2018 test3 productsFuel & Additives
Which Fuel Water Remover Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 3 fuel water remover options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Ranked first
HEET
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Safety data sheet | Ice prevention test (product mixed with water and gasoline before freezing) | Ice melting test (product added after water/gasoline had already frozen) | Water separation test (1 part water, 16 parts gasoline, 4 parts product) | Engine run test | Ice melting test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1HEET | main ingredient is methanol, 100 percent; the safety data sheet indicates it is 100 percent soluble in water | no ice formed in the container | did not fully melt the ice, but softened it into a slushy consistency rather than leaving it fully solid | the methanol and water mixed together into a lower layer with gasoline on top rather than separating the water out cleanly; about 12 hours after adding it, the fuel sits above the 200 ml line with the HEET/water/ethanol mixture below it | narrator questions whether a gasoline engine can run on roughly 80 percent HEET and 20 percent water, and richened the air-fuel ratio to get more fuel into the engine to test running it on straight methanol with added water; the transcript does not include an explicit pass or fail statement of the outcome | not tested |
| 2Isopropyl Alcohol 91% isopropyl alcohol (transcript also says '93%' once, kept both, not resolved) | main two ingredients are water and isopropyl alcohol; inherently water soluble | no ice formed in the container | did not appear to do anything to the already-formed ice | mixed quite well with the water at the bottom of the container, similar behavior to HEET; the entire contents appeared foggy compared to the SeaFoam or HEET containers | narrator states the engine will likely run fine until it draws in the isopropyl alcohol and water mix, at which point the fuel would need to be richened for the engine to keep running; the transcript does not include an explicit pass or fail statement of the outcome | not tested |
| 3Seafoam | a hydrocarbon blend less than 95 percent and isopropyl alcohol less than 25 percent; per the safety data sheet it is not water soluble | formed a big chunk of ice in the container, the only one of the three products tested that did not prevent ice formation | not tested | mixed thoroughly with the gasoline and left the water, plus the 10 percent ethanol content, separated out at the very bottom of the container, unlike HEET and isopropyl alcohol which both mixed into the water layer | explicitly not attempted; narrator states 'I'm not going to try to run the SeaFoam through a gasoline engine, because I can tell you with absolute certainty that engine isn't going to run on water', since SeaFoam left the water/ethanol layer unmixed with the fuel | not included in this sub-test; narrator brought out only the HEET and isopropyl alcohol containers for the ice-melting retest |
How it was tested
- ice prevention test: 1 oz water plus gasoline plus product mixed together, frozen at 15 below zero Fahrenheit for 24 hours
- ice melting test: 1 oz water plus gasoline frozen first, then product added to see if it melts the formed ice
- water separation/contamination test: 1 part water, 16 parts gasoline, 4 parts product, shaken and observed for separation
- attempted gasoline engine run test on each product's water/fuel mixture
- safety data sheet ingredient review for each product
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