Long Term Gas Storage

With bug out as my first plan the goal will be to get from here to there. Ideally traveling by car would be the best route. As well one of the most important tools in my life is going from a to b.  There are those times in life where you get sick, have unforeseen expenses that make everything tight. In those times gas tends to be just on more thing to make you broke. Not only can it be useful for travel but also for a generator (though diesel would be preferred) So I’ve decided as the next prep to go after some gasoline storage.

Key things to know.

First off as you gasoline is dangerous so it is a fire hazard. Keep in that in mind with your gas storage plans. Ideally you may consider an external structure from your home to store the gas. The difficulty of  this prep is gas goes bad pretty quick by itself. Oxidation is the biggest problem that reduces the combustion level. There are three key elements to making this prep work. Rotation, Fuel Stabilizer and Good Containers.

Good Containers

Plastic containers are not ideal. The plastic will allow oxygen in to the gasoline and will only keep it for a number of months.  The best option in my opinion is NATO 5-gallon fuel cans. They are more expensive then other options but will last a long time and as long as your seals hold will keep air out. With stabilizer I’ve read of people getting 8 years of storage out of this method with premium gas. You are talking $90 per can depending on current availability.

Fuel Stabilizer

If you store your tools with gas in them over the winter you are probably use to adding fuel stabilizer over the winter. The option I am going with is PRI-G it appears to have the longest time associated to it. It’s meant to treat old gas and make it fresh again. Someone’s experience was they treated gas 7.25 years ago with it, then treated it again before using the gas and it worked just like it should. Not to mention having the PRI-G handy will be good for siphoned old gas in SHTF.

Rotation

While you can buy it and forget it, rotation is the best way to make sure this gas will work when you need it. Ideally my plan is to start buying some gas cans every few months and fill them.  Economically I plan to buy them in lots of 4 for the purpose of keeping the cost of shipping lower per unit. I want to reach 12 gas cans. One for each month of the year and label them accordingly. Then every month I will use and refill the corresponding month’s can.  That gets me 60 gallons backup storage which means 6 weeks of typical to and from work usage. Later I will plan to move outward to 24 cans label them Month plus A and B.

Hazards

When you store the gas if you ever smell fumes then your gas can’s aren’t air tight. Identify which one is releasing fumes, and either replace the seals or the cans. Also if you are thinking about larger quantity storage per canister keep in mind that a 55 gallon metal drum full of gasoline would weigh hundreds of pounds, and would not be something you could easily transport in a bug out.