Ethanol & Methanol

[Debra]

Dear Mr Lee,

Nice to see you in print again I have read your columns for longer than I care to say.

I do not know if this has been covered, but I would like to know what it would take to run our engines on ethanol rather then methanol?

It would seem to me with ethanol having a higher BTU rating than methanol that you could get buy with less nito, pulse there are a lot of ethanol plants around, way more than methanol.

Thanks much.
Thomas W.

Dear Mr. W.,

If you were to mix up some fuel containing ethonal rather than methanol, you would understand why methanol is preferred. The power would be down, idle and acceleration,. poor, etc. Ethanol does not have as much of a catalytic effect on the platinum element in the glowplug as does methanol, i.e. keep it hot. Also, although ethanol has a higher BTU, it also burns
at a leaner air/fuel ratio of 9:1 versus methanol at 6.5:1 (stoichiometric) so less fuel is being burned per engine revolution. Check out my column
in the December issue where I have an article on the new O.S. engine modified to burn ethanol with a special glowplug, combustion chamber, and carburetor.

Yours,

Clarence Lee

[adamjedgar]

I understand your point about ethanol in glow engines, but what about in gas engines where the "glow" is maintained by a ignition system and spark plug.

[klickitat]

I understand your point about ethanol in glow engines, but what about in gas engines where the "glow" is maintained by a ignition system and spark plug.

IF at all possible try and stay away from alcohol in gas engines.
#1 unless you are running a castor oil it has a problem with sepperating.
#2 it is hard on your carburetor and fuel lines and will cause plastic to harden and crack.
#3 it attracts water and will form a gell and gunk up carburetors.
#4 it can cause reduced protection on the piston as it will weaken film strength with some oils.

Most of these things can be worked around with careful selection of oil and maintenance but if you can stay away from it in the first place then you are better off. Besides the fix can have a whole new set of problems; like trying to clean and maintain after castors.

[Ozorio Siqueira]

I have tried and it works! You just need to mix 50-50% with regular methanol (with oil), plus castor oil at 10% of total volume and finally use a good electronic device to help on glow plug lighten, live The Sullivan or Super GlowLite. Runs pretty well! Never tried 100% etanol, but I will with the electronic lighter.