The secret to emergency Gas storage is....Rotate, Rotate, Rotate. Every six months.
I put that there for those with short attention spans.(Photos at the bottom) Pleas excuse the words SHTF, Roadwarrior and emergency in the title. That's just there to trigger some peoples Pavlovian responses. I could have gotten more wordy and added Tactical, Survival, TEOTWAWKI,...Or Bug Out....but Im just not feeling my usual over the top brattiness today. Its hot. Too hot to work outside.
Seems counter intuitive to talk about gas storage in the middle of a Super El Nino....Right after a Polar Express, Triple R (ridiculously resilient ridge) Snowpocalypse winter...wile the west burns, California turns into the next dust bowl...and The US sets itself up for world war III to maintain hegemony over other countries resources...perhaps those Pavlov shock words are too mild. Anthropomorphic, Our own damn fault, We all might die, Climate Chaos. Fun Fun Fun.
A few of you here might know me as C5 . I call these C5s F5s. Food Storage, Food Production, Firewood, FUEL Storage and Friends.
I recently did a small upgrade of my fuel storage, changing out some of my older plastic gas cans with new steel ones. Very Pricy. 60$ per can (From Princess Auto, hidden in the surplus department even though they are not surplus and not in the gas can section 🙄 ). Three times as much as the gas in them. I'll change out a couple more each year and set aside the old ones incase I have one of those freak out moments of " Oh My Goddess! Fill everything and Fill it now!" In the mean time, I try to keep about 200 liters. Its too awkward to keep an rotate any more. Gas has a very limited shelf life. About a year. Maybe two but the further along you go, it breaks down into a form of varnish that will gum up your carbonator. If you have old gas powered engines or generators that just aren't working, chances are its because of old gas and you need tear apart and clean the carbonator.
Fuels storage is pretty simple but its just one more awkward chore I do every 6 months, rotating it into the vehicles. This came up recently on another post while talking about some people evacuating there homes in the face of forest fires in western Canada. Context. Power is out at the gas station...and bank machine...and we gotta go! One persons response was, "I know all about the importance of rotating food storage but I had never thought about rotating gas".
Fuel stabiliser can extend your gas storage but the most its going to do is double it. best to just keep it the freshest. I keep some on hand but don't use it unless I decide I will have to stretch my gas storage until its gone for good...mainly for use in the chainsaw. Remember C5s F5s. Firewood. No firewood, we die here in Canada (40c below beats a gun every time)...and I am not looking forward to the day I have to do it with an ax and bowsaw. I want a buffer...so I can fully concentrate on the more important tasks that will be demanding all my attention.
So Simple Storage. The first thing I do with the plastic gas cans is take the spout out. Gas expands and contracts with temperature changes. When its expanding, it pushes gas up the spout, onto the floor and creating a fire hazard. Gas mixes with air and becomes a bomb. Gas is heavier than air and will sink into low spots. Do not store your gas in a basement. It should be in a well ventilated shed so gas fumes can escape, preferably in the shade to prevent gas expanding in the cans.
Now as soon as you take the spout out....there is a gap in the lid...so I cut a washer out of a tire tube to fill the space (Picture below). Easy Peazy.
I hope this demystifies gas storage.
A few other additions. Gas without ethanol has a far longer shelf life. Its harder to find and much more expensive.
Diesel has more than double the shelf life, but you may wish to use additives that prevent mold growth.
But don't forget...ROTATE ROTATE ROTATE. Use it or lose it.
Ill probably have more insights into effective fuel usage in an emergency and my own plans in an emergency that may sound counter intuitive...
...But I am all typed out for now...and I believe I mentioned...Its just too hot to face the world.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Amen C5. I keep 25L in the generator, my vehicles practically never see their tanks less than 1/2 full (I'm optimistic today!) and I have about 150L stored in different sized cans. I buy ethanol-free and add stabil to my larger cans as the small ones are used regularly for gas powered tools. Even with that, I still rotate about every 6 months. The biggest inconvenience is to siphon the generator, otherwise, this prep takes maybe 45 mins of my time, including the trip to the only ethanol-free gas station in the area. Living in suburbia with storage limited to a (nice) shed, I think that this is about as much as I want stored before I can get into trouble.
Just...Too...Hot...To...Blog... 😳 Gasp!
So...If anyone has uses for that old container of gas that you don't dare put in an engine...other than redneck fire starter...pleas feel free to post that here
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Well, I use empty 20 liter pails of hydraulic fluid for fuel storage, both gas and diesel, they cost nothing, seal tight and have a pop out spout that makes pouring easy, and they can be stacked one on top of the other. Old fuel (gas) that's a couple years old does separate, goes yellowish, run it through a filter before you pour it into anything...I don't buy any of that gas stabilizer stuff....use it up every year or 2 and refill and you should be good, now Diesel is different, that is my long term go to fuel.
I have some from 10 years ago...runs fine in my diesel engines, I even have a opened 50 gallon barrel of transmision fluid that's from 2005/6 that I have ran a diesel genni on and its still good. I don't see it going bad on me. I did put two 20 liter pails of gas away last winter for a experiment/ I will let one sit for 7 years and test it, then the other I will open the other 12-14 years from now and see how bad it is and if I can condition it to be useable, just a experiment.
Now for real old gas, I do have brush piles to burn, and grass to keep down and I like doing it in style....I pick up these old stainless fire extinguishers from the scrap metal yard, for 5 bucks, they go there cause something is wrong with them, its usually a broken dip tube, easy fix. once fixed, I fill 3/4 full with a 60/40 mix of old motor oil, and old gas. Then as these have the same same shrader valve as a car tire, I pressure them up to 150 psi with my shop air compressor. Now with one hand on the lever, and my other hand holding both a barbecue lighter and the nozzle....you get the idea 😀 at 150-160 psi I can light up brush piles from 70 ft or more away. Such is life on the range.
fixing the dip tube.
of course you can use these things as fire extigushers and I do that to ( don't get them mixed up though 😮 )
I should add, don't leave gas sitting in things like snow blowers, gennies through the seasons...just fill when needed. For ex at the end of winter I just let the snowblower run till dry, then drain the bowl.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
When you rotate your gas cans, do you rotate clockwise or counter clockwise? 😆
I'd like to share
tradesman,That is a good tip, I hadn't tried that....I just remembered I have a broke down 79 4x4 blazer in the yard I haven't driven it since 95 or so when it had a electrical fire....I should siffon the gas out of it and see how bad it is....I bet its as bad as gas can get 😯
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Very good tip. Sorry folks. Im lost in hay season soon to be followed by harvest season
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.