What is the deal with E5 and E10 Fuel
To put it simply the difference between E5 and E10 Unleaded fuel is the percentage amount of Ethanol within the fuel mixture itself provided by the all the main fuel suppliers.
Ethanol is a renewable fuel made from various plant materials collectively known as "biomass." This can be made from Starch or Sugar feedstocks.
When Ethanol is mixed with Gasoline it creates an Octane level such as 95 or 98.
As we are concerned about how the amount of Ethanol within the fuel that we use for our garden machinery and how it affects its performance we should look at how and why we use certain petrol within our machines.
Most of you will relate to the following.
I am guessing you pop down the local filling station with jerry can in tow,
fill up your jerry cans with the cheapest 95 octane fuel the petrol station has to offer then off home filling our lawnmowers with the recently purchased petrol.
NOTE: Standard grade (95 octane) petrol became E10 in Great Britain in September 2021 and in Northern Ireland in November 2022.
I am referring to the UK only.
So, this was all good until fuel suppliers decided to up the octane value of the cheapest fuel to E10 (10% ethanol). What does this mean?
More Ethanol within that cheap fuel.
NOTE: Now at this point I just to draw your attention to you that the more expensive Supreme Unleaded is still at E5, just 5% of Ethanol within its mix.
What does this mean for our Lawnmowers, 4 stroke and 2 Stroke machines?
Well unfortunately the more Ethanol within the fuel, it has a greater risk of damaging parts within our small garden machinery.
Ethanol is a solvent and as so can have dramatic consequences to smaller rubber parts and gaskets. As a solvent it breaks down certain materials, especially rubber.
Over time E10 can bind with water and cause corrosion within our small engines so as well as the damage it can cause to rubber and gaskets.
Ethanol can bind with water over time and start to corrode parts within the engine.
E10 is not a smart choice for small engines, thus you should be looking at buying the more expensive E5 Supreme Fuel when filling up that jerry can.
As a business servicing and repairing lawn mowers and all types of small garden machinery, hedge trimmers, strimmer’s, rotavator’s, snow blowers – the list goes on. I would never replenish any machines with E10 fuel. Yes, I would happily use E5 still which is slightly more expensive, and the above advice is provided to every customer as standard.
There is another option of course which is a Brand of fuel called Aspen 4 or Aspen 2 depending on if you want 4 stroke or 2 stroke.
Aspen fuel contains NO Ethanol whatsoever.
Mad about Mowers is not sponsored by Aspen, but the product speaks for itself and is worth the money in terms of what it offers. Please do check it out.
You can find the Aspen website HERE. https://www.aspenfuels.com/
So, one problem customers have is starting the machinery after winter.
Spring has sprung and we all potter off to our sheds to dig out the mower, blow off the dust and attempt to start the mower.
Well, I am guessing some will start and some will not.
The main issue after winter storage is normally a blocked carburettor, as in the fuel over time degrades and turns into a varnish, sometimes thickens up and turns to a jelly format.
E10 fuel will certainly contribute to this, where as E5 or Aspen will help keep the carburettor clean and hopefully start when you want it to at the beginning of the season.
Aspen fuel will not degrade or damage your carburettor at all, and your machine should start up normally on that first attempt.
E10 fuel on the other hand will most definitely of gone stale and started to form a jelly like substance which in turn blocks the fuel jets thus not letting fuel into the combustion chamber and may have done some damage to the rubber gaskets internally within the machine.
E5 Supreme fuel should be ok, but as it still contains Ethanol at 5% and it can still go stale and potentially cause what we call varnishing of the carburettor building up a layer of what can only be described as varnish which can also block fuel jets.
However, as a bonus E5 Supreme fuel does also contain various cleaners within it is make up and so this is ok to use helping to keep your engine clean of contaminants and help keep carbon deposits at a minimum and help clean that carburettor for better performance.
Overwintering your lawnmower or small garden machinery is simple.
Clean the machine of all grass, and more importantly empty any fuel out within the fuel system including the carburettor including the fuel tank.
It would always be a good idea to have your lawnmower winterised at your local Lawnmower shop.
Although this is not in any way mandatory this is good practice which in turn will keep your machinery clean, and ready for the following season.
Any good garden machinery centre can do this for you.
I do hope this article was helpful
If you would like to add to this article, please do send me an email to info@madaboutmowers.co.uk and share any additions you would like to make.
What is the deal with E5 and E10 Unleaded Fuel
Written by Paul Hallissey, owner of www.madaboutmowers.co.uk
The above article shall not be shared or copied in any way shape or form unless permission is granted from the owner of Mad about Mowers.
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