Posted on 10/05/2014 3:10:31 PM PDT by hardspunned
As I continue to prepare for the climax of Obama's rule I realize I will need an emergency supply of gasoline. My solution is used steel 55 gallon drums cleaned with glycerine stored in a metal shed 100 yards away from my house. Any other economical options (drums priced at $25 each)that might work better for me would be greatly appreciated.
Just an FYI, stuff like this should be posted in Chat. Moved it for you.
Make sure your supply is stored somewhere cool. Do not store a gasoline with ethanol. You’re better off getting a vehicle with a diesel engine because diesel can be stored virtually forever.
Purge the headspace with nitrogen. Leave room for expansion and contraction. Gasoline will expand a whole lot in volume. Left without head space it will balloon the barrels. With regular air in the headspace it will form moisture and at best rot out the bottoms of the barrels.
The challenge is not the container, it’s the product. Ethanol and water are the problem. Even avgas breaks down. I sympathize. I want to be the last one on my block with a generator or a vehicle - not. Keep us posted.
“Do not store a gasoline with ethanol.”
Website that lists places to purchase non-ethanol gasoline.
Storing gasoline is dangerous and difficult. Proper grounding of the drums and during transfer is important, static electricity can easily cause a spark. It will spoil quickly if there is alcohol in it like most pump gas today.
Not going to mention zoning and fire code laws, the admin doesn’t follow any laws, so they are all irrelevant today.
BTW, propane stores easily and has an unlimited shelf life, lots of large tanks available for storage that are intended to be left out in the weather.
I just bury all my gasoline in the White House lawn by climbing over the fence with a shovel. The Secret Service said it’s OK as long I do it at night.
While a motor vehicle is important to have on hand (a pick-up is best of course), make sure you have a reliable motorcycle as well. They are fast, nimble and use little gas. You need to have options.
I had a large farm and had two 500 gallon tanks. One for off-road diesel, and one for gasoline. Each had a hand crank dispensing hose.
My insurance company made me remove them. They also made me remove my wood fired boiler which heated my home from inside the garage. It had to be at least 100' from the house.
I store my gas in soaked rags on my garage floor...
kidding of course
Whatever....nOOb....
Frankly, unless you have the technical understanding of the properties of stored gasoline, I think the plan is ill advised. I’d strongly recommend:
1) Find either aviation gas or marine gas without ethanol. It is available in my area.
2) Spend the extra money for the 10 gallon metal gas cans so that, by that I mean the old metal “Jerry Cans”;
3) You can regularly you can “cycle” the gas out every month or so.
Any way, I sympathize with your effort, but...I’m not terribly confident in the 55 gallon drums; they tend to leak and I think you would need to have a proper vent mechanism to make them work. I far prefer the jerry cans and to rotate the stock.
If you want to store it long term, wash it with water. This will dry it, and the drier it is, the better. If you don’t understand this, then you should probably not store any gas.
I ranch and store both diesel and gasoline. It goes bad, not matter what you do (diesel much slower), but there are things you can do:
1. Get a real fuel storage unit, not drums. I prefer several small units over big ones, for reasons you will read.
2. A real unit will let you turn the fuel periodically (dump it over and mix it). This prevents separation.
3. Cooler, dark, well-ventilated. I live in the mountains, and picked a barn in shade of a hill that is partially underground.
4. FIFO. That is, first in, first out. USE your fuel to keep it refreshed. Fill up all my trucks/tractors with the oldest fuel, THEN I fill up the storage tank.
5. There are fuel stabilizers that help to a degree. I have to use them to prevent “jelling” of diesel here where it is already hitting freezing on the off nights. Not sure how this works with gasoline, but it does the trick with diesel.
“I store my gas in soaked rags on my garage floor.”
Funny I store my gasoline with linseed oil-soaked rags in closed containers.
(JOKING!!! This would explode when DEPRIVED of O2!)
Fuel storage typically requires a tank with vents, proper fill/dispensing terminals, containment, powered exhaust of the room and other various safety bells/whistles.
Dude dont post a thread about storing gasoline not a wise thing to do have the mods remove this fast
Sorry, correcting my own post -— when deprived of ventilation.
Needs a LITTLE 02 to heat up. Like a trash can.
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