Hello all. I searched but couldn't find much meaningful discussion on the subject, perhaps the 3year search limit is getting me?

I've recently acquired four of the 5-gallon NATO style Gerry cans. My main reason for getting these is to extend my camping range when doing overland camping or on trips to the desert or Baja.

However now that I own them, it seems prudent that I should keep them filled with gasoline as a hedge against the usual litany of emergencies. (I used to worry most about earthquakes but after being evacuated TWICE in the last six years due to wildfiles...)

I don't own a generator or even a gas mower, so the only gasoline consumers are the family vehicles. I plan to store the cans in an outdoor shed near the house. Temperature fluctuation is a mild concern (I wouldn't store ammunition there, for example), so I'll have to keep an eye on the cans for rust, etc., but I don't feel comfortable storing 20 gallons of fuel in the garage (with a gas-pilot waterheater).

The Sta-Bil website indicates that their product will keep gas for a year. If I go half that and start rotating the gas cans out on a six-month period, is that good enough?

I usually synch my preparedness activities (refreshing the water cache, etc.) to the daylight/standard time changes, so it isn't quite a 6-month interval anymore, but its still less than the one-year timeframe advised by Sta-Bil.

Thoughts?

Pick two holidays roughly six months apart--say St. Patricks Day and Labor Day--and on those dates use the cans to fill your cars. If you can't rotate all your stock at once, refill the ones you do use, and turn them so the lid faces the direction opposite of the ones that still need to be used, and continue to top off your car, until the rotation is complete. I picked St. Pat's and Labor Day, because those are always good days to get "gassed." ;-) There's your mnemonic to remember to do it!

Depends on whether it's got ethanol in it. With ethanol it's going to start going bad in a month.

First of all, try to get the "good" non ethanol gas, otherwise it doesn't store as well. Second, use a good gas preservative, I swear by PRI-G, I have stored gas using PRI-G for over a year and had no issues when I used it.

I used to use Stabil, but the Stabil itself has a shelf life,not so with PRI-G as well as I am able to use PRI-G to restore older gas that hasn't been stored properly so that I can use it again.

Here is some literature from the company on it:

PRI-G Fuel Stabilization

PRI-G Article

As it is, use PRI-G and I try to rotate 1/2 of my stock every 6 months into the cars and then replace it, that way I am not replacing 50 gallons at a time which could break the bank!!

Exactly.

I have not used Stabil or PRI-G but have heard good things about both, and bad about Stabil.

I like SeaFoam! Good in the gas, good in the oil, good in the intake... it's worked miracles for me and MANY others.

OK, I'll check out PRI-G, but unfortunately I don't think I'll have a choice on the ethanol. Here in San Diego we're considered one of the "high impact zones" or whatever CARB has designated them, meaning that during certain times of year ALL the gas has Ethanol, like it or no. Just don't see driving out of the county to get special gas so it'll store better...

I agree with the additive approach. I rotate once a year.

I actually do drive out of my county to get the good gas, since I only rotate every 6 months, it isn't that big of a deal and it is better for all of my small engines also!!!

Ethanol has been a Godsend for small engine repair shops and I won't put it in my boat motor, tractor, chainsaw, generator etc.

Just be sure to keep it in an airtight container,one of the problems with the ethanol according to my small engine guy is that the alcohol attracts water and that is part of what causes problems.

Good luck

If you end up storing Diesel Pri-G also makes a great diesel storage additive, that also has a ctane (sp?) booster in it. Just don't over do it on storage times. Diesel is a whole different ball game than gasoline. Diesel grows critters....

Diesel tends to store so much better than gasoline, even without special additives. Especially fuel oil, which is formulated right from the beginning to store well. We buy at least 1,000 gallons of fuel oil at a time and never once had problems with storage, even without us doing anything to it. One piece of equipment had half a tanks worth of fuel sitting for at least three years and started right up no problem.

Plus diesel/fuel oil is a lot safer to store. When we had both gas and diesel tanks our insurance was ridicules. Now that we've removed the gas tanks and gone to basically all diesel it has dropped significantly.

I might only have 10 gallons of gasoline on hand at any one time, but I still keep at least 500 gallons of fuel oil on hand. With that, in an emergency, I can run my truck, I can run a generator, I can run a welder, I can run heavy equipment, I can heat my office....I can basically do everything I need.