Hi Netters.
re Issue 186 on 25 Apr 06.
Lets face it, there is going to be a shortage of gasoline in the future. We
in the airplane group are a tiny drop in the pot. No one is going to make
special fuel for us. Go with the flow and that is ethanol. Adapt now. No
aluminum fuel lines. Ethanol attacks them. Redo your carb to ensure all
rubber parts are ethanol safe. Ensure that your gas tank will hold ethanol,
pure if necessary. Expect to burn a greater volume of fuel to do the same
thing. I am not going to start a war about how efficient gasoline is
compared to pure ethanol. Get the numbers straight from a knowledgeable
source.I do not have them. Size your gas tank to suit. Those of you in the
USA are fortunate, if you want to produce your own ethanol fuel then apply
for a licence for a few dollars. Go to the archives in "Mother Earth News"
and find the article on a modern high efficiency still that you can make.
The plans are very reasonable cost. If you can grow your own carbohydrate
vegetable. Process it into ethanol. The "still" will give you about 80%
ethanol and 20 % water.
That is an excellent mixture for a gas engine. The water will give you a
high octane rating, it reduces the burn rate thus more power ( the water
becomes steam and that pushes uniformly on the piston). There was a man (no
names given), living not too far away that grew sugar beets, which he made
into ethanol. He quoted the cost as 25 cents a gallon (Imperial ), no labour
or taxes involved. He ran his station wagon on this fuel. He had a sign in
the back window to the effect that this vehicle ran on alcohol. In Canada,
this is VERY illegal. After a few years the RCMPolice arrived and shut him
down. They said that they had been watching him, he was not abusing the
alcohol by selling or drinking it so nothing was done until some idiot in
bureaucratic Ottawa decided that he should not do this. This man solved the
problem by running for parliament in his area. He won. Government has a
problem. A member of parliament is charged with making alcohol. Solve the
problem, give him a permit to do so. (normally this would cost upwards of
$35,000.00 for a permit.) . The moral of this story is "adapt" Stop
bitching, do something constructive so that you can safely burn anywhere
from 10% to 100% ethanol, or any other fuel that shows up (natural gas,
propane, butane etc.) If you want to fly you must adapt. I am sending this
on a Friday, If it is too late send it next week on a Friday.
Regards
Harold Woods
Orillia, ON. Canada.
[email protected]
