The AM Forum

I have a small amount of gas in a jug that has some water in it. Is that gas still good if I carefully poor off the gas on top?

Maybe I should know the answer but I don't know at some atomic level if it mixes in there permanently, like milk in coffee or not?

Pour it off thru an old piece of pantyhose (you wear them al the time, don't you? ;)) to catch most of the water..

A little H2O in gas is no big deal, most of it will settle out anyway or get caught in filters.  Most new gas has a bit of alcohol in it anyway, and that will absorb the remnant water.

Unlike a Diesel where a bit of water in an injector can blow the tip off when it changes to steam, a gas rig really doesn't care that much.  It may stumble a little as it goes thru, but not cause any harm.

73DG

damn, I must have left the cam on??

Nice legs! :P

73DG

This is a common problem in airplanes where the moisture condenses out of the air and settles in the tanks.  We just drain off the water and things work fine.

What about sugar in gas?  I have always heard that sugar dissolved in gas will destroy an engine, but never tried it.  A couple of weeks ago I forgot and left my gas can outside the garage after filling the lawnmower, and by the next day, some S.O.B. had stolen the damned thing, even though the spout was broken and it had only about 1½ gallons of gas in it.

I am seriously considering  putting a couple of gallons of gas in another crappy old gas can I have in my junk pile, dumping as much sugar in as it will hold before it begins to precipitate out, and leaving it in the same spot where the other one was when it was stolen.  That will show the bas-turd... I hate a thief! >:(

According to snopes, it doesn't work.

I can't copy and paste for some reason so here is the link.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/grace/sugar.asp (http://www.snopes.com/autos/grace/sugar.asp)

Sodium silicate solution is used to inexpensively, quickly, and permanently disable automobile engines. Running an engine with about 2 liters of a sodium silicate solution instead of motor oil causes the solution to precipitate, catastrophically damaging the engine's bearings and pistons within a few minutes. In the United States, this procedure was required by the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program.

(Wikipedia)

*groan* >:(

In the chemical industry its called, "making the cut." Drain the water AND the emulsion layer, (sometimes called the rag layer), and leave the gas be. If the container has been agitated, let all the bubble settle and the water will once again drop to the bottom. They do this at work with toluene, hexane, and ethanol, (which is extremely tough since it is very clear.

James Wiebe, president of Belite Aircraft has developed a fuel line water detector: http://beliteaircraftstore.com/fuliwade.html (http://beliteaircraftstore.com/fuliwade.html)


How about mixing in a little kerosene, fuel oil, and/or diesel fuel.  :)

Luckily the thief chose the sacrificial bait and ignored your copper and steel!  :-\

Would it be convenient to install a security camera?

Up till now, ever since moving here in 1979, I have never worried about trespassers and thieves.  I live off the main road and the worst thing that ever happened was one year while I was teaching in high school some kids threw raw eggs at my house Hallowe'en night. I have often been working on a car or piece of machinery and needed some tool or part, and would just drop everything, with hand tools lying all over the ground and run to town to pick up what I needed and never worried about anyone bothering anything while I was gone. I have been known to take a siesta in the afternoon and not bother to lock the house door. After the gas can incident, I am now a little more paranoid.

About 15 years ago, the owner of an unoccupied house a few miles up the road from here had left the gas can outside after cutting the grass, and the very day before the final papers were supposed to be signed to sell the house, someone used the gas in the can to burn it down. Turns out the arsonist was a volunteer fireman and had set fire to several buildings and then showed up to help put out his own fires.

Who volunteers to go outside the plane to drain the tanks??

Sweet

I know of an individual who said he did put sugar in a lure type can and said it worked. I'll bet I would never be able to convince him that his doings didn't do any thing!

I was able to salvage some water contaminated outboard motor fuel by running it through a fine mesh filter funnel two or three times.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=100849&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10106&subdeptNum=10434&classNum=10442

Attached is a photo of the water that I removed from a six gallon tank of 2 cycle gasoline.

that "water" looks an awful lot like "pissolene"? ? ?   ???  ???  ???

Interesting observation  piss-o-lene


Please note the 'fiber therapy'.  Looks like there are problems at both ends.


klc

You probably don't want to know what all is in the gas you pump out of the ground at your favorite filling station.  Want to see a quizzical look?  Ask the attendant or manager when the last time they sumped the tanks.  A good place will do it on an annual basis, most places aren't good.

I replace the external fuel filter on my cars every year and they always have water in them.  I live in fear when I have to have a vehicle that has the filters in the tank.

it looks like they based that on using granulated sugar, wonder what would happen if you were to use confectioner's sugar?

In the summer,I live in a place where all the fuel arrives in an ocean going barge...There are problems but they are few as most everyone has learned how to deal with the contaminants in barge carried fuel..A lot of separation tanks and filters ....The commercial fishing fleet here has the most problems with water in fuel that they get from tenders while on the fishing grounds..Algae in diesel fuel is a problem that usually shows up at least once or twice a season on someones fishing boat...Gas is 5.10 a gallon and diesel is 5.65...

Old Time aviators used to run the fuel through a filter lined with a Chamois. Supposedly the Chamois would pass gasoline and absorb the water, unless there was so much water that the Chamois would become saturated.  

For a small amount, allowing to settle and siphoning out the water (or gas) is fine.

Remember those glass bowls that used to be on outdoor equipment engines? they would collect all the water and junk and you could see when it was time to empty/clean.  Too bad they had to cut those out for 'cost savings' or something.

you mean a sediment bowl? all the old tractors we have got one on them, its fun to look in and see what all is in the bowl, lots of rust in some of them.
shelby

Here's someone who has some water in his gasoline.

About a mile from Thomas Point Lighthouse, Saturday evening.

No one around, they apparently pulled people out of the water and just let the boat drift with the tide.  It was gone today when we went through the same area.

Ooooops. That'll keep the panfish down for a while.  ;)  Algae in the fuel oil? Hell, we are making fuel oil from algae, (albeit a little more expensive then what you have for sale) ;)