If power goes out, gas pumps won’t work. People in Texas are realizing this right now. Preppers use gas for vehicles and for generators. Preppers can even turn their car into a generator, but you need fuel to make it happen. There are certain ways you should store fuel in order to ensure it is functional when you need it.
The Basics
Gasoline comes from crude oil. It is boiled and refined and certain parts of what comes from the crude is your petroleum gas. Gas then has other components mixed with it, including ethanol, which is essentially alcohol produced from corn.
When it comes to storing fuel long term, you have two enemies- evaporation and water. Fuel has volatile organic compounds which make it flammable. This is the good stuff. This stuff also likes to evaporate. The more gas evaporates, the lower grade your gas becomes. You avoid this by keeping it from coming in contact with the air as much as possible. You do this by storing it in an air tight container. The second enemy of fuel is water. They say water and oil don’t mix, but they kind of do. Water is always trying to find its way into your fuel. The moisture in the air, condensation, etc. Water further dilutes your fuel. When the VOCs evaporate and your fuel has too much water in it, it becomes stale and doesn’t work as well. This is what we want to avoid.
How to Store Gas Cans
Store gas cans and fuel containers out of sunlight in a cool area. Away from anything that has a flame. Keep it away from furnaces. Keep it in an airtight place. In 2009 the EPA made a rule that gas cans cannot vent on their own. Modern gas cans should be safe to store indoors as long as they are not damaged. We prefer and recommend storing them in a garage, shed, or shop, climate controlled if possible just in case. I personally sleep better if I have a good gas storage, but if I’m not sleeping right next to it.
Ethanol free or regular?
Ethanol free has has a longer shelf life. Without additives, ethanol free gas is supposed to last twice as long as “regular” gas. We haven’t found any evidence that premium gas lasts any longer, and some reports say it contains more ethanol than regular. If your vehicle needs premium though, that’s what I’d store.
Which type of gas you pick should also depend on your gas rotation system. The way we see it, if you’re cycling through your gas storage every 3-6 months, which we recommend, then it really doesn’t matter. If you want to forget about it for a longer period of time then go ethanol free.
On that same note, many contend that metal gas cans make gas last longer than the plastic cans. I am of the opinion, again, that you should be cycling it out at a rate that it shouldn’t matter, but if you want to push the absolute limits, the go to best option are these metal jerry cans. I personally have both metal and plastic.
Additives to Keep Gas Working
Seafoam
Seafoam is fantastic. There are a lot of fuel additives on the market. Seafoam is a no frills, time tested additive that’s been on the market for 50 years and just plain works. Seafoam helps gas out and it cleans and protects your engine when running older fuel, and also cleans out any crud that may be in the engine from previous fuel. I run seafoam through my car engines every time I get an oil change. Also, Seafoam is, as of the time I’m writing this, on sale on Amazon for as cheap as I’ve seen it in the last 10 years. I just bought what I need for the next year. Check it out HERE.
Stabil
Stabil is a fuel additive that fights the effects of ethanol and also is advertised as being able to keep fuel fresh for at least 12 months. It’s a common additive for fuel storage, and its one we recommend if you cannot easily get ethanol free fuel, or if you’ve already got gas with ethanol in it.
Mixed fuel storage
You can’t un-mix fuel. I prefer to keep a small quantity of mixed fuel and a larger quantity of regular fuel. If you’ve got the oil you can mix as needed down the road, but if you only have mixed fuel and need regular, you’re going to have trouble.
How Much Fuel Can I Legally Store?
This amount varies by your state and/or city. Utah state law, for example, says that you can only store up to 25 gallons of fuel without additional permitting, with only 10 gallons allowed in an attached garage. If the picture above was taken in Utah (it wasn’t) it would definitely not be legal. There are also limits placed on the amount of propane, kerosene or diesel, and other fuels in Utah and many other states. Check your state laws. We do not advocate for breaking the law, but we also look down on neighbors reporting neighbors for having “too much fuel,” as long as you’re storing it safely. The easiest way around this limitation? Keep your vehicles full, or as close to full as you can. I don’t like to let my vehicle’s gas tank fall below 1/2, just so I’m always prepared. These laws are branded as being more about safety than “hoarding,” but we’ve also written about anti-hoarding laws as well.
One fuel that is completely unregulated, and that most people overlook, is olive oil. Olive oil is a 100% renewable resource and burns pretty clean. It makes a great light source, but I wouldn’t recommend putting it in your car (unless you’ve designed it to be able to run off it) or to cook with, though we have experimented with cooking with it as a fuel. If you want to read more about that, you can read our article on it HERE.
How to Store Propane
Propane tanks, generally speaking, are a bit more robust than a gas can. Propane is stored under pressure in metal containers. There isn’t really any rules about storing them in direct sunlight. The only guidance is to not store them in an area above 120 degrees or below -40. From experience, and this may sound common sense, but you want to store them in a way that they won’t be rolling around, which puts them at risk of being damaged. I threw a couple in the back of a pickup truck once and they were banged around so much We just swapped them out.
Propane: Refilling Small Tanks
You can refill a 20 lb tank for about $12. The 1 lb tanks cost $4-15 and you cannot refill them at a propane refill station (They’re cheaper local, but you can buy them on Amazon for extra). I’m not saying don’t have small tanks, because I think they’re convenient and really nice to have on hand, but I don’t like paying small tank prices. Turns out, you can refill them on your own with an attachment, and then you can transfer propane from your bigger tank to your smaller tank. Also, just as a side bar, if you do propane exchanges, stop it. It costs $15 to exchange a 15lb tank. It cost $12 to refill a 20lb tank. And, while talking about refilling the small bottles- If you use this adapter twice, it’s paid for itself compared to two $4 bottles of fuel. So, stop throwing away the used bottles.
If you freeze your small tanks it makes refill go easier. The small tank needs to be colder than the big tank. If you have your big tank stored outside or in the garage in the winter time, you may need to bring it inside and warm it up before you do the transfer. Also, this same adapter works on a the propane torch tanks as well, meaning you can refill those, and you can use those for stoves and heaters. They just don’t fit as nicely, but they’ll work in a pinch.
Big Tank to Small Tank Adapter
This is extremely useful if you’re planning on running a small tank device for a long period of time. A little buddy heater for instance is a fantastic backup heat source, but it uses the small tanks. If you hook it up to the large tank, you can have heat for a long time, 40-100 hours in fact. The convenience applies to things like a Coleman stove.
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