What's the shelf life of petrol?

[thewave]

Supposing I had a suitable storage facility (ignore the regulations and all that other crap for a minute)

How long would, let's say, a jerry can full of petrol remain useful?



(I'm preparing for the Mad Max type scenarios )

[andyquantum]

Starts to go off and lose a bit of octane after a few weeks. I havent tried using any but I do have some thats been sat for almost a year now. Probably just water after all that time

[planetdave]

I had a car sitting in my garage for well over a year - charged up the battery and away it went. So it stays useful for quite some time.

[thewave]

My thinking was that as long as it's sealed properly, then it shouldn't 'go off' as it can't vapourise (I assume that's the correct terminology?)

ETA

As long as there's little air in the container of course.

Edited by thewave on Monday 16th June 17:32

[richardxjr]

About 2 months, seriously.

It's not loss of octane as much as the varnish deposits which can clog injectors etc. Especially nasty for carbs. I have first hand experience of this.

A fuel stabiliser will keep it fresh for up to a year:

http://www.ready2race.co.uk/shop/shop.php?action=f...

[BLUETHUNDER]

thewave said:

My thinking was that as long as it's sealed properly, then it shouldn't 'go off' as it can't vapourise (I assume that's the correct terminology?)

ETA

As long as there's little air in the container of course.

Edited by thewave on Monday 16th June 17:32

Petrol,over time starts to degrade and loose its properties.

[thewave]

BLUETHUNDER said:

thewave said:

My thinking was that as long as it's sealed properly, then it shouldn't 'go off' as it can't vapourise (I assume that's the correct terminology?)

ETA

As long as there's little air in the container of course.

Edited by thewave on Monday 16th June 17:32

Petrol,over time starts to degrade and loose its properties.

I assumed this would be the case, but wondered how long it would be useful for.

So going off on a tangent slightly, is it possible for Joe Public to buy large quanities of fuel in advance, such like the large airline companies do?

What would be the minimum? For instance purchasing £10k of petrol in advance at 116p or something?

All hypothetical of course.

[mr_fibuli]

My mower wouldn't start once the fuel in my jerry can got to about 3 or 4 years old - had to put a few drops into the cylinder to fire it up.

Got a fresh can of petrol this year and it starts on the first pull now.

[BLUETHUNDER]

thewave said:

BLUETHUNDER said:

thewave said:

My thinking was that as long as it's sealed properly, then it shouldn't 'go off' as it can't vapourise (I assume that's the correct terminology?)

ETA

As long as there's little air in the container of course.

Edited by thewave on Monday 16th June 17:32

Petrol,over time starts to degrade and loose its properties.

I assumed this would be the case, but wondered how long it would be useful for.

So going off on a tangent slightly, is it possible for Joe Public to buy large quanities of fuel in advance, such like the large airline companies do?

What would be the minimum? For instance purchasing £10k of petrol in advance at 116p or something?

All hypothetical of course.

Its illegal to store fuel for personnel use.

[busta]

BLUETHUNDER said:

thewave said:

BLUETHUNDER said:

thewave said:

My thinking was that as long as it's sealed properly, then it shouldn't 'go off' as it can't vapourise (I assume that's the correct terminology?)

ETA

As long as there's little air in the container of course.

Edited by thewave on Monday 16th June 17:32

Petrol,over time starts to degrade and loose its properties.

I assumed this would be the case, but wondered how long it would be useful for.

So going off on a tangent slightly, is it possible for Joe Public to buy large quanities of fuel in advance, such like the large airline companies do?

What would be the minimum? For instance purchasing £10k of petrol in advance at 116p or something?

All hypothetical of course.

Its illegal to store fuel for personnel use.

Are you sure? Petrol perhaps, but I know several people that have diesel storage tanks.

[BLUETHUNDER]

busta said:

BLUETHUNDER said:

thewave said:

BLUETHUNDER said:

thewave said:

My thinking was that as long as it's sealed properly, then it shouldn't 'go off' as it can't vapourise (I assume that's the correct terminology?)

ETA

As long as there's little air in the container of course.

Edited by thewave on Monday 16th June 17:32

Petrol,over time starts to degrade and loose its properties.

I assumed this would be the case, but wondered how long it would be useful for.

So going off on a tangent slightly, is it possible for Joe Public to buy large quanities of fuel in advance, such like the large airline companies do?

What would be the minimum? For instance purchasing £10k of petrol in advance at 116p or something?

All hypothetical of course.

Its illegal to store fuel for personnel use.

Are you sure? Petrol perhaps, but I know several people that have diesel storage tanks.

Business and agriculture are exempt.But for personnel use to run a fleet of vehicles then no.I was given a flat no,when i enquired some years ago.

[busta]

That'd be why then, all the people I know are in agriculture.

[J111]

BLUETHUNDER said:

Its illegal to store fuel for personnel use.

It isn't, but you do have to jump through hoops (offsets from buildings, bunded vessels, notification to the council) to have more than 15l on your premises. If you follow the guidelines you can keep 275l of petrol for use in internal combustion engines.

[thewave]

BLUETHUNDER]quote said:

Its illegal to store fuel for personnel use.

It's also illegal to do 35mph in a 30mph limit

I wasn't so concerned with storage, more of the purchase in advance

[funwithrevs]

Just to add to the fun, summer petrol is different from winter petrol

[Dave_ST220]

funwithrevs said:

Just to add to the fun, summer petrol is different from winter petrol

In what way? I know this is true(or used to be when we had cold winters) for diesel??

[Huntsman]

andyquantum said:

Probably just water after all that time

you are taking the piss?

[AdamMX-5]

mr_fibuli said:

My mower wouldn't start once the fuel in my jerry can got to about 3 or 4 years old - had to put a few drops into the cylinder to fire it up.

Got a fresh can of petrol this year and it starts on the first pull now.

My strimmer was the same this year but I've decided, with no scientific evidence, that it must be because it's Petroil. The straight unleaded that was left over from last year, once I realised it was going to be of no use to me in the strimmer, worked fine in my better half's Bora (though we're only talking about a couple of litres dropped into a 50 litre tank of course!).

[andyquantum]

No, it's not in a particularly airtight container

[Munter]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline
Scroll down and down and down a bit furter and it mentions stabalisers to keep fuel for longer for small motors (e.g. strimmers)