Water in my tank!?

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BTW
The carb pic is from a mower given to me. My friend said it was running then stored. Honda engine so I thought I had really had a something good.

When they went to ethanol fuel in Florida there were lots of problems.
Friend had his fuel lines become apart
Clog his pump and in-line filter … mercury motor. Looked like clear vinyl macaroni in the system.

Of course eliminate possible water from other sources. That’s a no brainer

Nobody that uses non-ethanol has fuel issues in Florida that uses it. It’s a learning curve. In Florida we learned quickly to stay away from ethanol.

I have Hewes flats boat. The boat is a carbed 09. No water in fuel filter ever.
Change filter every 100 hours
It now has 350 hours.

1669725199789.jpeg
 
BTW
The carb pic is from a mower given to me. My friend said it was running then stored. Honda engine so I thought I had really had a something good.

When they went to ethanol fuel in Florida there were lots of problems.
Friend had his fuel lines become apart
Clog his pump and in-line filter … mercury motor. Looked like clear vinyl macaroni in the system.

Of course eliminate possible water from other sources. That’s a no brainer

Nobody that uses non-ethanol has fuel issues in Florida that uses it. It’s a learning curve. In Florida we learned quickly to stay away from ethanol.

I have Hewes flats boat. The boat is a carbed 09. No water in fuel filter ever.
Change filter every 100 hours
It now has 350 hours.

View attachment 35118

You do realize that in the Northeast there is much more humidity then Southern California and there are tens of thousands of boats that have never run anything but ethanol operating in the Northeast? I’m not here to sing the praises of ethanol but it’s all we have up here and everyone burns it exclusively and you hear of very few issues associated with ethanol despite our Summers typically being quite hot and humid for at least 2 months and even when temperatures cool the humidity is persistent all year with temperature swings that occasionally are as much as 40 degrees in a single 24 hour period.

The OP has a very serious water in fuel problem that’s for sure but no way is that coming from ethanol phase separation….
 
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Imo, definitely an ethanol issue. It has evil effects on older motors and boats. I would start your fuel system cleansing process again, put on new fuel filters (both in line and on the motor), use 100% gas and see what happens. I see no signs of a tank leaking issue. I have a 1995 boat, motor and fuel tank and had the same issues. It was bad fuel. Good luck and let us know what happens.
 
Don't make it complicated. It's 1 of 2 things. Water is either being pumped in during refueling or there's a void allowing the water in.
Step 1: Check your vent ( is it acting as a syphon) and hose orientation (should be routed as a trap) and fill inlet gasket/o-ring, hose and fittings.
Step 2: Seal off everything connected to the tank and Do a proper low pressure (3 psi) test on the tank.
Then you'll know.
 
I agree with the water leak. Mine had a cork gasket on the sender. Changed it with another one same water issue. Changed it to a different material issue solved. The ethanol just adds to the water problem it is not the cause. Took me three tries and I read the gasket issue here.
Water lays on the top of the tank and wicks through the cork type gasket. Dosen't show any leaks dosen't give any smells
 
You do realize that in the Northeast there is much more humidity then Southern California and there are tens of thousands of boats that have never run anything but ethanol operating in the Northeast? I’m not here to sing the praises of ethanol but it’s all we have up here and everyone burns it exclusively and you hear of very few issues associated with ethanol despite our Summers typically being quite hot and humid for at least 2 months and even when temperatures cool the humidity is persistent all year with temperature swings that occasionally are as much as 40 degrees in a single 24 hour period.

The OP has a very serious water in fuel problem that’s for sure but no way is that coming from ethanol phase separation….
I many parts of the country, including eastern NC, the highest 'relative humidity's' occur on cold winter mornings. Relative Humidity (Rh) is the amount (number of grains) of moisture in the air 'relative' to the temperature. (the Psychrometric Chart; developed by THE Mr Carrier, depicts this along with all other air-water-moisture relationships). Although there are more 'grains' of moisture in the air on warm/hot days, because the warmer air has the ability to contain those grains of moisture, the 'relative-humidity' is lower. The grains of moisture in the air will not become an issue until that air comes in contact with a cool/cold surface. At that time the air reaches dew-point, and turns the grains of moisture into water, via condensation... (Think about a cold glass of ice tea. The outside of the glass gets wet. That 'wet' is the grains of moisture in the air, contacting the cold surface, and 'sweating', 'reaching dew-point', 'raining' on the side of the cold glass). It's the same reason rain is produced. Warm air rises into the cooler upper atmosphere. The cooler air does not have as much capacity/ability to hold as much moisture as warmer air does, so the moisture condenses/sweats/reaches dew-point in the upper atmosphere and falls on our heads. We call it rain..... This is what can happen in fuel tanks when moisture-laden air gets in a non-full tank. The moisture-laden air sweats/rains/reaches dew-point on the surface of the tank... Wala! water happens! How much water is produced, depends on the relative humidity of the air getting into the tank via the tank vent. It's usually not very much.
Side note; Given any volume of air, with a 'given' number of grains of moisture. If you lower the temperature you Raise the Relative Humidity. If you raise the temperature, you LOWER the relative humidity....
 
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