Having actually done some "water mixed with ethanol" testing, I'd like to throw this in the mix. There's a Poor Man's Ethanol test in which you measure a finite amount of suspected fuel into a calibrated container, add something like 10% pure water, shake vigorously, and then check to see if you have 110% of what you had after you added water, or something less than that (indicating ethanol in the fuel). In the case that you DO have ethanol, the water will mix with it and make a yellowish mix of "something" that settles to the bottom like water, in about 5-10 minutes, and you'll have less than 110% of what you started with due to the solution. I'm pretty sure that crap won't burn either, and on takeoff (when most of this nasty stuff happens), you'll be screwed, and perhaps looking for a new airplane afterwards.
Having said that, I ran for over a year and probably 200 hours (1000 gallons of fuel, on average) burning ethanol-laced fuel with no problems at all. My basic mantra was that I have foam core Derakane epoxied vinylester tanks which so far appear to be impervious to ethanol. As soon as I park it in the hangar I fill them up to displace any air and minimize the possibility of introducing water vapor into the mix. But another thing I've learned about gasoline is that the rules for what's in autofuel are a LOT more lax than the rules for what constitutes 100LL. I know folks who've put various fuels in their airplane that dissolved the epoxy right out of the fiberglass and within hours it turned it into a runny brown goo that resembled caramel, which then proceeded to choke off everything from the tank outlet to the carb throat, so it is a crapshoot! Just my perspective on this.... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
