Long term gasoline storage

J

jicko

New member
1yr+

Do I need "stabilizer"? I read that if the gas are allow to "evaporate", then it will develop "gummy" residual and the gas will become stale, and the stabilizers are to mitigate this specific issue. So, my question is, if I strictly utilize "sealed" containers, do I need the addictive for storage?

One of the reason I go with these Scepters.

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Theoretically you should be fine as long as you keep the tanks in a cool dry place to prevent heat expansion and corrosion.

Is there a particular reason you want to store gas that long?
 
Pour the 5 gallons in to your truck after six months and drive it. Buy some fresh for the can. 15 gallons of six month old fuel mixed with 15 gallons new fuel has never bothered any of my trucks.

Of course now with the long range of the 4Runner the only time I have to use extra gerry cans is when I'm on a run that will go more than about 300 miles of off road.
 
I would certainly use a stabilizer if only stored for couple months - as already mentioned, it's cheap insurance. I use it in all lawn/garden equipment, chain saw, motocycle etc., anything I don't use/drive on regular basis.
 
I am a big proponent of fuel stabilizer such as Sta-Bil. You are correct that storage method does play a part in the shelf life of gasoline, but fuel stabilizer is a must.

Related I will note: Here on the front range we have winter fuel. It either has MTBE or Ethanol in it. I have stored (by accident) a gallon of ethanol over the winter and by spring my lawn mower would hardly run on it. They (the people that sell it) can say the shelf life of it is similar to unmodified gasoline but I could find you about a million people on the front range that would call bullshit on that.

Here is a decent no b.s. discussion (IMO) on the topic:

The Straight Dope: Why does gasoline go stale so quickly?

P.S. - Do you have a bunker? :-)
 
I just put the gas into the truck after my trip. Never stays in the can for more than a week that way. Just refill the can before the next trip.
 
My question isnt really pertains to gas that were meant for temporary extending your range offroad. I would like to keep like 30 to 50 gal of gas for emergency purpose.
 
Where did you get those pretty pretty fuel cans? I wish I could get Scepter's metal ones... but those polymer ones look almost as good.
 
jicko said:
My question isnt really pertains to gas that were meant for temporary extending your range offroad. I would like to keep like 30 to 50 gal of gas for emergency purpose.
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Rotate it out if it's in your garage. I love these cans, but they can still vent since the vent hole is at the gaskets edge.

I use these cans all the time but use the wrench to tighten the cap and check the gaskets every so often and replace them when needed. That being said I think these cans are still one of the best options and you made a wise decision for using them.
 
Just rotate them out? You have 4~ or whatever # of cans, use and refill the oldest one every month then you will never have gas older than a couple of months. Seems like a better idea than just letting it sit around.
 
jicko said:
My question isnt really pertains to gas that were meant for temporary extending your range offroad. I would like to keep like 30 to 50 gal of gas for emergency purpose.
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Buy a diesel or rotate your gas. Anything going into cans must have stabilizer if keeping it for a while but you can forget filling up 50 gallons and just storing it for the long term.

I have the same cans and they are great but regardless gas, especially newer blended gas needs to be treated and even then won't store for the long term.
 
Sta-bil or seafoam. I use seafoam with my atv's if gas will sit in the tanks for longer than a month. I had to rebuild the carbs on one do to leaky 10 year old O-rings but there was no gum or residue in either carb.
 
Blitzkrieg said:
Related I will note: Here on the front range we have winter fuel. It either has MTBE or Ethanol in it. I have stored (by accident) a gallon of ethanol over the winter and by spring my lawn mower would hardly run on it.
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I put a small-engine ethanol conditioner (different from stabilizer) when I fill the gas cans that feed my mowers. I didn't even realize the stuff existed until a few years ago, although I knew about stabilizer.

For stabilizer, my rule has always been "run the tank almost empty and fill it with fresh gas at the next season" or "fill it full and treat it with stabilizer".
 
darrylj said:
I put a small-engine ethanol conditioner (different from stabilizer) when I fill the gas cans that feed my mowers. I didn't even realize the stuff existed until a few years ago, although I knew about stabilizer.

For stabilizer, my rule has always been "run the tank almost empty and fill it with fresh gas at the next season" or "fill it full and treat it with stabilizer".
Click to expand...

I'm with you brother, my point was that Ethanol blend went to crap over the winter. Not a long time in the whole scheme of things. It wasn't in the lawnmower, it was in one of my gas cans and not realizing what I had, I threw it in my previously seasoned lawn mower.

I too run my weed-whacker and lawn mower dry before storing. Years of experimenting have told me that is best/easiest.
 
Another vote for adding Stabil and rotate. I keep 20 gallons in rotation, 10 gallons every 3 months, which means gas is never more than 6 months old. As mentioned earlier, I add the stored gas on an empty tank and fill the rest with new. Been doing this for four vehicles going back 10+ years, never had a problem.

Although the carb-compliant cans are a major PITA to empty by hand. (I know you can mod them but I haven't done mine yet.)
 
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