How do you safely store gasoline?

[velvetfoot]

I have 5, 5 gal metal safety cans in the garage that's attached to the house via an enclosed breezeway.

I don't have any kind of metal equipment shed, yet, but is there a lot of safety to be gained from storing the gas containers in one of them? If it goes up, it won't hurt the house, but I imagine it would get a lot hotter, and colder, there.

Any suggestions or ideas?
Thanks.

 

[hemlock]

In the warm weather, I make a point to open the vents on my jerry cans every few days, just to relieve the pressure from the expansion of the fuel. In the cold, I don't see any trouble. Maybe just add a bit of stabilizer/fuel antifreeze.

 

[CTguy9230]

i would think you,d be fine storing them that way as long as there
an approved container..

 

[Jack Straw]

I add preservative and store in the wood shed.

 

[ironpony]

approved cans definately make it safer
and I realize not everyone has a shed
but mine stay in the shed away from the house
with that being said
my 2 tractors 10 gals, zero turn 14 gals, quad 2 gals and motorcycle 3 gals are in the garage
along with the cars 20+ gals
so if there is a fire there
I dont know if it would really matter

 

[velvetfoot]

That's true about the vehicles; all their tanks are probably plastic too.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

In the winter I don't think you will find a pressure issue. In case of house fire, you probably won't be in the garage anyway.

Matt

 

[velvetfoot]

It'd just be a drag if the house burned down because the garage burned.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'd be bummed if my garage burnt also. We still don't have snow so it's not too late to put up a small shed. I guarantee you will find other things to put into it besides gas.

Matt

 

[colebrookman]

Why so much fuel. It gets stale so fast. You probably also have a gas grill in there. Big boom if something happens. Be safe.
Ed

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Definitely better to store the gas in the shed. We do the same with releasing pressure in hot weather and always use stabilizer. During winter months we add antifreeze. Also during winter months we like gas tanks to be either empty or full. Definitely try to not let any gas tanks get below half on the engines we are using during winter months.

 

[Highbeam]

I might be a bit crazy, or maybe you are, but has anyone actually had a gas can rupture because they didn't relieve the pressure build up that occurs during a hot day? I propose that it is actually more dangerous to relieve that pressure and spew out those gas fumes than to just leave the cans alone. You're messing with the cans, maybe some static electricity build up, etc.

Gas does not go stale as fast as some would have you think. Really now, be honest, has your mower ever failed to start and run on gas that has been stored over the winter in a gas can? Mymower runs just fine on the old gas. It is quite different to leave a standard vented carburetor full of stale gas over the winter and I have had to clean the resulting varnished carb but the can of fuel still burns great.

For the record I keep 2-5 gallon plastic cans for mower gas, a one gallon can of mixed gas, and one 55 gallon barrel of diesel in the unattached garage and am not the least bit concerned that one of them will spontaneously combust.

 

[BrotherBart]

I kept all the stuff in the garage for years. Now 15 gallons of generator gas purchased each October, the saw gas and other is stored in a clamshell car top carrier a bit away from the house but easily accessible from the generator shack. Come summer the gas gets cooked off in the yard equipment and what is left over goes in the truck gas tank in October and it starts all over again.

 

[woodgeek]

I might be a bit crazy, or maybe you are, but has anyone actually had a gas can rupture because they didn't relieve the pressure build up that occurs during a hot day? I propose that it is actually more dangerous to relieve that pressure and spew out those gas fumes than to just leave the cans alone. You're messing with the cans, maybe some static electricity build up, etc.

Gas does not go stale as fast as some would have you think. Really now, be honest, has your mower ever failed to start and run on gas that has been stored over the winter in a gas can? Mine sure has. It is quite different to leave a standard vented carburetor full of stale gas over the winter and I have had to clean the resulting varnished carb but the can of fuel still burns great.

For the record I keep 2-5 gallon plastic cans for mower gas, a one gallon can of mixed gas, and one 55 gallon barrel of diesel in the unattached garage and am not the least bit concerned that one of them will spontaneously combust.

I am also v skeptical about the need to relieve pressure....the cans do self-pressurize in a temperature dependent manner, but that is limited by the vapor pressure of the gas, which is way below the burst pressure of any safety container, by design. Of course, harmless compulsions can be fun.

I read the pamphlet that came with my new metal safety can--it is clear that the spring loaded and gasketed cover on the spout is designed to vent in the case where the can gets heated close to the boiling point of the gas (rather than have the can burst). IOW, in a house/shed fire, the can would nominally blow out a stream of flammable vapor (bad), rather than melt down or pop, dumping five gallons of gas on the floor all at once (much worse).

 

[velvetfoot]

I used to have fewer cans of gas but then I got a lawn tractor which consumes a surprising amount of fuel. Add the 9 hp. splitter when that's in operation and there's some fuel being used.
The last time we had a power outage, I hadn't been refilling the cans and I had nothing to fill the gennies with! Duh!
I've taken to tying a piece of yellow plastic survey tape on the cans with the date filled marked it.

Now that I think of it, I don't even know where to buy K1 for the kerosene heater.

 

[Bad Wolf]

I have 8 20L NATO cans that I keep filled. I use stabiliser and rotate them on a FIFO schedule (first in first out). While that seems like a lot of fuel I consonantly use it to fuel the lawn tractor in the summer, which being a twin cylinder seems to burn a lot more than my old single cylinder one. Add the splitter, snow blower, rototiller, power washer and sometimes generator and I think I go through a complete rotation in less than a year. Actually I let it fluctuate a little, sometime I let it get down to 5 or 6 cans, but when the fecal matter encountered the air recirculation unit, after the hurricane I had enough on hand to run the generator for 60 hours. (Course I don't run it continuously, and have a small one for long runs but that's another thread).

I keep them in the far corner of the garage along with the chainsaw mix. Being NATO cans they have a pretty robust locking mechanism. I'd be more concerned about the plastic cans for the chainsaws.

 

[semipro]

I might be a bit crazy, or maybe you are, but has anyone actually had a gas can rupture because they didn't relieve the pressure build up that occurs during a hot day? I propose that it is actually more dangerous to relieve that pressure and spew out those gas fumes than to just leave the cans alone. You're messing with the cans, maybe some static electricity build up, etc. ...

I am also v skeptical about the need to relieve pressure....the cans do self-pressurize in a temperature dependent manner, but that is limited by the vapor pressure of the gas, which is way below the burst pressure of any safety container, by design. Of course, harmless compulsions can be fun.

I read the pamphlet that came with my new metal safety can--it is clear that the spring loaded and gasketed cover on the spout is designed to vent in the case where the can gets heated close to the boiling point of the gas (rather than have the can burst). IOW, in a house/shed fire, the can would nominally blow out a stream of flammable vapor (bad), rather than melt down or pop, dumping five gallons of gas on the floor all at once (much worse).

+1 Why relieve the pressure? It will just build up again if the container is sealed; as it should be. You should only have to relieve the pressure right before you pour it into your equipment.

Gasoline is a complex substance consisting of many constituents. The lighter (lower molecular weight) compounds in the gasoline volatilize at lower temps and create the pressure. The pressure that results keeps further volatilization from occurring. I'd even go so far as saying that you're better off not allowing these gases to escape because if you do you're preferentially leaving the heavier compounds in the container, changing the chemical composition of the remaining liquid.

I think you're just wasting fuel and polluting the air unnecessarily if you release the pressure other than right before use.

From the Blitz USA website:

"Fuel vapors expand when hot and contract when cold. Our plastic containers are design to accommodate these changes. The can will return to its normal state at room temperature. If you need to use your gas can while under expansion or contraction, you should release any built up pressure or vacuum by slowly loosening the collar temporarily. Use caution."

 

[Highbeam]

I race off road motorcycles. People get all excited about having fresh gasoline and then they do this funny thing. To prevent the gas cans from pressurizing they leave the vent cap open to allow these vapors to escape and prevent pressurization of the cans while we are traveling to the event. True, the shaking of transport and the heat from sunlight in the truck bed do build up pressure but cripes, how safe is it to have an open fuel can in the bed of a truck going down the road and just how fresh is the gas that has been boiling off all of the light end compounds. Those light ends are the first ones to vaporize in the carb and I think make all the difference in fresh vs. stale gas.

In any case, it will burn in the mower.

I do enjoy relieving the pressure of a can on occasion, it's like letting out a nice healthy fart. You can then get a pleasant whiff of the aroma and even smell it on your hand for awhile. Close your eyes, inhale the aroma, relax, repeat.

 

[seeyal8r]

The only gas I keep is in a 1 gallon plastic jug for the chainsaws. My jeep has an aftermarket fuel cell in the bed and due to an accident on the trail I ran the gas line inside the tub of the jeep. Its protected from sticks, rocks, and other debris. With a phillips screw driver I can disconnect the fuel line and pull it out of the jeep and into the lawn mower or other vehicle or whatever. The electric fuel pump will pump a couple gallons a minute and the jeep fuel tank is 18 gallons. I fill it up when I go on trips and anything left over I pump into other equipment as needed. Solved my gas jug problem.

 

[woodsmaster]

The only way I know to safly store it is to hide it from my wife. She will run low on gas and next thing I Know when it's time to mow or cut wood I have to run to the gas station and fill the cans. When she uses the 2 strke gas and can be kinda expensive with the oil.

 

[babzog]

Sta-bil and cans are stored in a flip top Rubbermaid container beside the wood/garden shed.

 

[peakbagger]

To close the loop on this, I got my VIP racing fuel jugs today. They appear to be significantly heavier duty plastic than the 5 gallon cans that used to sold at Walmart and other locations. The fuel cap and the vent cap are much better quality. The vent cap is molded so that if the tank is underpressure it will vent downwards before the threads release. The fuel nozzle is a assortment of hardware store fittings using standard threads. A lot beefier than anything you might get with the old cans.

They do have a legal notice molded in small letters on the side that they are intended for racing fuel dispensation and not for fuel storage, which I suspect is how they can sell them. If it bothers someone, a sharp razor blade would remove the warning as the lettering is raised . Nevertheless if someone needed a can for business use I would suggest they buy a EPA legal can. For my own use its a step up from what I was using.

 

[cpttuna]

I use sta-bil and keep my 5 gal cans in a metal garbage can that lays on its side. I open the vents on the 5 gal cans and tilt the lid to hide the gas cans but don't close the lid shut.