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An education on E-10 gasoline additives: Solving phase separation with K100

by jmaloni
Fri, Oct 21st 2011 02:55 pm

by Mark Daul

Outdoors in Niagara

On Oct. 8, I wrote an article on E-10 gasoline and cautioned about using it in your boat, motorcycle, car or whatever kind of gasoline-powered engine you have because of "phase separation." I warned about using E-10 (10 percent ethanol) fuels (and E-15), and what to watch for and the real danger of mixing non-ethanol fuels with ethanol fuels. I advised that you keep your gas tank full and vents closed to help prevent air moisture (humidity) entering your tank. I also mentioned that if there was an additive for this problem the fuel companies would already have an answer, and it would be included in every gallon of fuel you bought, but it doesn't.

Phase separation is a real stickler, and an easy explanation for that term is "gasoline without ethanol doesn't absorb water like a mixture of gasoline with a 10 percent mixture of ethanol." You get a water/ethanol mixture on the bottom of the fuel tank, and a reduced-octane gasoline at the top of the tank. Either of those will damage your engine" according to BoatUS.

A couple of days after my article appeared in the Sentinel, I got a phone call from Mark Quallen, president of Kinetic Fuel Technology (K100) at 1205 Balmer Road, Youngstown. He asked if I would like to see a demonstration on K100. I welcomed that, as I am a longtime user and believer of the product. I went to the factory on Thursday, Oct. 13, and got an education.

Quallen gave me a demonstration on phase separation using water, which he drank in front of me to prove it was really just water. He poured some of it in a clear glass jar and added some K100 to it, gave it a short swirl to mix the water and K100 together, then held it up and it was mixed, never separating.

Next demo was gasoline, water added, and then K100. Water stayed at the bottom as it is heavier than gasoline, then he added a little K100, gave it all a swirl and bingo. Everything was mixed and the color looked just like the gasoline. As we stood and talked, I kept my eye on the mixtures, and never was there any kind of separation. Quallen held it up to the light after it sat, and it still looked like gasoline.

Remember, phase separation is moisture accumulating in the E10 fuel and dropping to the bottom of the gas tank causing fuel problems and fuel tank rust/sludge. That's where K100 shines. I could see with my own eyes, the K100, mixed in proper proportions, combined the water and gasoline into a burnable fuel. Get this: after a water and K-100 concoction was mixed, Quallen put a paper towel wick into one of the bottles and lit it. It burned cleanly, and he said it would burn that way until all the fuel and water mixture was used up.

We had a little discussion about what was said on the Fuel Testers website about K100 (http://www.fuel-testers.com/review_gas_treatment_products.html) and the K100 having alcohol content. That is completely false, and I was shown other so called "facts" on that website to be false also. Most of the product they tested is completely untested by the so-called fuel testers. In fact, that whole website appears outdated.

One of my friends got it right when he suggested they are just trying to sell their fuel test kit. Make a note for yourself: K-100 contains no alcohol, ethanol or other harmful things. K100 was developed in 1960 for other fuel purposes like old No. 6 diesel fuel, oil containing various undesirable impurities including 2 percent water, and through the years K-100 has been redeveloped and refined for use in today's gasoline engines.

If you want to buy K100, it sells anywhere from $7 to $8 for an 8-ounce bottle; it depends where you buy it. Locally, you can find it at Advance Auto Parts stores, NAPA Stores, Car Quest, Gui's Lumber, Warren's Lewiston Hardware, Coppins in Lewiston. Find it on the Native American reservation at: Smokin Joes, Hank's Smoke Shop, No Blanket, Garlow Road Trading Post and Rich Marine. As a last resort if you can't find it, go to the factory on Balmer Road and get it there - it's just inside the front door. An 8-ounce bottle treats 20 gallons of gasoline.

There is a K100 "G" and a K100 "MG" The ratio is 1:300 for the "G" and 1:150 for the "MG." Use the MG for longer periods of time, like storing over the winter, it is more concentrated.

Certainly, there are other products on the market, but be cautious on what you buy; most of them contain alcohol or other ingredients like that, and you will be adding a product that will only compound your problem. Kinetic makes a diesel mixture called K100 MD if you need diesel, or you can even use this product in your home heating oil.

If you would like a demo like I had, ask, go to its website here: http://www.k100fueltreatment.com/main.html. Tell them you saw it in the Sentinel!

If you want to read my earlier article in the Sentinel, click here: http://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2011/10/13/103951/caution-about-e-10-in-recreational-vehicle-gas-tank.

I want to add here before I forget, Quallen showed me how another brand of fuel stabilizer and water mixed. Be careful, the stabilizer I saw doesn't mix. I saw that myself. Mix a little of your stabilizer with water in a jar and see what you get: If it's oil based, stabilizer on top, water on bottom. You can't mix water and oil (gas). It just can't be done. If you have an alcohol-based "dry gas," don't waste your time; you are just adding big trouble. Like I said, gas, water, and K-100 mixed completely in front of my own eyes, then Quallen, went outside and dumped the mixes he made right into his own personal car. The K100 motto: "We Make Water Burn"

As previously reported, salmon fishing is hot right now in the lower Niagara. Shore fishermen are in their glory fishing the Whirlpool and Devil's Hole areas, using Cleo's, K.O. Wobblers, big spinners and eggs. The water today, as this is written, is murky but should be cleared out by the weekend, barring any more high winds in Lake Erie.

You can even try the fishermen's landing at the bottom of the Power Authority. You can't park down there unless you have the proper permit, and parking at the top parking lot can be a chore. So, if you can, have someone pick you up and drive you down. The effort will be well worth it, especially if you would like to take home one of your catches, or bring a camera so you don't have to tell tales, and you will have proof!

For the latest fishing reports go to www.OutdoorsNiagara.com and go to the Outdoors Forum and see what others have to report.

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