what is this?

[Mike Dempsey]

Used my  husky 353 for the first time in 18 months yesterday. The tank was empty so it was filled with fresh petrol/2 stroke mix. Started after a few pulls and ran ok all day logging up some beech for firewood.

Last night put it on the bench to sharpen the chain and refuel it and noticed the crystals or granulated sugar in the tank. It was stuck to the inside walls of the tank and I assume its whats left after the last tank of petrol evaporated slowly. Is this the ethanol in the petrol as I have been led to believe that the 2 stroke oil turns into a gel. I have only used Shell petrol in any of my saws.

I have 3 or 4 other saws including a 660 and 880 for milling, and none of them have this issue.

It took me ages scraping it off the walls of the tank anf rinsing out the tank but I think I have it all out now and will keep a close eye on it.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Mike Dempsey

[daltontrees]

That can't be good.

 

This link is quite informative on the subject.

The real story of Stale Petrol

WWW.GARDEN-KIT.CO.UK

---

The truth behind the stale petrol issue. Petrol really does go stale as this article by Devon Aspen agent Garden Kit reveals...

All I can think of is that the sugary stuff is salts of aluminium origin. Which could only have come from the body of the saw. My daughter has a crystal growing kit which uses aluminium salts that seem to crystallise readily. They're hopefully not too abrasive

 

[peatff]

That looks too much like sugar, have you upset anyone ? Get someone gullible to taste it for you.

[Heavy Oil Saw]

I’ve never seen petrol leave crystals like that before, brown sludge like in the link describes, but never sugar looking stuff?
Sorry I can’t be much more help, though personally, I’d be up for tasting it.

[Haironyourchest]

Weird. Never heard of that before. Send some to a chem lab for analysis. Or phone Husq tech and ask them?

[Stubby]

Crystal meth

[Heavy Oil Saw]

Crystal meth [emoji3]

You could be onto something there.

[Mike Dempsey]

Quote

I 

I am the only one in my workshop so its not someone putting sugar in the tank. The crystals were stuck to the side of the tank so I am presuming they got there when the petrol evaporated. If it was sugar that would effect the running of the saw and its running as good as ever. Its only happened to one saw out of the 7 I own which is also puzzling.

[Mike Dempsey]

28 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Crystal meth

Possibly crystal eth. Have I just invented the latest craze. Will I need to find a stupid person to try it out

[spudulike]

I flush and drain more tanks than most due to the nature of my business with a lot being via courier. I have never seen anything like that before. Plenty of chip, fine sawdust, black residue but never crystals like that. Ethanol is an alcohol so will just evaporate, it can absorb water which does the carb damage and is possible that the water has formed, dried and created crystals but a bit unlikely.

Probably the best bet is to flush with hot water (assuming that crystal is water soluble) after removing the fuel filter and plugging the end. That should dissolve the crystals then just flush with old fuel.

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by spudulike