Re: Mixing ethanol gas with non-ethanol gas
Here is a reply I received from an outfit here in Florida, Tampa area when I asked the exact same question. They are heavily involved in cleaning and replacing fuel tanks in boats mostly due to the use (or mis-use) of ethanol. Hope this sheds some light.Mr. Villafranca;
Sorry for not answering back sooner, but the fuel environment is going nuts since the weather has changed.
So what I have found, and it is difficult to pin-point, but a reaction takes place when ethanol fuels and MtBE fuels are mixed. Since ethanol loves water, we now have a third element to deal with. We know that ethanol fuel will phase separate when the percentage of water reaches 0.5% at either 60 or 70 degrees F. At this point a dark slurry will appear at the bottom of the fuel tanks. I often reference this as dark grapefruit, but actually it is the mixing of MtBE & ethanol.
Located in
http://www.enertechlabs.com/ethanol_in_gasoline.htm they also reference this goo. In addition I have attached a photo taken during a tank cleaning last summer. On the left is a pre-filtration sample bottle, next is a post-filtration sample bottle and finally a bottle of water. The matter in the pre-filtration sample bottle hadn't time to reach the black goo but given time it would have. At this stage the boat was out of service and was undergoing major cost set-backs to restore the engines.
Hope this helps somewhat, I know there will be more questions because these are uncharted grounds.
Sincerely,
Luther Carrier