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E85 by the barrel?


elib

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Anyone ever bought E85 by the barrel? It's available in lots of California, but not any less than 30 minutes away from where I am. I was thinking of getting a 55gal drum of it and keeping it at home. Might be able to save a few $$ by buying in bulk as well. I know it doesn't keep very long but I drive enough that I would go through 55 gal in around a month.
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Well, worst case I figured I could just get a clean drum and fill it myself from a station in Sacramento somewhere. I would love to find somewhere like a petroleum jobber that will sell me a good E85 blend at a good price. Lots of people up here use transfer tanks in the 100-200 gallon size in the bed of their truck to bring home non-road taxed diesel to use on generators, heavy equipment etc.
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I store about 15 gallons of the stuff in my shed (in case I need it ASAP) since the nearest gas station is about 8 miles away..any chance E85 can go bad outside exposed to big temp swings, especially now in the spring? They are in 3 sealed 5 gallon jugs.
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Yes of course e85 goes bad. e85 is not as stable as gasoline blends as it will seperate. A mechanical agitator or chemical stabilizer can be used to help but the reality is, you should be filling your car out of those jugs every time you need fuel and then refuel those jugs. We are not driving a gmc flexfuel. If you put bad fuel in and are not careful you will suffer.
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^ this. Gas and ethanol separate if allowed to "sit" unused, and when they do, guess what's at the bottom - ethanol. And guess what ethanol does to your system in it's undiluted state - eats, corrodes or otherwise destroys your fuel system.

 

WRT the barrel of E85 - presume you'd be using a pump to pump it out of the barrel. You'd basically be pumping ethanol from the bottom until it was all used up, then very poor gasoline for the rest of the barrel.

 

FWIW - if you run an outboard motor, and your fuel sits idle for any length of time, do not use an ethanol/gasoline mix. You'll end up with rubber hoses, pipes and the rest of the fuel system lying in the bottom of your motor housing - while you're underway (ask me how I know). Same thing will happen to your Subaru fuel system if you allow your E85 fuel to sit for any length of time.

- Pro amore Dei et patriam et populum -
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^This. Your arms are a terrible agitator. Ever go to Home Depot/Lowes and see the custom paint colors mixed? THATS a shaker. You need a mechanical agitator not a biological agitator;).

 

I rarely store e85 longer than 2 weeks. Typically a week. If I were to store it longer I would use a fuel stabilizer (which I dont really want to do).

 

I have read that it starts to destabilize the second its made and I have read that its stable for 2 months or more. I don't know what to believe so I err on the side of caution.

 

I dont want my fuel system to disintegrate.

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Good info. Never realized how short the shelf life is. I drive weekends only, and even though I usually top off weekly, I sometimes don't go through a tank worth of fuel for 3-4 weeks.

 

Any danger to my fuel system?

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  • 3 weeks later...
I'd like to revive this thread as I'm considering swithching to e85 but I only drive 10 miles round trip per day so a tank lasts me 2 weeks +, any ideas out there. I'd like the extra powar but the fuel system risk my deter my plans...
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I'd like to revive this thread as I'm considering swithching to e85 but I only drive 10 miles round trip per day so a tank lasts me 2 weeks +, any ideas out there. I'd like the extra powar but the fuel system risk my deter my plans...

 

A tank lasts me about 2 weeks too. And I live in Colorado too, where we have plentiful E85. What fuel system risk and why would you need to buy it by the barrel?

My '05 LGT

My '07 Supercharged Shelby

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