ethanol problems

[pelican]

there's alot of bad information,concerning ethanol - every time i read something like the following i laugh...

"I took Lil Dinghy out of the water when hurricane Irene went through. The tanks had a small amount of fuel in one tank and a full tank in the other. I went to put antifreeze in the raw water side to prevent freezing with this storm and cold coming through and all I had to do was run the engine enough to suck it in. The dam E-10 had separated already and while I was trying to get it to run long enough to circulate the antifreeze through it I blew out the power valve and I just got the antifreeze in. So next spring, I'll be rebuilding the carb. Oh by the way, it had Startron in the tanks from when I filled them. It doesn't take much time for the phase separation to occur. "

i "lifted" that from a site i read alot - the information posted on the site,along with some of the techniques,are far from accurate.

with all that...

if you're experiencing a constant phase seperation,or water in your fuel,you need to find the source - continuing to blame the fuel isn't going to solve the problem - finding the surce of the water will.
these problems can only be caused by 2 things - the source of the fuel - meaning,you're purchasing bad fuel,or,you've got a problem in the fuel system...
most common cause of fuel contamination is the deck fill - it's missing an o-ring,on the cap.you need to inspect the fuel system at least once a season - if not,you're asking for trouble...
fuel tanks can and will leak - water will leak into the tanks as well - sounds hard to believe i know.in saltwater applications - what often occurs is the erosions that occur in the bottom of the tank,these become so impacted with salt,the fuel has a very small seep - resulting in a very faint odor of fuel - i promise you,i've seen this more times than you can imagine.
i'm no fan of ethanol in fuel - but,constantly blaming fuel for every problem is a little carried away - and again,if you're experiencing a problem,such as i described,you need to check the fuel system,this is probably where your problem lies...

check out these pictures - this tank had 12 holes in the bottom - the client's complaint was a faint odor of fuel...
the pictures through the opening for the sender - that's not a spec - it's a hole,that's directly inline with the sender...