SeaFoam or Sta-bil

So I came across this older thread while trying to determine which product to use SeaFoam or Sta-bil, also I came across this info from another site which seemed worthy of posting as well.

by TheFamousGrouse:

Sea Foam and Sta-bil are two completely different products for two different uses. What are you trying to accomplish?
There is so much misinformation and urban legends out there about ethanol and fuel additives it’s hard to know where to begin.
Sea Foam is a fuel system detergent. It loosens and dissolves varnish and other fuel system residues. It can open partially clogged injectors and remove varnish and residue that is causing a carb not to function properly. It can also help an engine more easily burn fuel with slight water contamination.
No engine needs Sea Foam in the fuel all the time. Brian is correct, Sea Foam can attract water. In addition, engines are not tested to run with high concentrations of detergents on a constant basis.
Sta-bil, on the other hand is a fuel stabilizer. It allegedly extends the storage life of gasoline and, again, allegedly helps prevent some kinds of ethanol-related fuel issues.
So a couple of things. First, if your goal is simply making sure the fuel in your tank will be ok to use next season and if you are using true Non Oxygenated fuel, then nothing is required as far as additives and nothing should be added. Non-Ox gas has a storage life that is greater than the winter months, so there is no reason why you need to add anything.
If you are having fuel-related engine problems, a treatment of Sea Foam might help. Or it might not. But constant use of Sea Foam may damage your engine.
If you have gasoline in your tank that has ethanol, you can use Sta-bil, but only in the recommended amount. Adding more, again, can cause problems.
The bottom line is that all this gunk, goo, and snake oil should never be used on an “every tank” basis. There are a couple of myths that are driving guys to do this, however.
First, understand that NO, repeat NO chemical treatment can “remove” or “eat” water that has contaminated fuel. It is chemically impossible. Water can ONLY be removed from fuel through mechanical separation. This is a fact of physics.
Secondly, no chemical can reverse phase separation if it occurs. Weather or not any additive can prevent phase separation and to what degree and under what conditions is highly debatable at best.
The bottom line is that the best way to prevent fuel contamination is to buy Non-Ox fuel, run a good fuel filter AND a good water separator (they are NOT the same thing), and use fuel within a few months of buying it.

Grouse

So, what I get from this article is, if you don't have any fuel related issues and your engine is running fine, there's no need to add SeaFoam. But if using ethanol gas, use sta-bil. I use Marine Stabil in my engine. I want to see some more replies to this thread.:popcorn

:dono .... but if you look at the MSDS of each :

SeaFoam -- is mostly "Naptha, Napthenic Oil, & Isopropyl Alcohol

Sta-bil -- is mostly "hydrotreated isoparaffinic solvent heavy naphtha, petroleum distillates, low odour cleaning solvent

Kinda looks to me like the main difference between the two is that SeaFoam has Alcohol in it & Stabil does not. That being said ... I've run Seafoam in my 1999 90HP Merc for the last several years, and have had no problems even though the E10 gas in the tank can sit unused for 4-6 months at times.

Then again ... the original owner of the boat/motor never used it much, and neither did my buddy when he owned it (before selling it to me). He told me that he put both of these products in the tank, but I doubt he ever ran the motor long enough to use up all of the gas in the tank. I used Stabil in the gas during the first year or so, since buying the boat, but switched over to SeaFoam since then. And I do add gas to the tank, but not always "more" SeaFoam.

my buddy insisted on adding stabil to my gas which has ethanol and it did run smoother after that at idle and low speeds.

next question is when storing for winter should you fill up tank or leave it where it is? have heard both and to add stabil run it thru for while before shutting it down.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hdhntr

my buddy insisted on adding stabil to my gas which has ethanol and it did run smoother after that at idle and low speeds.

next question is when storing for winter should you fill up tank or leave it where it is? have heard both and to add stabil run it thru for while before shutting it down.

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When storing the boat for the Winter, I always fill my tank up & put in the stabilizer additive ... for the simple reason that the less air space in the tank, means less space for condensation to occur.

But, I'm not really following you on the "run it thru awhile before shutting it down". If Stabil is already in your gas, there's no real benefit to letting the motor run after you're through using it, since it's already doing/done all it's intended to do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

When storing the boat for the Winter, I always fill my tank up & put in the stabilizer additive ... for the simple reason that the less air space in the tank, means less space for condensation to occur.

But, I'm not really following you on the "run it thru awhile before shutting it down". If Stabil is already in your gas, there's no real benefit to letting the motor run after you're through using it, since it's already doing/done all it's intended to do.

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My experience over the years both with boat motors and motorcycles is that the purpose of the "run it thru" is in reference to getting the fuel treated with the stabilizer into the carburator before storing the engine. Much of the problems upon spring start up when the fuel is not stabilized is from the gas evaporating and leaving a gummy, varnish type of residue which stops the small passages and jets in the carb.

Running it a bit after adding the stabilizer makes sure the treated mixture is in the carbs as well as the tank.

I can say as a person that has used seafoam for winter storage for years that using the product the spring start up was always a non event and the engine started and ran like you had just run the engine last week.

I do always use non ethanol gas in my boat motors and even in motorcycles the tank before winter storage would be non ethanol fuel as well.

I have had typical did not run worth a crap issues and have had to pull and clean out carbs in some cases before doing the winter storage with treated fuel.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hdhntr

my buddy insisted on adding stabil to my gas which has ethanol and it did run smoother after that at idle and low speeds.

next question is when storing for winter should you fill up tank or leave it where it is? have heard both and to add stabil run it thru for while before shutting it down.

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If it's a metal tank, always fill it up, to prevent rust.

For those that premix, most quality 2 stroke oils already contain fuel stabilizers.

I spent 25 years as an operator in a chemical plant,Ethanol, was one of the chemicals we used extensively.Ethanol does in fact absorb water,but there is a saturation point,when this happens,the ethanol no longer absorbs,and a separation happens,this leaves the water laying in the bottom of in this case a gas tank.
Guess where the water goes ? That's right,directly to where it interferes with combustion.Ethanol also dislodges debris,it doesn't dissolve this debris,so guess again where the debris goes.?.......right again.modern vehicles are better suited for the ethanol in gasoline ,but older vehicles can suffer a multitude of problems.
Fuel stabilizer mostly slows evaporation,It also prevents fuel from breaking down into gummy resins ( old timers call it varnish ).Seafoam is a cleaner designed to remove the gummy resins ( varnish ) along with carbon deposits .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

if you look at the MSDS of each :
SeaFoam -- is mostly "Naptha, Napthenic Oil, & Isopropyl Alcohol
Sta-bil -- is mostly "hydrotreated isoparaffinic solvent heavy naphtha, petroleum distillates, low odour cleaning solvent
Kinda looks to me like the main difference between the two is that SeaFoam has Alcohol in it & Stabil does not.

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I have decided that I will be going with Marine Sta-Bil since CrappyPappy pointed out the differences with Sea-Foam containing alcohol and the fuel I purchase is alcohol free which cost more so it would seem to defeat the purpose to then pour a product containing alcohol back into the tank.

Just a note about Marine Sta-Bil vs. Regular Sta-Bil, the Marine brand is bunch cheaper than the regular brand, it does not look like it based on the price but it takes 4 times the amount of regular Sta-Bil product to do what the Marine version will do.

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