High Octane in Briggs/Stratton

[dennis]

I have a number of pieces of equipment powered by B&S engines....log splitter, twin cylinder riding mower, walk behind mower, etc.. The manuals say use regular gasoline. I contacted B&S, and when I asked them if I could use premium or high octane, they said use regular, but would not give a reason. My obvious concern is the ethanol in our gasoline. I would like to know what you folks think, and what your experience has been using high octane in B&S engines. Can using the high octane cause any problems?

[38racing]

Is it B&S or BS? Just about every push mower for sale now with even Briggs engines I expect says to use premium fuel. My guess has always been because it is 5% ethanol and regular is 10%. I was reading a manual for an old kohler engine recently on a cub cadet 129 and it called for octane in the 90s. So regular of 87 would not be recommended.

[creia]

My son and I have used only "regular" (87 octane/10% ethanol) gasoline in ALL of our small engines for over 10 years now with ZERO problems. That being said, we also ALWAYS use "Sta-Bil" brand fuel additive in our gasoline. We get very good performance and have never experienced any of the problems that others on this forum have claimed to have- maybe we were just lucky?!
Michael

[dennis]

Thanks for the replies.