On a recent camping trip my friend's Honda generator broke down. When he took it in for repairs the mechanic immediately dove into the carburetor and pulled out a rock-hard rubber diaphram. According to the mechanic he's been seeing this problem in literally hundreds of small engines since ethanol has been added to gas. Ethanol will cause rubber to stiffen up and become brittle, thereby screwing up your carburetor. As a chemist, I know this is a true effect. Everything I make at work has to undergo compatibility tests with also sorts of materials (rubber, neoprene, Tygon tubing, Vitex, etc...). I have to avoid using ethanol in anything that will be pumped by our smaller pumps as they contain rubber gaskets and the such.

If you have a generator or other small engine you may want to pick up a few spare diaphrams for it and learn how to replace them yourselves, especially if the generator is for emergency use. Repair shops aren't open under such circumstances. ETS member kmat was run ragged keeping his neighbors' generators running after hurricane Ike, though in most of those cases it was stuff like clogged fuel filters. As all these generators sit until next time the rubber will turn to rock and then all these people will be screwed unless they have the parts on hand.

-Blast