Sta-bill or Run it Dry?

[GilpinGuy]

We had a vigorous debate at work last night after I mentioned that I was going to "summerize" my snowblower by filling it with gas with Sta-Bil added. Others argued that running an engine completely dry was better.

I've done the Sta-Bil thing for many, many years and never had a problem, so that's what I'm sticking with even though I know a few months of sitting around won't gum anything up. A quarter ounce of Sta-Bil is just good, cheap insurance.

I always figured that a dry fuel system was asking for seals and gaskets to dry out and invited rust and corrosion in the tank, etc.

What do you guys do?

[20X11]

Sta-bil has worked for decades to our entire family...(Dad, Brother, me)

Boats, Snow machines, snow blowers, mowers, trimmers, chainsaws

[bobbyfairbanks]

Stabile never run it dry

[Wulf202]

Both. Stabilize and fill the tank. Turn the fuel off and run the carb dry.

[BPTactical]

Both. Stabilize and fill the tank. Turn the fuel off and run the carb dry.

^^^I have done this on my mowers and snowblower for years.
Never any issue and my highwheel Craftsman mower is 20+ years old.

[Tim K]

I run my stuff dry.

[SideShow Bob]

^^^I have done this on my mowers and snowblower for years.
Never any issue and my highwheel Craftsman mower is 20+ years old.

Me too, with the exception of running the carb. dry. Both my snow blower & lawnmower have the fuel shut off tied into the throttle/ kill switch.

[Irving]

I've run my mower dry every year, and am always amazed that it starts on the first pull the next summer.

[Ah Pook]

I never leave anything my tank. The only exception is Motomix or Mogas from the Longmont airport. Real gas with no ethanol.

[gnihcraes]

Use sta bil and run them dry anyways. Tis what I do.

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk

[Tim K]

A belt and suspenders guy...

[68Charger]

And if you want extra insurance, run ethanol free fuel...

My 2-strokes (chain saws, weed whacker) get only ethanol-free fuel...

Generators should, too. Unless you run them dry...

[Great-Kazoo]

I read then follow the inst. on the bottle, it's worked for us the past 35 yrs.

[Martinjmpr]

Sold the snowblower when we moved to the new house (much smaller driveway and the driveway faces South, so no need for a snow blower) but for the 9 years I had a snowblower I'd always top off the tank and run a little bit of Sta-Bil in it. AFAIK there was no way on mine to shut off the fuel so rather than run the carb dry I'd just run it until I was sure there was some sta-bil in the carb. It always started right up when I needed it.

I did the same thing with the new lawnmower in October, I guess probably some time next month I'll see if that worked out as well but there's no reason to think it won't.

I only winterized a bike one time, that was in 2003 when I lived in Wyoming. But it stayed winterized with Sta-bil for 20 months (September 03 to April 05) and fired right up when we put a battery to it and pushed the starter. So I guess I'd say I'm a big believer in the value of sta-bil.