Q: storing gasoline

Put a 100 gal tank underground and don't tell anyone. Permits, restrictions, annual leak testing, etc. You'll be sorry you ever asked anyone official.

 

Most race fuel is sold in sealed steel drums.
Various sizes are used (5-55 gallon)
These should be easy to find, and work well.

 

I can't imagine how one can come out ahead storing quantities of gas as a private person. Insurance companies will disown you, and there are zoning considerations (do you want YOUR neighbor with 1000 gallons of gas next to you?). Plus, how much would a storage tank cost? How much savings per gallon will you get to come out ahead? And what happens when you have 1000 gallons of $3 gas in a $2 market? How long can you store it until it gets water and varnish? Will you sell gas to your neighbors?

If you can't afford the gas, get a Honda.

Ken

 

Yeah, there are a lot of legal and environmental issues you'd have to research before storing anything more that say, 55 gallons.

I'd keep it outside, and I would use an additive. A 275 gallon home heating oil tank would be a good method of storage. Back behind the garage, easy to secure. You could even have a filter on the spigot side. An advantage to having a legit set-up is that you can get a truck to come over and fill the thing up rather than doing it yourself 10 gallons at a time. You could probably get a better deal buying in bulk also.

Call around, find out who delivers gasoline in your area and find out from them what the storage requirements are.

 

keep it in a dark room with no lights and use a candle every time you go in the room then you will get a reward for panic buying fuel

 

Also note that new reformulated gasolines have a relatively short shelf life. A tech bulletin on the Chevron website says that gasoline stored in dark, air-tight containers has a shelf life of only 12 mos.

Vince

 

Affordable solution? I'm sure it would come with safety guidelines.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/vertical-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=froogle&id=0013293011886a&navCount=3&podId=0013293&parentId=cat420004&navAction=push&catalogCode=IF&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat420004&hasJS=true

 

OK, I know where you are coming from. I think I have the answer for you.

You are looking for something like this:
http://www.nbmc.com/caddy/caddy.html

Just enough to top off the car's fuel tank if all the service stations are out of gas. If you do a search you can probably find one cheaper.

 

I think most places store it in an out building.
I would definatly want to keep it out of the summer sun.

 

What ever you decide to store the fuel in, rotate your stock!

About every 6 months use your stored fuel in your cars and refill with fresh.

Failure to do this will result in your having 55 gallons of paint thinner when the emergency arrives.

Erich

 

I think those caddy's would be perfect. Lot less hassles than trying to move around a 55gallon drum of gas, how heavy would that sucker be ? need a special dolly or something to move it around safely, yeah I know they make drum dollys but now you have a gas station taking up lots of space in your garage. If all you want is emergency get out of town gas, 29 gallons should be plenty to get you to a safer area and being on wheels already and plastic is much safer (less chance of sparks), plus its probably legal in most areas (check first) which means less hassle with insurance if something on the odd chance went wrong.

And 29 gallons would be easy to rotate through every few months to keep it fresh. Living in earthquake country, I think I am getting one, great idea.

 

Don't even think about an underground tank, unless you want the EPA and your neighbors to own your house in the suit.

The gasbuddy looks nearly ideal.

I'd also like a good source for cheap 15gal or so metal* drums.

Aparently, gasolene will not degrade it's volitiles if stored under slight pressure (11psi.) this might be intresting for pressure rated metal drums and an N2 fitting.

*beware plastic and non-polar solvents! If the tank does not have static addatives and is rated for fuel, DO NOT USE IT!!! I just heard a story where a guy was flushing solvent and failed to hookup the last ground wire for the 18" of plastic pipe going from the last tank to a ball valve...

Well, he heard a loud SNAP, and saw an arc that jumped the *FULL 18" GAP INSIDE THE SOLVENT-FILLED TUBE!!!* (that's several million volts kids.) He's alive today because the tanks were nitrogen filled/purged, and the liquid will not ignite just the vapors.

 

Or your lawnmower will run like ****, because it is designed to run on low octane gas.

 

Store as much as you like but remember to add Stabil and it will last for 2 years. I store 80 gallons for jet ski's, generator and tractor and have no problems with shelf life as long as I added stabil when I bought the gas.

http://www.goldeagle.com/sta-bil/

 

Okay guys, those of you in the city. Many farms out in the country have fuel storage tanks. The old place we sold last year had several 265 gallon tanks, and one 500 gallon tank. No permits, no nothing. Park a tank, call one of your local heating oil supply people, and they will either have fuel, or can direct you. Underground storage would be more difficult, and you would probably want to keep that secret. Anyone know about Av gas, does that breakdown as fast as normal gasoline? Also, I thought I heard that fuel stored underground, and kept cool, would last a lot longer.

 

For a 55 gal drum, the weight of the fuel, the drum, the pump and the dolly would be around 410 lbs.
For the 28 gal gas caddy (with the pump) you are looking at 225 lbs. That is for 175 lbs of fuel, and the advertised shipping weight of the gas caddy of 50 lbs. It is probably actually less. At any rate, 2 guys can get it out of the back of a pick up truck.

I agree and think it would be fine stored in the rubbermaid shed.

You could keep the fuel fresh by adding the stabil, as previously recommended, but also by continually using out of the caddy for all your household needs and just keeping the caddy topped off with your 5 gallon cans. Eliminates the need to bring the whole thing to the gas station except for the first time.

The more I think about it, the more I think I am going to get one also. Right now I've got like three 5 gallon cans and two 2.5 gallon cans. It would be a lot easier filling up the lawn tractor and plow truck by pumping the fuel in from the caddy rather than lifting up the 5 gallon can and trying to hit the filler without spilling any.

 

I just did a little hunting around and the original link I gave you is the cheapest I can find at $379 for the full unit complete with pump. (you'll want the pump). Let me know if you find one cheaper.

Just for ****s and giggles, I looked up the cost of a 55 gallon drum set up also (complete with dolley and pump) and it is about the same money, only shipping costs would be a lot higher as I don't believe a drum can go UPS.

 

I have thought about this issue myself but have yet to find a satisfactory solution. Using a very large tank or drum is allows for a lot of storage, but then you have to have some way of either transporting the fuel to the tank/drum or safely transporting a very heavy full tank/drum. You also have to have a place to put the tank/drum which is safe. The following site has a discussion of how to safely store fuel on the farm. http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:_tb2URyxkLAJ:www.agnr.umd.edu/AgroSecurity/A%2520Tip%2520Sheet%25206%2520Fuel%2520Storge%2520Tanks-1.doc+fuel+storage+tank+pump&hl=en

The fuel caddy may work well as it is portable and could even be taken with you in an SUV in an emergency. However, you still have to store it somewhere and when full it still is probably a pain to unload from a vehicle. If your concern is solely about having to fuel up one of your cars in an emergency, you may also want to think about getting a siphoning system which would allow you to take gas out of your other vehicles or abandoned ones ala Mad Max. Here is a cheap siphon solution http://www.siphonsonline.com

 

I am thinking in an emergency like a earthquake where the stations no longer have power and/or its turned into New Orleans like situation at the gas stations, you may not want to sit there and siphon gas from your few cars which may or may not be full to begin with. Although to keep condensation to a minimum I do try to keep my tanks near full, you know when the earthquake hits, my tanks will be empty.

I can rotate through the caddy's gas pretty easy to keep it fresh, harder to rotate through with 55gallons. And after a quake I can haul that caddy pretty easily and keep on driving even though the stations are closed...of course that is assuming it did not turn into a Houston style freeway where all the gas in the world would not help at 0 MPH.

For me, I don't want 410lbs of bulky stuff in my garage (thanks to Pete0422 for doing the math), I can keep that dolly in the shed with my lawmower until I need it. Now, its time to shop for the best deal

By the way off the subject (maybe I should start a new thread in a different area, I do not want to hijack the thread), just a thought to the original poster who was worried about earthquakes and getting out of town, with hurricanes and flooding, no doubt its best to get out of town. But with earthquakes you will not have a warning, so after the fact is it best to get out of town or stay ? I guess that can't be answered as it will depend on too many unknowns ahead of time but unless there are fires or your property is quickly becoming beach front property you might be safer staying at home.

 

Yes, the $379 is about the going rate for a caddy. You can also get one for that price at most boat supply chains and avoid shipping costs.

I have a boat on my property and keep 100 galllons in her. Used the fuel during Katrina to power my gernerator as I was out of power for a week.

A quick note - Your fuel will last 12 months easy with stabilizer and make sure it has water remover in it or buy that seperately and add to fuel. Boat shops carry both products.

As temperatures change between night/day and during the seasons, condensation will form between the top of the fuel level and the air pocket inside the container which will result in water in the fuel. Keep it topped off as high as possible.

If you don't want to move 400lb at once, you can get some 5 gal cans, and transfer to the caddy. Many of my neighbors have them and they work great.

BTW - living on both sides of the coast (LAX - MIA) I would rather be here because we know when it's comming...