Storing Gas and other Fuels

From: Wolverine

I bought a used Stihl chainsaw from a guy at work. He told me it needed a new air filter and he recommended I not use it a lot until I replaced the old one. I stopped at the local Stihl dealer and picked up the filter. While I was in the store the guy ahead of me in line asked the dealer if he had any old gas cans in the back. The store had a large display of gas containers in several sizes, but they were all the new safety valve ones.

The dealer laughed at the guy and told him that all the old gas cans were sold long ago. The guy lamented that fact and complained about the new safety cans. He said that he has been hitting garage sales and flea markets all summer and fall and just can’t find any old cans.

I must have had a half smile on my face because the guy asked me why that was funny. I told him that I started buying up all the old gas cans I could find five to ten years ago and they are now like gold. He nodded and wondered if I wanted to sell any. The dealer told me that I had made a smart move.

When they first started talking about having mandatory safety valves I decided that I would pay one dollar per gallon of gas for a can. I ended up paying a lot less than that most of the time. I bought two five gallon cans for a buck at one garage sale. My favorite cans are metal two and a half gallon cans that are sort of half rounded domes. I scored several of them for two bucks a piece last summer.

All totaled my gas cans hold over one hundred gallons of gas. I keep them full, but do use them from time to time if prices spike way up. I try and make sure I cycle through the gas every two years. When I buy gas I put a blue tape label on it with the date, 8-10, 1-11, or whatever. I also have close to fifty gallons of kerosene stored in metal five gallon cans. My stored Coleman fuel is left in the one gallon cans it is sold in.

One hundred gallons of gas will not last all that long in a SHTF situation, but it will allow me to run the tractor and chainsaws for a spell.

Before you ask, no I do not put anything in the gas. I have a bottle of PRI-G but I have found that if I use gas before the third year starts I have no problems. I make sure that the cans are air tight which I think helps a lot.

The last time I filled a lot of cans I used our Kroger fuel points and lowered the price thirty cents a gallon. I have heard that they have change the way they do that now. If not, I recommend it as a way to acquire cheaper gas to store.

While they are hard to find in the quantities I bought them a few years ago, I do recommend that you look for good gas cans and store up some fuel. If nothing more, try to get enough to fill the vehicle at least once so you don’t have to rely on a station if we have a large power outage or run on the station. Do you remember the run on gas a couple years back? I was on my way to the cabin when I found out about it. I filled up outside of Alma and assured myself enough gas to get home with if I couldn’t get more.

It is sort of ironic, but it seems like every situation that a prepper tries to be ready for has happened in the recent past or will happen in the near future and yet people still tell us we are not right with having a preparedness lifestyle. That’s ok. I will just keep doing what I have been; it sure seems to work out for me.

Wolverine