03/03/2023
IMPORTANT NOTICE! Please share and raise awareness.
E10 Fuel introduction and the impact on 2-stroke combustion engines
In the following weeks, E10 fuel is being introduced to Irish fuel stations from the 1st of April 2023.
E10 stands for 10% Ethanol content in standard pump fuel that we buy at our local petrol stations. Albeit this is another significant step in the reduction of our country’s transport emissions, it comes at a considerable cost to the internal combustion powered products and forest and garden equipment.
Since the introduction of E5 some years ago, older machines have suffered with severe fuel system issues, including carburettor, fuel line, filter etc.
E10 is going to greatly exacerbate the problem. There are several reasons for the problems in forest and garden machinery generated by Ethanol in pump fuel. The main one being that ethanol is hygroscopic, which means that it will attract water from the atmosphere, resulting in what’s commonly known as stale fuel. This has prompted all small engine manufacturers to advise that storage of E5 fuel, either in the machine or in the storage can, should not exceed 30 days. With E10 this advisory will likely be reduced further.
Did you know that ethanol can have devastating effects on power equipment components?
Ethanol blended petrol can damage plastic and rubber fuel
system components, particularly in older power equipment, not designed to tolerate ethanol. Gaskets become brittle and non-pliable, causing them to leak. The carburettor diaphragms become stiff, causing starting and running problems. The fuel lines, primer lines and return lines become brittle, causing fuel to leak.
As you can see from these few examples that ethanol in fuel is severely detrimental to small forest and garden engines and should never be recommended for use in these engines.
We therefore strongly encourage you to recommend the use of Alkylate fuel in all the machines we sell and service as it does not contain any ethanol and reduces emissions by up to 98% compared to standard pump fuel and can be stored for up to 5 years in the machine's fuel tank or the storage can.
Today, the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan announced the move to ‘E10’ as the standard grade of petrol in Ireland, which will help reduce the harmful emissions produced by petrol cars.
