Re: How bad is running out of gas?
The pick-up in tanks is in the bottom of the tank. It is always at the lowest point in the tank, or it should be. If there was "crud" in the tank, it would suck it up anyway.
Not necessarily. Under normal conditions only the fuel gets "sucked" and the contaminates, like water, dirt, sand, rubber, plastic remain at the bottom. They're usually heavier. Only very small and light weight particles will get sucked up with the fuel.<br /><br />But running the tank dry under throttle will "suck" whatever is there...if there's no gas. When running completely dry, I've seen chunks of rubber, gobs of sand, red plastic, and cups of water that I never knew existed.<br /><br />If you're continually sucking the tank dry, your filters might experience a drop or two of water from time to time, or an accumulation of contaminates over time. Nothing major. That's why they make changeable filters. But run it dry once in a blue moon and you're likely to fill the filter full of water and crud, plugging it or doing engine damage. At least that's my experience.<br /><br />I try not to run my engines dry. I at least shut them down when they start chugging. I completely drain my stationary tanks in the fall, and clean/flush my portable tanks. I also treat the tank from time to time for water. And I always carry an extra filter knowing that there's always some "crud" at the bottom just waiting to get to my filter. Water is the bad one, as it passes through most standard fuel filters.
