Dennis O'Connor wrote:

Get a glass column and test each time you get a fresh load from the station...

Easy and simple... Takes about two minutes... And if there is no change in
the height of the column of gas, then let the water settle out and carefully
decant most of the gas off the top and you won't be wasting but a teaspoon of
gas in doing the check..

Jay Honeck replied:

How's that work again, Denny? What's a "glass column?" Are you watching
the level to see if the alcohol evaporates?

We haven't been testing our auto gas for alcohol, but I would like to.

OK, the long answer would require a significant amount of college-level
chemistry. The short answer is ethanol (grain alcohol, the alcohol that is used
as an oxygenate in gasoline) would prefer to be mixed with water rather than
gasoline. So if you take a known quantity of water and agitate it with a
comparable amount of gasoline containing some alcohol, then when the churning
stops some portion of the alcohol that was in solution with the gasoline is now
in solution with the water. Since the water-gasoline boundary is easily seen,
and since the addition of the alcohol to the water makes the water+alcohol
solution have more volume, then the if the water-gasoline boundary moves up
(more water volume), there is alcohol in the gasoline.

A glass column is simply a clear-sided glass cylinder that has a
gasoline-resistant sealing cap. They are frequently graduated (marked with
volume indications like "1/2 pint" or "25 ml.") but for this test a Sharpie will
suffice:

1. Go to the grocery store
2. Buy: 1 loaf of bread, 1 approx. 12 oz jar Smuckers brand strawberry
preserves, 1 approx. 12 oz jar Jif brand Extra crunchy peanut butter, 1 Sharpie
black marker
3. Make PB&J sandwiches and enjoy.
4. Recycle empty Jif peanut butter jar (it's plastic; #1 HDPE I think)
5. Wash & dry empty Smuckers preserves jar and lid. Remove all trace of
Smuckers label and adhesive.
6. Using Sharpie, mark jar at bit short of the half-full point (13/32 for you
anal-retentives out there). Make a nice long, straight line.
7. Fill jar to mark with tap water. It is important to fill jar *precisely* to
this mark.
8. Add gasoline sample to jar. Fill to approx. mostly full; you want a small
pocket of air.
9. Cap jar tightly.
10. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds.
11. Let stand approx. 30 seconds.
12. Check water-gasoline boundary. If it has moved upwards (relative to the
mark), then the gasoline sample has (had) alcohol in it.
13. Uncap and carefully transfer gasoline (only) into the fuel tank of a
non-life-sensitive engine (like the mower, the snowblower, etc.) A turkey
baster may be employed to "decant" the gasoline, but be careful to use one made
of a plastic not overly reactive with gasoline (polystyrene is right out :-)

The only important thing about the jar is that it be non-reactive (glass is
best) and that it be clear (no moulded patterns).


Russell Kent