Why put heet in your cars gas?

I was just in Walmart grabbing some lunch and in the front of the store was a large display of heet fuel additive and other winter essentials.
The temp here in northern Indiana is supposed to get pretty damn low. Like minus 15.

Now I remember as a kid in the 80s my dad putting heet in our cars when it got super cold. He said it kept water condensation under control.
Made since to me.
"Sence" oops..

Now today I saw cart after cart of this crap in the store and I wondered why.
Our gas here has 10% ethanol added at the pump.
Alcohol absorbs moisture so why are people adding more alcohol to their tanks?

I just dont get it.
Am I missing something?

www.goldeagle.com...

Logical...

a reply to: Bluntone22

Biggest problem is peeps keeping their tank half empty of less for long periods.... especially in summer. It allows condensation on the top of the tank. If you had that much water in your fuel lines....the car would not run.

a reply to: lakenheath24

Wouldn't the ethanol absorb the water?

a reply to: Bluntone22

Not sure to be honest. Diesels are far more sensitive to water. What year make model and mileage we talking about?

Ethanol is a renewable fuel made from corn and other plant materials. The use of ethanol is widespread, and more than 98% of gasoline in the U.S. contains some ethanol. The most common blend of ethanol is E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline


Ok then... spose you have 15 gallons of fuel, you would already have one and a half gallons of ethanol right ! These 'HEET' containers are what 3-5 oz.'s
Sure it makes no sense to use it as recommended on the product label.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Ethanol is actually pretty evil stuff on an engine. I will NOT run it in any of my small motors like weed whacker a, chain saws etc. It kills them by attracting moisture

www.popularmechanics.com...

a reply to: lakenheath24

It doesnt matter really.
I just dont understand why anyone would add heet which is basically alcohol to their gas when your gas already has alcohol in it from the pump.

It seems redundant and a waste of money.

The freezing point of gasoline is -150F. You're right in that ethanol in gasoline can absorb water, but the fact is, it's not going to be a problem unless you car sits for long periods of time. A daily driver is going to cycle through the gasoline fast enough so that it isn't a serious problem. I have two vehicles that sit far too long: A Silverado Duramax and a Corvette. I use Stabil in these vehicles. there is a separate version of Stabil for diesels. These type of products do not make the water "go away." It's still in the tank. The idea is to break up the water so it will go through your fuel injectors a tiny bit at a time and not foul the combustion chamber. As you will note from the video below, alcohol works just as well as heet and is a whole lot cheaper.

originally posted by: lakenheath24
a reply to: Bluntone22

Ethanol is actually pretty evil stuff on an engine. I will NOT run it in any of my small motors like weed whacker a, chain saws etc. It kills them by attracting moisture

www.popularmechanics.com...

Yeah, the marinas around here kept real busy working on boat motors that got messed up by ethanol.

a reply to: Bluntone22
What your missing is your BS meter. It aint working. I assume your talking about condensation in your fuel tank? Forget the system from the tank to the engine, it's a closed system where nothing can get in. Except if you have a fault in your cylinder head gasket to allow water to enter the system.
Now your tank. For water to condense it has to be in the tank in the first place and it can only get in naturally with the fuel.
For water to condense, say in the tank, the inside must be hotter than the outside. Now being as the fuel in the tank doesn't heat up condensation will not happen. If by some chance water does get into your tank it will settle at the bottom of the tank as fuel is more dense than the water and the fuel will float on the top.

a reply to: schuyler

I have used rubbing alchohol before ethanol was added to gas.
And I use stabil in my gas when I winterize my mowers. Works great or I just haven't had any problems yet.

Totally not the grammar police, making since is incorrect it should be sense, I had a boss who used cents in that way, would drive me crazy. Hey at least it wasn't scents....In regards to your post, the sell is for suckers and preppers gasoline freezes at -100 the 10% at the pumps is more than enough to quell condensation, most say to ensure your tank is at least 1/2 full but I really do not think it matters.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
I was just in Walmart grabbing some lunch and in the front of the store was a large display of heet fuel additive and other winter essentials.
The temp here in northern Indiana is supposed to get pretty damn low. Like minus 15.

Now I remember as a kid in the 80s my dad putting heet in our cars when it got super cold. He said it kept water condensation under control.
Made since to me.

Now today I saw cart after cart of this crap in the store and I wondered why.
Our gas here has 10% ethanol added at the pump.
Alcohol absorbs moisture so why are people adding more alcohol to their tanks?

I just dont get it.
Am I missing something?

www.goldeagle.com...

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: lakenheath24

Wouldn't the ethanol absorb the water?

I'm pretty sure water ruins ethanol since the ethanol burns but the water doesn't
Water in gasoline is just as bad

a reply to: crayzeed

I think my bs meter is what started the whole thing.
It's working....lol

a reply to: UniformKilo

Damn grammar nazis!

Lol... auto correct is where I'm placing the blame for that one..

a reply to: Bluntone22

Its methanol. Dont try smelling it if you plan on drinking any vodka this week.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Buddy had a boat inFt Walton Beach. we filled up and took her out, smelling gas the whole way. We put it down to spilling some fuel. Well about 2 miles out we lift the engine cowling and holy bajeezus there is about 3 inches of fuel covering the bottom. Ethanol had helped eat the bottom of the fuel filter bowls out.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I just run em til they quit. Best to burn the fuel off and leave em empty. Now Methanol, I use a methanol injector with my Turbo Ford......makes the charge cooler so you can run more boost.

Ethanol SUCKS.

It drastically reduced gasoline shelf life.

When gas was gas you didn't need additives.

90-100 days Gasoline Expiration - Ethanol Blend Fuels Have a Short Shelf Life. An Alcohol Fuel Test Kit will give you the data you need to keep engines safe with E10 gasoline. E10 Gas has a shelf life of only 3 months. Ethanol alcohol fuel blends have a shelf life of only 90-100 days, under ideal environmental conditions.

This is why people use additives.