Ethanol's Use In Lawn Equipment

This subject is a little closer to my heart than most since I own a lawn care company. I know there are rumors all over the place that ethanol can't be used in small engines, but I can tell you first hand that they are just that, rumors.

I got interested in biofuels during the winter of 2006. A couple of months earlier I had bought a diesel truck to pull the equipment with and wanted to find a source of bioiesel.

Since I have plenty of time during the winter months I did my research to figure out if biodiesel was safe for my truck. I also researched whether or not ethanol blends would be harmful to my equipment. I was especially worried that it might not be good for the two cycle equipment.

All that was over a year ago and I can't cite sources on the research I did because it has been so long ago, but the information lead me to the decision that neither ethanol nor biodiesel would be harmful to use.

Since that time all I have used in the truck is B20 (20% biodiesel / 80% diesel) and in the equipment E10 (10% ethanol / 90% gasoline). Last year I used about 750 gallons of B20 and about 500 gallons of E10 and to date I have had no fuel related issues.

You should of course check and follow the manufacturers recommendations regarding fuel. But at this point most manufacturers allow for ethanol blended gasoline up to 10% ethanol (E10).