie but it consumed 1 litre per hour.

Rgds

Khonwan

That's the reason I wanted a water cooled diesel generator but the 60,000 baht price choked me up. The 13 HP 5,000 watt gasoline generator with an electric starter for 18,000 baht was much easier to take. I bought the generator but my farmer wife buys the fuel. I should mention also that I never see any money made from the farming. She pays all the expenses but keeps the crop money.

The old 2,500 watt gasoline generator is now retired and is in the garage for when the main power fails. She runs the one HP submersible pump into the pond and uses another much smaller pump to water her garden from the pond and to run other things in the small weekend house. The 2,500 watt generator was not quite up to the total load.

If the government ever runs the electric grid along the road that passes the farm, many problems would disappear. I would love to build a house on the farm but not unless it is on the electric grid. I'm not holding my breath.

[thunder30101]

Ahh the ole gasohol myths, gasohol is only 10% alcohol added to the fuel to help cut down on some emissions. The only thing you will have problems with is older model or cheap branded equipment due to the fact alcohol likes to break down rubber like fuel lines and carb seals and diaphragms which in turn clogs things up. when the alcohol dissolves them. Easy fix is to not buy the cheap rubber hoses and carb kits when you need to update your machine for gasohol. But personally been running gasohol in everything I own for years, even older equipment and never had any problems.

[Khonwan]

Gary, I would not like to run a genie for 6 hours every day at today’s price – it would now cost just over Bt180/day for diesel instead of the Bt42/day I paid back then. My Honmar is air cooled. It has no voltage regulator but I didn’t find that to be a major problem. It’s a 5,000W genie; only cost me around Bt32,000.

Rgds

Khonwan