Used gasoline disposal

Lots of people, especially now, will be having 6 month old gasoline in their PHEVs.

Mike

 

Last fillup with our lowly hybrid was March 3rd, going for 2 months now, and not even down to half.

 

I'll agree with this. That's probably exactly why the repair shop is recommending siphoning out the gas for storage.
For me though, I think I'd try to run dry, I'm not messing with siphoning, storage and then putting the gas from my lawn mower into my vehicle. Even a minimal risk (the gas isn't clean) isn't worth it to me.

 

Things are often not as they SEEM........and very often not as they are presented.

 

How long does a tank normally last in the garage queen?

My bet is at least a couple of weeks.

 

Closer to a month, for a half-tank fillup, say 20~25 liters. Right now we're driving maybe once a week, sometimes 20~60kms (sanity break), other times 4~5 (strictly groceries and home).

 

My brother and I have always been Cub Cadet owners.

We both add Stabil to our cans and off-season equipment. We drain snowblower, generator and tiller gas and burn it in the Cubs. The Cubs do have a 5 gallon tank which would dilute what we recovered from the other gadgets. So far the Cub's burn it with no trouble.

I do notice that our Honda Reflex scooter is sluggish on the first tank of gas each riding season and it may be due to the Stabil or that the season old gas degrades from sitting even with Stabil. The first tank of fresh gas always perks the scooter back up.

 

mine sat 3 years with 3/4 tank of e10, started right up no issues
added fresh premium for good measure, been driving solely that car ever since (but typically on cheap e15)

 

Double check the amount of Stabil that you are using.
I found in several motorcycles that adding too much made for poor low speed running.

 

That reminds me: how the heck would you dispose of Stabil, think I've got a bottle of that kicking around. Groan...

 

If it’s getting old and is opened just dump a little in each tankful, should go through it fast enough

 

You need a can of fuel-stabilizer-stabilizer!

 

+1

You cannot leave fuel in the lawnmower/snowblower/etc. in the off season. The carb is vented to the atmosphere so the fuel in the carb is slowly, constantly evaporating. When the level in the float bowl gets low, the needle valve opens and refills with more old gas to evaporate. When you allow this to happen over an 8 month period, you end up with gasoline varnish left from all that evaporated fuel. You can avoid a alot of problems by installing an inline fuel shut-off. That way you shut off the fuel, and let the engine run until it dies. I prefer to also drain the bowl as it just takes a moment, and I always get a little bit of sediment that was sitting in the bottom.

(Begin rant.)

Those of us in areas where the only option is ethanol-laced fuel have to adopt a regimen to handle fuel for our carbureted equipment. Those of us with carburetored boats have to be even more diligent because of the high humidity around the water surface. Exposure of fuel to atmospheric moisture is the enemy -- avoid it at all costs!

- Buy smaller amounts of fuel more frequently. Don't buy 5 gallons of fuel that lasts you a month and a half of mowing. Get a 1.5 gallon air- tight container and fill it more frequently.
- Treat your fuel with stabilizer when you buy it. Add the correct amount of stabilzer to the empty gas can before you head to the filling station.
- Keep fuel in an air-tight container. Fuel tanks on equipment are not air tight -- they are vented to the atmosphere allowing the ethanol to absorb atmospheric moisture. So keep the fuel in the air tight gas can as long as you can. Keep the fuel in the equipment's tank for as short a time as you can. If you only need 1/3 of a tank to mow the lawn, don't fill the tank to the top, and allow 2/3 of a tank to sit in an unvented tank for a week.

(End rant.)

 

Almost once a year I empty my mower tank due to it stopped working probably ethanol related.
I put the waste gaso in an empty jug for windshield fluid. Our county has a very nice household hazmat system, I just take the used oil and stuff over there.

 

i bought a brand new toro mower a couple years ago. had purchased 5 gallons of gas a month before. shortly after, the mower wouldn't start.
shop said it was stale gas. i said, it's only a little over a month old. guy points me to the owners manual, 'do not use gas over 30 days old'.
he says the orifices are smaller than they've ever been, and easily clogged. cost me 50 bucks.
that's been my mantra ever since

 

To consult the manual?

 

ah, that'll never happen, to pay 50 bucks for my mistakes. it's starting to get expensive...

 

Researched a little: there's a local place that'll take small amounts of gasoline, up to 25 liters IIRC. You have to bring it in a proper gas can, which they keep. But they'll give you up to $10 (if you ask), to compensate for the gas can. I see on amazon.ca 1.25 gallon gas cans are just under $10.

 

Stihl used to say not to use any ethanol gasoline that was over a month old -- but Stihl also used to say not to use ethanol fuel -- so confusing.

I only use ethanol-free premium in small engines and it all gets stabilizer (the stabilizer is actually part of the two-cycle oil I use -- from Stihl, of course).

I had a Stihl brushcutter and a Stihl pole saw that both had ethanol-free gasoline (with stabilizer) sit in them since around October 2018 to just the last month or so, and both started and ran normally when I fired them up a few weeks ago. So, that was a good year and a half and no problems. Normally, it would have just sat for four months or so, but I wasn't able to operate them at all last year.

I have, in the past, put really old gas in the car tank -- not a lot -- maybe a half-gallon or so to 17 gallons gallons of fresh and never had a problem -- IIRC, Tom & Ray of the old CarTalk radio program used to recommend that method for safely getting rid of old gasoline.

Locally, the regional garbage hauler holds Household Hazardous Waste day every three months and they take all that stuff for free -- but -- they just discontinued that service during the CoVid outbreak and I am hoping they restart it as they promise, as I have a couple of gallons of used motor oil -- as well as some fluorescent tubes that need to go away.

I don't think they LIKE holding the HazWaste days -- I think Oregon forces them to do it.

Finally, I pretty much agree with the Sam Spade comment:
What they really are trying to tell you is that the carb was gummed up and they are guessing that it just happened in the previous 6 months........when it probably really accumulated over the previous YEARS.