Why We Only Run Non-Ethanol Fuel in Our Equipment

I've got two dead mowers sitting in my yard right now, and they're a big part of why I do things the way I do these days.

One is a Walker MT45 and it's in absolute shambles. The engine's gone, parts are scattered, not worth putting back together, but we tried. The other is a Walker T25i. The engine blew up, but everything else on that machine is nearly new: fresh hydrostatic drives, new belts, brand new wiring harness. The T25i is actually getting a new engine dropped in as I type because the rest of the machine deserves a chance to live. The MT45 wasn't so lucky.

Both of them have a common thread in their history and that is Florida heat, small engines that run hard, and fuel that doesn't do them any favors.

The thing about ethanol fuel that doesn't come up in the commercials or really anywhere outside of the manual is that ethanol attracts moisture. In Florida's humidity, that creates obvious issues such as water getting pulled into your fuel system and sitting there. Over time, it varnishes the carburetor, gums up the jets. The engine starts running rough, then it starts running hot, and eventually it just stops running. On a machine with an aluminum-sleeved engine working in 90-100 degree heat, the cycle is a lot shorter than you'd think.

I've talked to the people at Mower Depot and D Day's Lawn and Garden about this more than once. They'll tell you the same thing. They're seeing more small engine repairs than ever, and a big part of it is fuel quality. Carb cleanings, float replacements, fuel system flushes and the tickets add up fast.

What really tells the story is this: getting a weed eater or a handheld blower repaired right now often costs more than just buying a new one. The parts and labor on a small two-cycle engine can run $150, $250, or more and you can buy a new trimmer for that. People are throwing away equipment that should have had years of life left in it, and a lot of that comes back to what they put in the tank.

It's gotten more complicated lately too. Ethanol content at the pump isn't always what you think it is. E15 or fuel with 15% ethanol instead of the standard 10% — has been showing up at stations like Wawa and Murphy's. It's not always clearly labeled. And some stations are blending in butane, which lowers the octane rating and changes how the fuel burns. When you see a pump price that looks a little too good, there's sometimes a reason for it. Small engines aren't built for that. Most of them are warranted for E10 at most, and some manufacturers void the warranty entirely on E15.

Non-ethanol fuel costs more. Right now I'm paying around $4.62 a gallon, and it runs about $80-$100 to fill the equipment up just once. That goes into our operating costs, which is part of why our pricing is what it is. But the math isn't hard: a carburetor job on a commercial mower can run $300 to $500 in parts and downtime. An engine replacement is several thousand dollars. Buying and running clean fuel is the cheaper option by a wide margin and it keeps the machines moving.

Every piece of equipment we run gets non-ethanol fuel. No exceptions. Because we've already paid the other price and I'm not doing it again.

-Ray