ethanol stripping

fiddlybits

fiddlybits

Senior Member
Was experiencing a vapor lock type problem. Car would run great for many miles until it got up to temperature. Then, if I stopped for 5 minutes it would not run for beans. Bucked and snorted and had no power although it would idle fine. After much scratching of head and verifying that everything was correct I focused on the gas.

Decided to drain tank and strip the ethanol out, return it to the tank and see if there was any difference. Drained a about 8.5 gallons and stripped just over 3 quarts of ethanol (10%) and returned it to the lower octane, ethanol free gas to the tank..

Big difference. The problem vaporizes (pun intended).

I'm not a big fan of cutting gas with corn but this is a twist I hadn't thought about.
Now I need to figure out how to convienently do it on the road. :)
 
I suspect that your problem may have nothing to do with vapor lock or ethanol. In high ambient temperatures when you stop for gas the temperature under the hood rises dramatically. This is the perfect environment for a marginally faulted coil to fail. The secondary windings expand and short to one another. When you re-start the engine it runs poorly until the high temperature under the hood comes down.

I experienced this problem years ago on a tour up through the hot country of Utah. Every time I stopped for gas the same thing happened. It frustrated me for several days. The car would run fine until I stopped for gas. I changed out everything but the coil. Eventually when the coil was done fooling with me it failed completely. It was a lesson learned. I now carry a spare coil.

Tom Endy
 
Bruce said:
Strip the alcohol out? I'm interested.
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Easy to do but not real portable. To strip the ethanol out of gas you just......add water to the gas. (Not in the car)

In every 10 gallons of gas there is 1 gallon of ethanol. (For10%)
To get it out you add the same amount, or more, of distilled water, agitate and let it settle. The water will bond with the ethanol and settle to the bottom. (Any excess water will settle below that.) Then you either drain the ethanol and water off the bottom or siphon the gas off the top.

I use a 5 gallon bucket that has a 1 " drain fitting at the bottom. From that drain I have 12 inches of clear tubing, a T fitting, 6 more inches of tubing, a valve and then 3 feet of tubing. From the T fitting I have a stub of hose, a valve and 3 feet of hose.

I use a standard gas can to add the water to the gas and shake it up. Then I pour it in the bucket that is sitting on the workbench and let it settle. By opening the bottom valve I can drain the water and the ethanol to a point below the T fitting. (Visible in the clear hose)Then I can drain the gas using the valve at the T fitting.

I usually use a 5 gallon gas can, add 4 gallons of gas and about a half gallon of water. This has always resulted in left over water settling to the bottom, meaning all the ethanol was pulled out. (This isn't rocket surgery. You want to add at least 10% water to the gas. Any extra water is simply not used. Not enough water leaves ethanol behind.)

Remember....gas and alcohol fumes are flammable (duh) ... use proper precautions.
 
Yes, Ethanol is just ethyl alcohol.... I prefer to call it ethanol as the 'youngins' don't make the connection.

I use it as a solvent. Great for cleaning the general "gunk" on the shop floor.
 
dumb person said:
So would you drink the water after you had used it?
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The trick would be to use the proper amount of water to yield a "proof" similar to commerically produced alcohol.

IIRC, Pure alcohol is 200 proof.

Actually pretty hard to find in real life. Like lab quality alcohol - and maybe not even then. This is because of the tendency of alcohol to pick up water from the air (hygroscopic)

Grandpa had a bottle (small) of 160 proof alcohol in the medicine cabinet. I think that was his "emergency supply" in case Grandma finally got to him and he had to resort to chemical sedative. To my knowledge he never imbibed, either in the bathroom or otherwise (tea-totaler.) We found the bottle still nearly full among his effect after his passing.

Most commercial alcohol for consumption actually runs 85 to 100 proof. So technically, it should not be hard to choose the correct amount of water to yield a product left afterwards that one might choose to drink?

Well, humanity drinks stuff like methanol, isopropyl alcohol, or even Sterno to get to the proper sedative level.

Some would consider pouring the dregs away as a waste of good sedative.

Joe K
 
My father used to tell of a drunk he knew that would pour Sterno through a loaf of bread to get something drinkable. Back during prohibition, my father ran 5 gallon cans of bootleg from San Francisco to Oakland. He also served 30 days for the crime. :eek:
 
fiddlybits said:
Was experiencing a vapor lock type problem. Car would run great for many miles until it got up to temperature. Then, if I stopped for 5 minutes it would not run for beans. Bucked and snorted and had no power although it would idle fine. After much scratching of head and verifying that everything was correct I focused on the gas.

Decided to drain tank and strip the ethanol out, return it to the tank and see if there was any difference. Drained a about 8.5 gallons and stripped just over 3 quarts of ethanol (10%) and returned it to the lower octane, ethanol free gas to the tank..

Big difference. The problem vaporizes (pun intended).

I'm not a big fan of cutting gas with corn but this is a twist I hadn't thought about.
Now I need to figure out how to convienently do it on the road. :)[/QUOTE



It sure seems like a lot of work.
A couple questions please. How long does it take to process a tankful ? Why does your car need this process but other Model A's run fine without refining the gasoline pumped into the car at the gas station.
Can you only do five gallon trips so you can then get home for a refill ?
Wayne
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Ethanol...proof positive of our governmental insanity...before 1990, it was illegal to make and sell it...many people died in that craziness. I did initiate stock car racing which if a good outlet for some...now we come to the dawn of the 20th C, and the government (us) give subsidies to make the stills, grow the corn and ship it to the refineries where it is added to petroleum.. Are we some kind of nuts?
 
I remember reading that the 15% ethanol, would separate after setting for a while and would settle on the bottom. So when you started you car it was running on pure ethanol. My question is why doesn't the 10% do the same?
 
My question is why doesn't the 10% do the same?
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I think it does but not exactly as you think.

I think the issue with separation has more to do with ethanol in the gas picking up moisture from the air and then the moisture separating out.

This of course is the principle behind "drygas" in that it's primarily alcohol - but when combined with any water in your tank - can be burned by the engine.

Well, that is up to a certain percentage of water...

I think the 15 percent is pushing the limit as to whether the mix can go through with the rest of the gas. The greenie/progressive/liberal mind considers the inconvenience of an occasional gas tank rotting out or engine mis-fire as small matter compared to the environmental advantage of burning what is (to them) a "natural" fuel - or one that improves cleanliness of combustion (which it does but at penalty to overall mileage - and only within limits.)

The big advantage to alcohol is that it is (or can be) a fuel "oxidant" - but it also displaces active hydrocarbons and yields a fuel mix which is less "calorific." Hence less mileage.

And alcohol has pretty much replaced the MTBE (and tetra-ethyl lead) that was used previously for the same purpose. And this the BIGGEST attraction for those of green outlook.

Joe K
 
I can't wait to try this, especially for my weed eater etc. I spend a lot of money on Stabil, while great stuff it would be nice not to have to buy it.
 
Buy ethanol free gas when you can. I buy at least ten gallons a week for my lawn mowers and tractors, and use it in my Model A's whenever I can get it.
 
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