I've used from B&S fuel stabiliser to Stabil (both Red and Marine), and am now using primarily Stabil Marine for all my small engines starting this year (just to try out the new products).
I have had solid/consistent luck RE: using Stabil Red /B&S fuel stabiliser (pre-ethanol version, darker almost black in colour), and our CT fuel-stabiliser (primarily 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene). None of the 4 small engines I maintained (the oldest one is an MTD B&S 4.5hp tiller built in the 80s, Honda GV135(?) pressure washer, B&SQuattro 4hp mower (in F/S section), and now my B&S675 series craftsman mower)expericed any fuel-related issues so far.
(the oldest one is the MTD tiller that has been around for over 20yrs now, still in original carb and no rebuild so far)
I live in an area where E-10 has been around for over 15 yrs now, with low humidity (even though we are close to the ocean) and fuel lacks of water in the underground tank, none of my maintained engines (fogged every winter before storage, fuel doped with one of the aforementioned stabiliser, etc.) has experienced any fuel-related issues whatsoever.
My subjective observations tell me that fuel stabilisers such as stabil, B&S, or even CT brand, etc. works as expected so you can use them with confidence.
I realise over the years of technical correspondence and observations, etc. that there's a lot of folks who experienced issues with fuel-related breakdowns even with stabiliser-added. My 2 cent's worth calls for the following:
(1) use fuel stabiliser brands that are known/well-regarded and respected in the industry. Brands such as Stabil, B&S (most likely formulated by some national name brand company OEM'ed), Star-tron, etc.
There are some OTC additives that claimed to be "jack" of all trades are something that I personally been staying clear of, simply because they don't inspire any confidence as their primary objective is to stabilise fuel......
(2) make sure you get the freshest fuel from gas station. No use doping old (2wks+) un-doped fuel in hopes of stabilising them. The armoatic part of the fuel (the light aromatic part of gas that ignites easily) will be gone while leaving the relatively heavy, gummy part behind).
(3) I know there's 1 specific brand of fuel-additives out there that claimed to be able to restore otherwise "stale/rancid" fuel back to store fresh. IMHO I think that's bunk. gasoline, from the time it's cracked from the tower and delivered to the gas station for dispensing, already in a very volatile state and in the process of deterioration(more like decomposition). Once the lighter aromatics are gone, there's no way you can restore the gummy, decomposed fuel back into it's former state...
(4)phase-separation on E-10 fuel tends to happen when the ethanol in gas can no longer "absorbs" the excess amount of moisture(water) in gas.
In that sense: get fuel that comes with very low moisture. If you believe you have a batch of gas laden with water, get a chamois based/water separater funnel from marine supply store and filter the water out before doping with stabiliser/storage.
Lastly: when in doubt: always consider draining your carb to rid fo the fuel in-question, and start with the freshest fuel (doped with stabiliser) possible during the start of every season.
Q.
and had run the Generator monthly under a full load, like the owners manual says to do I probably would not have had to spend the money getting it repaired. (really should have done it myself, it took the guy 17 mins to change the carburetor) It took longer for them to write the bill out.
