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Best way to store petrol?

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  • 11-06-2013 10:54pm
    #1
    Altoid
    Registered Users Posts: 99 ✭✭


    If for nothing else then the chainsaw (lots of use there) is there a good way to store petrol for long periods of time.

    Could be useful for emergency generators too...

    Any ideas?

    - Al


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    #2
    josip
    Registered Users Posts: 13,655 ✭✭✭✭josip


    Top off a sealed jerrycan


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    #3
    spynappels
    Registered Users Posts: 53 ✭✭spynappels


    Doesn't petrol lose it's "bang" if stored for a long time? Something to do with the volatile hydrocarbons evaporating, even from a well sealed container?

    I know the lawnmower struggles on last season's petrol, even if stored in a sealed petrol can...

    I could be wrong though, I frequently am.


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    #4
    munchkin_utd
    Registered Users Posts: 7,847 ✭✭✭munchkin_utd


    would a less volitile fuel like diesel not be a better bet for storage, if only for safety reasons.
    Not to mention theres more energy per litre in diesel than petrol, as will be evident when eventually the tax revolves around calorific content .


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    #5
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    munchkin_utd wrote: »
    Not to mention theres more energy per litre in diesel than petrol

    I wouldn't have thought so, but by volume you're correct because diesel is more dense. Interesting.
    The calorific value of diesel fuel is roughly 45.5 MJ/kg (megajoules per kilogram), slightly lower than petrol which is 45.8 MJ/kg. However, diesel fuel is denser than petrol and contains about 15% more energy by volume (roughly 36.9 MJ/litre compared to 33.7 MJ/litre). Accounting for the difference in energy density, the overall efficiency of the diesel engine is still some 20% greater than the petrol engine, despite the diesel engine also being heavier.

    Taken from here.

    Does it store better for longer periods though?


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    #6
    Deerhound
    Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Deerhound


    Khannie wrote: »
    Does it store better for longer periods though?

    If I understand correctly from what I have read, the more highly refined a product gets from crude, the shorter its shelf life. Therefore diesel lasts longer than petrol, kerosene lasts longer than diesel.
    I know that preppers in America use products like Sta-Bil to stabilise their petrol/diesel for storage. http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/


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    #7
    eirator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,520 ✭✭✭eirator


    I think we sorted this issue out in another thread?

    Anyway current petrol (don't forget it changes over time and used to have lead in it and quality now is often a factor of how much ethanol it has in it) is OK for 12 months provided its stored in a can that's air tight and full to the brim.

    Don't forget ethanol loves to soak up water from the air and that is one of the reasons petrol deteriorates over time.

    You can use a fuel stabaliser like this one which claims it extends storage life to 3 years or this one with a more realistic storage claim of 2 years.


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    #8
    touts
    Registered Users Posts: 6,437 ✭✭✭touts


    Best bet is a rotation strategy. Say you want to store 50lt (a full tank for most cars). Buy 10 5lt containers (when they come up in Aldi ot Lidl). Next time you fill up your car also fill up one of the containers. Fill them all over time and line them up on a shelf in your shed (not your house due to the fire risk) with the oldest first. Once they are all full the next time you need to fill the car take the first container and empty it into the car. Then go to the petrol station and fill up the car and 5lt into the container. Move that container to the end of the line.

    That way once you have the initial outlay for the containers and an extra 5lt the first ten times you fill the car it is cost neutral as 5lt goes into the container but you have to buy 5lt less for the car (the old petrol having gone in there first).

    Read that somewhere (might even have been on a thread here but I cant find it). I have never gotten around to it myself but it seems like a good ideal and is firmly on my "would like to do" list. But as I said earlier there is no way I would store petrol in my house especially not large amounts. Plus not everyone fills their car when they go to the pump and might just put in €20 at a time so then it gets complicated working out how much to put in to be cost neutral. So its not an option for everyone.


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