I received an email recently about a new product called 50Fuel –- it’s the first premixed gas/oil combination for 2-cycle engines. Typically I get a press release, maybe a sound bite from a satisfied customer, and if I’m lucky, photos of the product.
Well, TruSouth Oil – manufacturers of 50Fuel –- did me one better. They asked if I’d be interested in chatting with the company president, Mike Moorhead, about the product.
I said “sure,” because, well, it’s my job. And it’s more informative to hear these things from the horse’s mouth rather than from a press release or advertisement –- it’s the same thinking that makes the Golf Industry Show so valuable to you guys, right?
So, Mike and I had a nice chat about 50Fuel, what it is and what it offers users. Here is the conversation, below:
GCM:Thanks for this opportunity, Mike. My first question -- can you tell me about 50Fuel, and specifically, why did you guys create this if people can make their own gas/oil mix?
Mike Moorhead, president, TruSouth Oil: You’re probably asking yourself, “Well it seems pretty rudimentary, you put the gas and the oil together.” It seems pretty simple.
I think the most important thing to know about the product is that 50Fuel is not traditional gasoline that you would get at the pump. It’s been engineered and formulated specifically to optimize the performance of small engines. It’s a 9-component blend that’s a lot different from the fuel you would get at the gas pump.
The back story is… most people aren’t aware that the gasoline you get at the gas pump is very inconsistent in its formulation over the course of the year –- chemical properties vary greatly between winter and summer. You might have a red gas can in your garage, you’ll go get a couple gallons, you’ll take a funnel, get the oil and mix it to the prescribed ratio and you’ve got that gasoline sitting in your garage in that red gas can… Well, that red gas can has a vent. Gasoline expands and contracts a great deal. In the case of winter grade gasoline, where the government is allowing the refiners to put high levels of butane, and other chemicals in that gasoline, the potential for expansion at greater temperatures or elevation, would definitely produce an unfit condition for a consumer product like the one we offer. So what we did is we went out and we engineered a fuel specifically to optimize the performance of these small engines, but also the chemical characteristics are perfected for packaging in this container. That’s the short story of why we did what we did, and why we haven’t seen it before.
A lot of people say, “Gosh you put oil and gas together, good for you.” There’s a lot more to it than that. We spent two years working on the formulation alone.
GCM: Our readers are golf course superintendents, they’ve got 18 to 36 holes of golf to maintain, so they’ve got multiple string trimmers, blowers, chainsaws, etc. What would you tell that guy -– he’s got a maintenance staff, a crew mixing his gas and oil…
MM:I would tell him first that our product is blended to the exact ratio every time -– there’s not a person guessing. Obviously, the ratio is important, and we get that exactly right every time. Secondly, the nature of the fuel, and the performance you get out of it, will significantly improve the work these guys get out of their equipment. Over the long term, the No. 1 thing he’ll see is significantly reduced maintenance costs associated with managing his fleet of hand-held power equipment.
We’ve removed the gum and varnish, that’s what ends up clogging the carburetor… we’ve got no gum, varnish, no ethanol, it burns cleaner… we’ve got the most advanced synthetic lubrication technology you can get, and we’ve also added a fuel stabilizer. He’s going to get great performance, significantly reduced maintenance cost and his equipment is going to last a fair bit longer.
I'll wrap this up tomorrow... check back in for part two then!
Comments