I have a WeedEater gas-powered trimmer. It has a plastic bulb that you squeeze in order to prime the engine. One of the problems with this system is that the bulb tends to crack and fail after exposure to gasoline containing ethanol. That's just another unfortunate result of the move to ethanol.
This story begins when I take a trip to the store to get a new bulb. I get there and find that they cost up to $8 -- for a little piece of plastic!
Alas, in the process of taking off the small plastic retaining ring that attaches the ($8) bulb to the carburetor, I managed to break it. I tried using J-B Weld, Gorilla Glue, and duct tape, but nothing I tried would fix it, so I had to begin the search for a replacement retaining ring. A quick look through the bone yard at the yard equipment repair shop didn't produce anything I could possibly use as a substitute for the retaining ring.
So I looked further for the part itself and found that no such single part is available for this model -- you have to buy a whole new carburetor. Individual parts are not sold separately. Luckily, I found a carburetor for $24, and I was able to put it on myself, saving the $20 minimum that the repair shop charges.
Chalk up another one for ethanol-based fuel. Add to that problem the inability of the WeedEater folks to use the right material in the primer bulb that would be resistant to the corrosion from ethanol. So I had to go through all that trouble to buy what was probably a 25-cent part.
This entry was submitted by A.K. Rosenhan, PE, and edited by Rob Spiegel.
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Beth, I can almost accept the fact that the manufacturer didn't bother to update their materials to stay with the times. But the unavailability of a simple retaining clip is not excusable.
GOOD customer service would have said, "It's not a replacement part, but If you'll send me a SASE I'll grab one off the assembly line and send it to you for free".
I had the same problem with my old weedeater. My next one will be electric for sure. I had a battery operated one in the past, but it was before its time and didn't really even work. Maybe they make decent ones now.
Good points, Beth. This all leads me to believe I made the right decision with an electric weed eater. While the cord has to be dragged around, it is overall lighter than the gas-powered version. And, I don't have to worry about Ethanol.
The Federal Government has been promoting the use of ethanol in gasoline for the past 34+ years.
This was kicked-off by the The Energy Tax Act of 1978 which provided a $0.40/gal ethanol subsidy.
I find it hard to believe the same material has been used for the priming bulb for the last 34 years.
It is certainly plausible that a design change was made and old stock was not recalled. A small mom-and-pop hardware store might have had this machine on the shelf for a while.
While there is certainly a disparity in the use of ethanol across the states (and in the counties within those states) I would still expect an ethanol-tolerant design.
As you say, I would also expect attention to evolving fuel standards and changes to keep materials in compliance.
This reminds me of my British sports cars from the1960s. They used natural rubber, becuase the British with their empire were able to get it easily. American cars typically used synthetic rubber parts. These tended to last longer, and changes in the formulation of gasoline tended to impact unfavourably on the endurance of the British parts. Of course, being foreign, they were more expensive. We would replace them with American made rubber whenever we could find a match.
Would use of ethanol in this machine have been an after-the-fact development post its original design or should it have been designed that way from the get go? I'm asking because I'm assuming not much changes on a WeedEater machine, albeit a few bells and whistles here and there. That said, there such be some sort of regular revisting of requirements to keep up with new fuel standards. The other big question is likely where you bought the WeedEater. Perhaps some stores still have old inventory on their shelves that aren't retrofit to meet new requirements.
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