Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » Easy Test for Ethanol in Gasoline
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| Re: [GMCnet] Easy Test for Ethanol in Gasoline [message #192402 is a reply to message #192401] |
Thu, 06 December 2012 15:46   |
C Boyd
Messages: 2629
Registered: April 2006
Karma: 18
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Rob: basicly says you can use water soluble food color to tell if gas has alcohol in it. Using a clear container put a drop of blue food coloring in it. If it mixes it has alcohol, if it falls to the bottom in a glob it is pure gas. No way to tell percentage just that is either pure or not for aviation use in private aircraft.
C. Boyd
76 Crestmont
East Tennessee
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| Re: [GMCnet] Easy Test for Ethanol in Gasoline [message #192404 is a reply to message #192402] |
Thu, 06 December 2012 16:04 |
C Boyd
Messages: 2629
Registered: April 2006
Karma: 18
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So couple of dumb questions? if a measured amount was used would the higher % of ethonol change the shade of the food color? Like lighter, if so might could make a color chart to find %?
It was discussed here about using vom probes to try to test for % of ethonol. I believe it was noted that possibly a difference could be registered under controled circumstances. I am also led to believe that led lights change color with voltage. Other than the obvious of mixing electricty and gas would it be possible to use a led light run thru specialized electrodes in a beaker to tell % of ethonol with led color change??
| C Boyd wrote on Thu, 06 December 2012 16:46 |
Rob: basicly says you can use water soluble food color to tell if gas has alcohol in it. Using a clear container put a drop of blue food coloring in it. If it mixes it has alcohol, if it falls to the bottom in a glob it is pure gas. No way to tell percentage just that is either pure or not for aviation use in private aircraft.
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C. Boyd
76 Crestmont
East Tennessee
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| Re: [GMCnet] Easy Test for Ethanol in Gasoline [message #192405 is a reply to message #192402] |
Thu, 06 December 2012 16:11 |
k2gkk
Messages: 4452
Registered: November 2009
Karma: -8
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Senior Member |
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Ethanol testing made easy
Kent Misegades | GAfuels | 21 hours ago
GAfuels readers already know of the many advantages to using mogas
in aircraft approved for its use. Not only does its save them
$1.40-$1.50 per gallon compared to avgas, but these pilots are
making real progress in reducing lead emissions from general
aviation, the only significant consumer of leaded fuel on the planet.
While your bloggers would always recommend obtaining aviation-grade
mogas directly from a fuel terminal, and have it delivered and
stored in aviation-grade fuel equipment at your airport, in many
instances the gasoline obtainable at retail gas stations and marinas
is quite suitable for aircraft, provided it has the correct octane
(AKI) rating and contains no ethanol. It is absolutely necessary to
check each and every batch of fuel obtained from retail sellers of
gasoline for the presence of ethanol, regardless how the pump may be
labeled. (Fuel contamination is rare, but occurs for every type of
fuel, including avgas and Jet-A).
Fortunately, it is easy, quick and cheap to check for ethanol’s
presence in fuel. Petersen Aviation describes how this is done with
a simple olive jar and a small amount of water. It even offers a
reusable tester for a small fee. Fuel-Testers.com offers its
Quick Check Solution that makes use of a special dye.
Recently a member of the Aviation Fuel Club, Gilbert Pierce of
Germantown, Tenn., sent us the description of how he tests for
ethanol using a few drops of ordinary food coloring:
“While driving 20 miles into Mississippi to get ethanol-free gasoline
for my airplane I was contemplating what must be in the blue dye that
is in the Quick Check Solution kit. It occurred to me that what ever
it was had to be water soluble so it would mix with the ethanol. I
always check the suppliers of ethanol-free fuel before pumping any
gas as I have been lied to about it. Anyway, the test kit that you
add water to is a hassle and takes a few minutes to settle out. The
blue Fuel-Check works great but is expensive. When I got home I got
my wife’s red, blue and green food coloring out; it’s water soluble.
A quick check with pint jars of ethanol-free fuel and adulterated
fuel indicated that a drop of any color food coloring will dissolve
and turn the adulterated fuel the same color as the food coloring.
Putting a drop of food coloring in pure gasoline, the drop just goes
to the bottom of the sample and rolls around there as little globules.
Now I just carry a bottle of inexpensive and readily obtainable food
coloring and a quart glass jar – it’s easier to get a fuel sample into
– and have an instant indication of ethanol free fuel or adulterated fuel.”
Remember, always test every batch of gasoline purchased at any location
other than an airport — “Let the buyer beware” !
The GAfuels Blog is written by two private pilots concerned about the
future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft: Dean Billing,
of Sisters, Ore., a pilot, homebuilder and expert on autogas and ethanol,
and Kent Misegades, Cary, N.C., an aerospace engineer, aviation sales
rep for U-Fuel, and president of EAA1114.
> To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
> From: covered-wagon@comcast.net
> Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2012 15:46:06 -0600
> Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Easy Test for Ethanol in Gasoline
>
>
>
> Rob: basicly says you can use water soluble food color to tell if gas has alcohol in it. Using a clear container put a drop of blue food coloring in it. If it mixes it has alcohol, if it falls to the bottom in a glob it is pure gas. No way to tell percentage just that is either pure or not for aviation use in private aircraft.
>
> Robert Mueller wrote on Thu, 06 December 2012 16:30
> > Hal,
> >
> > For some reason I can't get the website to open.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Rob M.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: gmclist-bounces@temp.gmcnet.org [mailto:gmclist-bounces@temp.gmcnet.org] On Behalf Of Hal Kading
> > Sent: Friday, December 07, 2012 8:04 AM
> > To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
> > Subject: [GMCnet] Easy Test for Ethanol in Gasoline
> >
> >
> >
> > An quick and easy test for ethanol in gasoline from General Aviation News.
> >
> > http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2012/12/05/ethanol-testing-made-easy/
> >
> > Hal Kading 78 Buskirk Las Cruces NM
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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>
> --
> C. Boyd
> 76 Crestmont
> East Tennessee
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| Re: [GMCnet] Easy Test for Ethanol in Gasoline [message #192464 is a reply to message #192405] |
Fri, 07 December 2012 07:10 |
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Matt Colie
Messages: 8547
Registered: March 2007
Location: S.E. Michigan
Karma: 7
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Senior Member |
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After I read the procedure, I began to wonder. I knew from early experiments (c.1982) that there is a water/alcohol solubility issue. This means that gasoline with 10% E-hol will suspend 2~3% water before it separates. A drop of food color in a pint jar may be below that threshold. It may even dissolve into the mix.
We used to have a literal chemistry lab set up with glassware and all kinds of stuff so my guy could publish the actual alcohol content of fuels being used in those tests that required it. To vertify the procedure, we had to get certified fuel and add alcohol (denatured would not do  !) at a known concentration ratio and then work it back out. This proved that we could quantify to 0.01% of total volume. This is what I was remembering when KenB said he checked fuel with a single bottle.
I did it Ken's way and then got back to thinking of graduates, stirrers and pipettes. So, I now do it most of Ken's way, but I add 10cc of water with a graduated syringe to the 100cc sample. When it settles, I use the same syringe to suck out 10ccs of what has settled. I spit that on the ground, and then go back, if there is anything left, and suck it up. Read the syringe and I have a good bet on both the E-hol content and how bad the fuel rate will suffer on this next tank.
Matt
Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit
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