How to store gas at home (and does gas go bad?)

Jordan Feldstein - March 27, 2020

A sudden evacuation, power loss, or SHTF event is not the time to wait in line with other panicked people at a gas station — if it’s even open and s
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Check your fire insurance. Your laws may not prevent it, but you may void your fire insurance if you store more than five gallons.

 

Good tip!

 

Don’t go out and buy the biggest bottle of STA-BIL and only use a small about of it. Then but it on your self for years. If you read the label it says use within 2 years of opening the bottle.

 

That’s good advice. I’ve been trying to keep better track of when my preps expire for this exact reason.

 

I strongly discourage storing gasoline inside vehicles or structures – the risk from explosive vapors, in my opinion, outweighs the benefits.  I would suggest rather to keep your fuel tank(s) as full as you can and plan on limited use in the event of a crisis.  Or, as I was fortunate to be able to do, drive a diesel vehicle, get a diesel generator (there are small/relatively affordable ones) and store fuel outside in a 500 gal tank!

 

You definitely need to keep gas cans in a well ventilated area, ie. exhaust fan, if you were to keep it in an enclosure. But outside in the open air is always safer.

 

For anyone trying to continually store gasoline at home, consider whether you want to store summer blend or winter blend gasoline.  Summer blend gasoline has lower volatility so it will have less smelly off-gassing or lower pressure inside your storage container.  I store a small amount of gasoline in my garage and for me it is better to store summer blend.  It takes a little more effort to get the generator started using the summer blend in winter but it works okay once I have it started.  Of course the summer blend is only available during summer!  (Sorry I should have mentioned this tip a few months ago.) I have a repeating calendar reminder to rotate out my old stored fuel and buy new storage fuel each summer.

 

Good tip! I didn’t know there was a difference between summer and winter gasoline.

 

Summer gas has lower volatility so safer to store, but winter gas has less additives so is potentially more stable. The question of which to store should be dictated by how you are planning to store your gas: summer could be the safer alternative. Rotating your stored gas by using it on a regular basis is a good idea regardless. 

 

To stabilize the fuel I put Sta-bil in when I buy and store it; I do this for any fuel blend (summer or winter).  I haven’t had noticeable problems using the stabilized fuel.

 

What is the oldest stabilized fuel you have used and did you see any decrease in performance or starting ability?

 

The longest I’ve stored stabilized fuel is two years.  That was with summer blend fuel, to which I added a double dose of Sta-bil when I put it in storage.  (I usually put in a double dose in case I need to store fuel for two years instead of one year.  The directions on the bottle mention you can use a double dose to extend storage time to two years instead of one year.)  I didn’t notice any decrease in performance or starting ability.