Alkylate petrol for the chainsaw

[SimonFisher]

Using my petrol-engined Stihl garden vacuum (leaf blower) a few weeks ago around the garden I found myself surrounded by a fog of unpleasant exhaust fumes. Till now, I've always used regular unleaded petrol with two-stroke oil added myself in this Stihl engine and that of my MS-260 chainsaw.

Quite by chance a few days later I came across Aspen Alkylate Petrol. The Aspen 2 is a ready-mixed (with 2% oil) for two-stroke engines. The Aspen 4 is for four-stroke engines.

I bought some of the Aspen 2 a few days ago from Winchester Garden Machinery inside Hillier Garden Centre, Liss, Hampshire and I used it yesterday for the first time in the chainsaw yesterday. I couldn't really tell if it was any less unpleasant as it was reasonably breezy and I guess the wind was blowing the exhaust fumes away from me. Perhaps a session with the garden vacuum will be a better comparison.

Anyone else using or tried alkylate petrol - Aspen's or other? What do you think of it?

[woodbodger]

Get a life: the thing to look for is a high lead content: your leaf blower will run so smoothly. Or if you want to be GREEN get a scythe.

[SimonFisher]

I'm not sure I see how your response really addresses any of the questions in my post as I didn't raise the issue of the smooth running of my leaf blower or wanting to be GREENer. If you've not got anything useful to say, go watch Strictly Come Dancing...

[woodbodger]

Guess I ought to have my sense of humour checked out.

[tracy]

Never heard of it Simon, let us know how you get on with it!

[happybonzo]

I use Aspen 2T for all my chainsaws. You don't seem to get the headaches that are associated with unleaded. The machines run cleaner and start more easily. It's a win/win situation as far as I am concerned

2T is a ready mix of 50/1

I recently bought a Mitox powerhead unit that is rated to run on 40/1. The suppliers, W J Green of Hadleigh, said that it was perfectly OK to run the unit on Aspen Fuel

I also use 4T for my Honda gennies. I don't have to worry about them having fuel left in the tank as the stuff doesn't seem to go "off" - whatever the right term is

I also use Aspen 4T for my petrol stoves as it is, or appears to be, the same as Coleman Fuel: Obviously it works out very much cheaper than Coleman Fuel in silly little 1/2 litre tins

4T is used like ordinary petrol

There is diesel fuel made by Aspen but I haven't tried that yet

I know that Aspen fuels are not cheap but for the fill and forget factor alone I find that it's worth it

[RichardKing]

It may produce fewer unpleasant exhaust fumes, but from what I have read elsewhere there appears to be no overall benefit to the environment. Since this product is even more highly processed & therefore has a greater carbon footprint than the regular petrol/oil mix. It can also damage your pocket.

[happybonzo]

The greatest advantage to me is that the fuel doesn't go "off" I don't know what the technical term is but I have a lot of probs with 2 stroke fuel over the years. The worst problem s to deal with a sort of shellac build up in carburetters.

You don't get that problem with Aspen fuel.

I find that running it through machines that don't get a lot of use seems to eliminate that happening. You could suggest that running the machine with the fuel turned off would also achieve the same result but I've found that small diaphragms in a lot of carbs don't like drying out.

[SimonFisher]

The 5 litres of Aspen 2 that I bought last week was the equivalent of £3.52 (including VAT) per litre.

[TreeWorks Uk]

I use Aspen professionally. Yes, its’ nearly three time the cost of unleaded but I find the health benefits far outweigh the extra cost. I used to come home with headaches and stinking of 2 stroke, especially when working in dense woodland but not anymore.

Alkylate is produced from the clean gases released from refining crude oil so I don’t think there can be much extra processing to be done. It’s got to be better for the environment if it doesn’t contain benzene and other aromatic hydrocarbons.