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Thread OP
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Question
How do you tell when older glow fuel is no longer any good ???
Hi guys, I got about 3/4 of a gallon of Omega 15% nitro for free from a guy that flew his Hobbico Superstar 40 into a tree several years back. Not sure exactly how many years ago, but the price tag on the bottle was $16.99. Is there a good way to tell if this stuff is still good ? I have run three motors on it already but have not flown it in any planes yet. It seemed hard to start the OS 46 in my brand new Nexstar, but eventually it seemed to run okay. I then tried it on my engine test stand on an OS 46FX and an OS 60 FP, and it seemed to run okay on those engines. I'm wondering if it's worth it though to use it in the air, or should I just get rid of it ? Thanks in advance for your replies, Shooboy
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If the caps were on it it's fine to use.
I've used fuel more than 5 years old without issues since it was capped. The price isn't that low so it's probably less than 3-4 years old. |
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I paid $15.99 for a gallon of Cool Power 15% just last week. Yours isnt very old from the price. As said if the cap was on the bottle and your engines start on it it is good to go
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If you have the fuel container sealed and it hasn't leaked and it was kept out of the sunlight, then it is still good. I have used fuel that was 20 years old and it still works fine.
Usually the fuel turns a odd color and develops a cloudy milky like effect to it. The milky like effect is water contamination and the odd color is sunlight affecting it. But even then it may still work OK. someone a while back did some tests and he had to add as much as 20% water to the fuel to get a effect on how the engine runs. So even a little moisture or water contamination doesn't really affect it much. For the fuel to go bad, you have to have some means of allowing the methanol (alcohol) in the fuel to evaporate which would affect the percentages of the ingredients. That is usually a loose filler cap on the container or a leaky container. |
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I did some tests quite a few years ago on adding water to fuel and found that too much water would make the oil fall out of solution. The amount of water needed was temperature dependent but on a mild day was only around 3-4% water. This was with zero nitro fuel so I can't say what affect nitro might have.
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My fuel is not old about 2 months.
I have kept it in the flight box in a hot car, not sealed container.My engine would not run without the glow attached. We changed glow plug and same thing. I was just going to change engine but another flyer asked to use some of my fuel. same thing in his plane. I used some other fuel and engine then ran fine. I guess the heat in the car evaporated some of the Nitro or alcohol. Is it possible to put the punch back into the fuel? It is almost a full gallon. I purchased another new gallon to use. |
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Thanks
Looks like it will be weed killer |
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If the container is not closed, it absorbs moisture.
Somewhere online is a fiarly comprehensive test of moisutre in glow fuel, but the bottom line was, if it looked clear, not cloudy, it would run fine. If it was cloudy when cool, but cleared when warm, it would run fine when warm and clear. If the jug sits in the sunlight, the UV in the sunlight will degrade the nitro, making it into lower or 0% nitro fuel over time. And even if there are some issues, you can mix it 50/50 with fresh fuel and use it. Or keep it around for cleaning engines stuffed into the dirt. |
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