Tuesday, November 07, 2006

UL “ethanol=corrosion” pulls its approval

An Illinois-based branch of Underwriters Laboratories, an organization that tests the safety of thousands of products, pulled its certification off many of the parts inside ethanol fuel pumps.

"Underwriters Laboratories Inc. has suspended authorization to use UL Markings (Listing or Recognition) on components for fuel dispensing devices that specifically reference compatibility with alcohol blended fuels that contain greater than 15% alcohol...."

Note: This would be anything over 15% ethanol like E20, E70 & E85.

UL's consumer affairs manager John Drengenberg said the lab tested one of the suspect pumps a couple months ago, and found signs that components inside were showing corrosiveness. Drengenberg said soft metal parts in meters and hoses specifically showed signs of corrosion.

Sheldon Schall with the Wisconsin state commerce department wrote that insurance companies, "may not cover the installation of ethanol systems" as a result of UL's suspending its authorization.

Source of UL information

Source of Schall writing

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