My long term gasoline storage experiment

[BobDaniels]

A few of you know that I homestead and am off-grid and have been since the early 90s on a large piece of land in the back beyond. For those of you just tuning in, opsec dictates that's all you're getting...

I have always stored gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, keeping 6 months to two years supply on hand in 55 gallon drums, buying a little more when it is cheaper and buying less when it goes up, keeping my rotating stock within those supply parameters.

A few years ago I wanted to experiment to see how long I can store gas under those conditions so I sealed a handful of drums and set them back. They are in an open shed in deep shade stored off the ground.

I opened one at two years, three, and now four. Gas when stored was whatever I bought (winter or summer) and no stabilizer was added. The drums were filled to within a couple of inches and sealed.

Just cracked one from four years ago yesterday and it looked and smelled like the day I put it in. Put 3 gallons in a generator and it fired right up, no issues. Given my experience with years two and three I was unsurprised.

I have two more sealed from then, so the experiment continues.

I also have one that was left with the bung off from two years ago. Every now and then I siphon off a gallon or so and inspect it. It's starting to turn a little darker and smell a little different, but the generator still runs it fine.

Did you do this experiment with ethanol free or the 10% stuff?

 

[luger fan]

Find out how they do it on the Walking Dead. 4 years and abandoned cars start right up, and gas is always good.

 

[boosteds13cc]

A few of you know that I homestead and am off-grid and have been since the early 90s on a large piece of land in the back beyond. For those of you just tuning in, opsec dictates that's all you're getting...

I have always stored gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, keeping 6 months to two years supply on hand in 55 gallon drums, buying a little more when it is cheaper and buying less when it goes up, keeping my rotating stock within those supply parameters.

A few years ago I wanted to experiment to see how long I can store gas under those conditions so I sealed a handful of drums and set them back. They are in an open shed in deep shade stored off the ground.

I opened one at two years, three, and now four. Gas when stored was whatever I bought (winter or summer) and no stabilizer was added. The drums were filled to within a couple of inches and sealed.

Just cracked one from four years ago yesterday and it looked and smelled like the day I put it in. Put 3 gallons in a generator and it fired right up, no issues. Given my experience with years two and three I was unsurprised.

I have two more sealed from then, so the experiment continues.

I also have one that was left with the bung off from two years ago. Every now and then I siphon off a gallon or so and inspect it. It's starting to turn a little darker and smell a little different, but the generator still runs it fine.

Awesome data. This reassures my plans in the future. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to hear if the 5 year mark works out, I'd assume it will since it's all sealed off. Wish there was a way to test the quality instead of does it run va doesn't run.

 

[Colt1860]

Thanks for the info. Good to know you can storage gas that long.

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

I wonder if that will apply to plastic containers. Mine don't have vents and they seal 100%

 

[Drail]

I spent some years selling and testing aviation fuel - gasoline and Jet fuels at an airport. Sorry to tell you that gasoline starts to chemically break down and drop in octane rating within 30 days of when you bought it and that's straight from the people who manufacture it. It doesn't make any difference what kind of can you store it in - it will still break down. Exposure to air doesn't matter - it will chemically break down even in a vacuum. Fuel stabilizer will help for a couple of months but after two years I would be hesitant to run it in any engine I own. It will be turning into varnish by then. Anyone who has had to rebuild a carb that has had gasoline setting in it for 6 months or more can tell what happens. It will clog jets and needle valves and injectors with gunk.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Did you do this experiment with ethanol free or the 10% stuff?

Gas with up to 10% ethanol. My experience with removing ethanol from gasoline is that while gas that has ethanol in it may have up to 10% in it, usually it is much less, anywhere from a percent up to ten. Typical was 3-5%.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I spent some years selling and testing aviation fuel - gasoline and Jet fuels at an airport. Sorry to tell you that gasoline starts to chemically break down and drop in octane rating within 30 days of when you bought it and that's straight from the people who manufacture it. It doesn't make any difference what kind of can you store it in - it will still break down. Exposure to air doesn't matter - it will chemically break down even in a vacuum. Fuel stabilizer will help for a couple of months but after two years I would be hesitant to run it in any engine I own. It will be turning into varnish by then. Anyone who has had to rebuild a carb that has had gasoline setting in it for 6 months or more can tell what happens. It will clog jets and needle valves and injectors with gunk.

See, this is why I like empirical testing over theory.

The two primary reason gasoline breaks down unto itself is loss of the more volatile fractions and exposure to oxygen. Some of the various additives can and do break down to a certain degree over time in the absence of oxygen, and some of the lighter fractions can polymerize over time even in sealed oxygen free containers, just as Drail writes. This tends to happen more quickly when gasoline is first refined and tapers off over time which is why manufacturers have specifications.

But what does it mean? Does it mean that the moment you put any such older fuel in your engine the engine is toast?

Does it mean you'll be rebuilding carbs all day long if you do as I have been doing?

The answer to both is, "no."

Gel tends to form as water and gas, alcohol, and metals react in an acidic environment as happens when fuel sits in contact with metals, particularly aluminum, but also zinc.

Gum forms when lighter fractions evaporate off leaving the heavier fractions, or when enough of the lighter fractions polymerize. The former is the primary mechanism as to why gum forms when fuel is left in small engines without being run regularly. The latter happens slowly enough to be noticeable to people running the chemistry to assure quality control, but to those of us on the user end have little practical application. Gum can look like varnish when anything volatile has evaporated off.

Varnish happens primarily to areas of the engine exposed to high heat such as injectors and valves, basically anywhere where gasoline can evaporate quickly under heat such as when engines are shut off. The additives in modern gas dissolve varnish as an engine is run.

The upshot to all of this:

I have never had any of my small engines that run regularly fail because of fuel issues. They invariably fail because of loss of compression after the normal expected life, at which point I rebuild them. The carbs look brand new. I have never had a vehicle engine fail under 200k, and usually something else causes the demise of the vehicle before the engine.

The engines I have had occasional carb issues with are the ones that I do not run regularly and leave gas in for months at a time, and those all get brand new, alcohol free gas and I still have problems sometimes.

Run your engines regularly to keep them from having issues.

I first got interested in the subject more than thirty years ago when I was part of a research project involving ethanol as a motor fuel. I've kept up with gasoline technology during that entire time.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Bringing this one back to the top, I just opened my second to last drum from 6 years ago and initial reports say it looks pretty good. 5 gallons in and no issues running it.

 

[FreeLand]

Bringing this one back to the top, I just opened my second to last drum from 6 years ago and initial reports say it looks pretty good. 5 gallons in and no issues running it.

Was this most recent test running a vehicle or generator? If genie, what size? Do you think a well sealed plastic container (not ordinary 5 gal. gas cans) would be capable of preserving the gas as well as the steel drums?

Many thanks for doing this experiment and sharing your results!

 

[shibumiseeker]

Was this most recent test running a vehicle or generator? If genie, what size? Do you think a well sealed plastic container (not ordinary 5 gal. gas cans) would be capable of preserving the gas as well as the steel drums?

Many thanks for doing this experiment and sharing your results!

So far just generator, a Champion 4kw and a Honda EU2000, but I’ll probably run some in the car as well. Based on my previous experience, I don’t anticipate an issue.
I regularly store in 5 gallon plastic gas cans up to a year, but don’t trust their integrity as much.

 

[bwframe]

Thanks for bringing back this thread!

Couple years ago I discovered that I had not rotated two five gallon jerry cans of gas for 3 years. Long story short, I dumped them back to back into my old Ford Focus. No signs at all of any issues.

 

[Vigilant]

Find out how they do it on the Walking Dead. 4 years and abandoned cars start right up, and gas is always good.

Except if they’re in a hurry to escape, then the effer won’t start at all.

 

[churchmouse]

WE have kept fuel in the 5 Gal jugs the sprint car and drag teams use for long periods.

I found that the 5 gallon Poly containers we used when we were racing are very air tight. The lids have a decent seal and the air vents are very tight as well.
I have these stashed in several locations. Some for over a year possibly 2. This thread has me numbering them and starting a rotation log.
When gas prices fall I will fill the trucks from the older stores and refill them.

Glad to see this pop back up. I just relocated all our reserves and have a couple of jugs that predate this post. I poured them into my truck on top of a half tank and see/feel no issues. I know the mix helps but running old fuel the mix seemed the right thing.
The jugs were sealed up very well. The vents are tie-wrapped down for a positive seal.

 

[Magyars]

I keep a number of 5 gallon polly gas cans around.
I use Pri-G.......some of the containers sit for 14-16 months before use.
Never had an issue in any of my engines

 

[NKBJ]

Was driving a lot of miles Monday through Friday so did the gasoline storage bit in the 90's. By buying during the dips I was saving a lot. Used a filtered hand crank pump that threaded into the barrel bungs.
Never had any go bad from offgassing even in Gulf Coast climate conditions as long as it was kept sealed.

 

[smokingman]

PB blaster works well for Diesel starting fluid.

I had a 1985 diesel blazer that I used as a snowplow truck in northern Minnesota. Without being plugged in when it was -25F it would fire up every time with a squirt of PB Blaster.

The M1009 I plugged in when it got that cold and never need to use it(also a 6.2 diesel).

That was a bit of local knowledge learned when I moved up to Minnesota.

Side note relevant to this thread possibly.

I use a 10-micron filter bag inside a 5-micron filter bag with magnets between them to filter hundreds of gallons of used motor oil. I ran it in both trucks,and still do in the M1009(sold the civilian blazer) Both also have fuel filters on them.

It has never caused me a single issue,and I have now had the M1009 for over 12 years. I was originally worried about water,but the truck filters catch it and they are a regular maintenance item once a year on my trucks. Both trucks actually run quieter on used motor oil. I know I lose a little bit of power and on occasion add a bit of kerosene to increase the cetane (half a gallon per 40 gallons of oil seems to work well even at -20F).


Thank you for the gasoline insights.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Zombie thread!

I sorta forgot about the last sealed drum and as I was cleaning up a section of the ranch over the winter, I remembered I had it. So last weekend I opened it up, it smelled and looked OK. This is with almost 9 years of storage.

A couple of gallons in the generator and it started right up and ran fine. I’ll be using it over the next few months.

Not that I needed any additional confidence in my storage plan, but this certainly reinforces it.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Wow, I would never have believed it would last that long and still be good.

Valuable info, Thanks for posting.

 

[bwframe]

Not near as long as shibimiseeker, but I discovered a couple jerry cans that got out of rotation for three years. They ran in the car just fine.