saws with mind of their own

[Trains]

Huh. I didn't know that today's standard pump gas was suitable for lanterns and stoves. Thanks, Al.

Does the octane matter?

I would still use the stove fuel over pump gas/ unleaded, yes it can be used, but its still got quite a few additives that you dont need to run your stove/ lanterns with, and they will clog the generators over time.

Have restored a few coleman stoves, single, dual and triple burners and lanterns over the years, and many other pressure kero and aladdin lamps too.

 

[Burnham]

That sounds more right to me, too. It's not like I go through a lot of gallons of the stuff.

 

[Trains]

The pump gas has extra additives that degrade over time and cause varnish etc, not good for stoves/ lanterns, where as its often burned in a car before the fuel starts to oxidise too much.

yes you can run pump gas, but ive had to clean out many generators that were used fine on pump gas till they didnt work well anymore, and they smell worse when you shut them off too on pump gas.

 

[cory]

Shit's getting crazy. Warm again today, 80*. Husky 572 acting up again but I didn't use it much today, used my main 201 which until this week is always a beast of a small saw. At one point, I couldnt get it started no matter what I did. That is a first. Got another, old 201 going to finish the job.

It's a problem when you cut wood for a living and your saws run poorly or not at all. With husky yesterday and 201 today, removed fuel cap and loads of fuel burst out, and then remaining fuel in tank bubbled for another 45 secs.

Alrighty then.

The above post was 4/13/23.

Today, 4/29/24, was an exact duplication of last year- first 80* day of the year, warm saws won't start, remove 201 fuel cap and fuel fully explodes out of the tank, spraying everywhere. And yes, It's a problem when you cut wood for a living and your saws run poorly or not at all.

 

[Nutball]

Canned fuel to the rescue? Might have to leave the saw running. I was trimming hedges recently with a poulan trimmer. It tends to get hot and vapor lock, so I'd always leave it running, and I'd tweak the choke while at idle until it idled a little richer, otherwise it can start to lean out and stall. I would also leave the choke half on, but ran it at half throttle since it reaches max rpm at half anyway, but I'd go full throttle when it would start to lean out from getting hot, and that would cause the the half choke to take affect and bog it down/ cool it off with a lot more fuel coming in , kind of like regulating the H screw with the throttle trigger. It's a picky tool, but I do what I have to. I put up with a lot more than most people probably would. I did have to finish the next day because it caught me off guard and vaporlocked while trimming, and I could not get it going again. Also, it started running out of gas on day 2 while hot when I had like 2 more quick passes to make, so the first thing I did was full choke and full throttle to hopefully prime it before it died to make restarting while vapor locked easier.

 

[Burnham]

Bummer, Cory. That has to be very frustrating.

 

[lxskllr]

Bummer. Canned gas is still my only suggestion. Never really had that problem down here. Maybe we get different additives, or the corn free I buy doesn't have them at all. I'm using fuel I bought in December, so if it changes to winter mix, that should be it, but everything's fine.

 

[SeanKroll]

Are you leaving the gas in the sun?

If you add cold mix gas to does it matter?

Are you seeing boiling gas?

 

[cory]

No, gas can always in tool box, relatively cool.

No doesn't matter, I guess cuz saw is already warm/hot.

Yes, I think so- gas which exploded out of tank opening, the remainder appeared to be bubbling.

 

[Nutball]

Other than different fuel, the only solution I can think of would be to install a rapid cooling system on the saw into which you put a shot of some cooling compressed gas (CO2 cartridge, or electronics duster) to cool the fuel and carb, and possibly the engine too, but you wouldn't want to thermal shock it.

 

[SeanKroll]

Do you allow any cooling to happen before shutting off?

Is the gas boiling while running? I would turn off the saw and check immediately.

 

[davidwyby]

@huskihl ?

I haven't read this thread in a while but higher octane is cooler. May need to retune. I don't have as much trouble and it's a lot hotter here. My saws are older too though.

VP is da best.

What happens if you dump the hot gas out and dump fresh cool in?

 

[Nutball]

What happens if you dump the hot gas out and dump fresh cool in?

Inconvenience happens.

 

[lxskllr]

Quicker to just put a couple ice cubes in the tank.

 

[SeanKroll]

(-)40⁰ to (-)76⁰ for gas ice cubes.

 

[davidwyby]

Liquid nitrogen to the rescue

 

[davidwyby]

Inconvenience happens.

I meant more for diagnosis than an operating procedure. Or maybe in a pinch…

 

[Nutball]

(-)40⁰ to (-)76⁰ for gas ice cubes.

I looked it up too, but with the high variability of the freezing point of gas, it probably wouldn't work well. Maybe something more pure like a little cube of methanol would work. I don't know if frozen alkylate would be better.

 

[huskihl]

@huskihl ?

I haven't read this thread in a while but higher octane is cooler. May need to retune. I don't have as much trouble and it's a lot hotter here. My saws are older too though.

VP is da best.

What happens if you dump the hot gas out and dump fresh cool in?

Higher octane will help the boiling at low temperatures. It comes from leftover winter fuel still in the tanks by spring typically

 

[davidwyby]

Higher octane will help the boiling at low temperatures. It comes from leftover winter fuel still in the tanks by spring typically

Prolly never have that here 😆

 

[Nutball]

I wonder if an Echo 303t would have the same problem, because they have the carb and gas tank on the front, with the carb attaching to the coolest side of the engine (bottom of the crank case), so it shouldn't get heat soaked much, and with the saw hanging on a lanyard, heat will not rise into the carb and gas tank unlike a 201T or T540.

 

[SeanKroll]

I looked it up too, but with the high variability of the freezing point of gas, it probably wouldn't work well. Maybe something more pure like a little cube of methanol would work. I don't know if frozen alkylate would be better.

I think (cleanly) dumping the mix back into the fuel can and refilling with cooler mix would be more practical.

 

[Nutball]

Make some reusable ice cubes (plastic filled with water, as long as it's gas proof plastic like PE) to put in the saw's tank while in the tree. Keep it in a thermos with dry ice.

Urban-Essentials-Reusable-Ice-Cubes