wife says...........

[comedyman809]

wife tells me her client who is a " drawback specialist"

says i should use a special fuel mixture to store my lawn mower/snow blower/weed wacker for the seasons without running out the fuel.



any thoughts or opinions on best method for seasonal storage of gas powered equipment?

 

[mikevango]

It's a good idea, but I don't ever do it.

 

[littletoes]

yea, its supposed to held keep moisture out of the small engine for winter lay-up.

I don't ever do it either.......time, money.

 

[sselander]

gas is pretty crappy these days.

I have put Stabil in my gas cans for 15 years.
All of the small engines gas tanks do not get drained at the end of the season.

In season, I add some Seafoam to the first gas can fillup.

No issues with any of them, and they all startup quickly and run well.

 

[hofferwood]

On the 2-cycles, I drain the tank (turn upside down).
4-cycles, run til they quit (outa gas that is).
The reason? They swap being under the house in the off season.
Works fer me.
Chuck

 

[Wrenches of Death]

says i should use a special fuel mixture to store my lawn mower/snow blower/weed wacker for the seasons without running out the fuel.

Before I run to either the local gas station or the bulk plant to fill any container with gasoline, Stabil is added. It doesn't make a difference if it's my one gallon chainsaw can or a fifty five gallon drum.

Before I run to the bulk plant to fill a drum with diesel, a biocide is poured in along with a cetane booster.

I've been doing this for well over twenty years and never had any fuel "age" related problems.

The red fuel I'm currently burning in the tractor is at least three years old and just as pretty as the day it went into the drum. I've got a couple of newer drums of fuel in the rack next to it.

The gasoline I'm filling one of the cars and my truck with right now is from last May and is fine.

I always store the fuel in the shade and I NEVER use a plastic drum for storage. For transporting, maybe. But for storage, never.

May the force be with you...

WoD

 

[Orangestang]

I run everything till its dry/empty and next season everything starts up just fine. My local small engine repair guy says not to use stabil cause it don't mix well with the ethanol gas with have here....

 

[DrkMtnDew]

i just mix in isopropyl alcohol and run it until the mixture is in all the gas lines.

 

[muddyjoe15]

wife tells me her client who is a " drawback specialist"

What is a "drawback specialist"?

Anyway yes it is a good idea to run a stabilizer, like stabil, in your gas tank of lawn mowers weed eaters and things you dont use for long periods of time. Pour some int the tank with some fresh gas and run it for a little bit. It helps keep the mousture out of the gas and prevents the gas from gumming up in your carb. Also helps with easier starts in the spring.

 

[diesel research]

wife tells me her client who is a " drawback specialist"

What is a "drawback specialist"?

A pessimist well versed in pointing out flaws....

Or a person who recovers import taxes for imported goods that are later exported or destroyed. If a US company imports raw materials, they pay import taxes, but can get a 99% refund if they later export the assembled goods or they are destroyed/rejected/unused.

 

[cowchaser]

I don't, but probably should. I usually just drain the old gas out before the new season and put new gas in. Had a problem getting one to start with stabil in a few years back. Of course I most likely put to much in it or something else. I know some old car guys put it in their classics that don't see the road much.

 

[comedyman809]

wife tells me her client who is a " drawback specialist"

What is a "drawback specialist"?

Anyway yes it is a good idea to run a stabilizer, like stabil, in your gas tank of lawn mowers weed eaters and things you dont use for long periods of time. Pour some int the tank with some fresh gas and run it for a little bit. It helps keep the mousture out of the gas and prevents the gas from gumming up in your carb. Also helps with easier starts in the spring.

what is a drawback specialist?????? someone who decides where to send the unsold merchandise that has yet to go through our customs.

 

[comedyman809]

what deisel research said!!!!!!!!\

that is what my wife said too!!!!

 

[Old Donn]

Keep Sta-Bil or Seafoam in the gas cans with every fill-up, run it all season in both 2 and 4 stroke motors. Do the "run five minutes" routine at the end of the season, empty the tank then run it till the engine quits. Worked for me so far.

 

[SARG]

Just switched to the Marine Sta-Bil this year.... the green stuff which states it is made to assist with the ethanol fuel.

Don't have a clue if any of the stuff really works ......... but it makes you feel better.

 

[Chris Adams]

Um, unless you live in a very odd place, all the gas we get has stabilizer in it.

Has for years.

Won't waste pages talking about how bulk gas blends are handled, why the thousands of new 'green' laws affect it, but simply put, gas without stabilizer in it is almost impossible to find.

Gas can still evaporate if your small engine has air venting. If it is a modern sealed tank, evaporation is a very minor problem.

 

[Wakefield]

I think WV still had regular gas-or just 1% or so alky until about a year ago(we near DC already had E10) but now they have E10. So the gas isn't as good as it was and people who used to get by without much trouble with gas going bad for years and years might start having trouble. And govmn't is making noise about forcing E15 on us coming up. I think E10 even with stabil over the last couple years has caused a slight chalky coating to develop on the pot metal surface inside of the carburetors on my Tecumseh engines. It would be good to get non-ethanol gas from an airport or somewhere-it will probably be an absolute must to do that if E15 is forced on us.
Even good non ethanol gas could go bad sometimes if it got old sometimes. Probably a good idea not to leave the small engines especially chainsaws and trimmers sitting around with gas in them over the offseason without doing something for them like getting the gas out.I think Stihl wants you to engine fog them or something but I just run the gasoil out (I keep a little stabil or Briggs gas additive in my gas can gas) and bring them in the house over the winter.

 

[bonneyman]

Here in AZ they switch to ethanol-enchanced fuel around Sept. 15. So I get some before that date and avoid alcohol problems.
I run the fuel tank as far down as I can, drain the tank, and slosh some kerosene in the tank before storage. Kerosene is alot less volatile than gas, and the little remaining by the spring doesn't affect the mower during those firts few seconds of running. (In fact, I think the owners manual I've got recommends kerosene for running in certain situations.) I do drain the oil and refill with fresh cheap oil so the crankcase isn't dry during the winter. That oil gets drained and the mower refilled with quality oil before running.
I found my mower next to a dumpster, and had it running that weekend. It's a 1985 B&S motor - 3 years using it with no problems.

 

[srmofo]

I fill the tanks, shut the fuel off and start em up. Let them run till they die.

In the spring I open the shutoff, let them sit for a little while. I give them a small shot of ether and they fire right up.

 

[Aberdale]

I don't do anything. I rarely realize that the last time I run something it will sit for 6 months before the next use. Hasn't really mattered in the last 35 years. When I go back to start something, it either starts, or it won't. If it doesn't, check for fuel, spark, and compression. Correct what's wrong, and off I go. In 35 years I've had to clean the carburetor in a couple tractors, a lawn mower, and the pressure washer.

For me, it happens so infrequently that it's easier to deal with something when it doesn't start rather than spend the time trying to remember what product to put in which tank, because it may not start after an extended period even if I use it.

 

[walrus]

I always store the fuel in the shade and I NEVER use a plastic drum for storage. For transporting, maybe. But for storage, never.

The gas station you buy your gas at may very well have plastic tanks so whats the harm in using plastic for storage?

 

[Wrenches of Death]

The gas station you buy your gas at may very well have plastic tanks so whats the harm in using plastic for storage?

It's not chemicals in the plastic or anything like that. It's the light that they allow into the fuel.

I stored a couple of blue and white drums of diesel a few years back. Even with the biocide, they started getting brown wisps in the fuel after only about a half a year. The steel drums never did that. It's got to be the light being transmitted through the plastic helping the bacteria and or fungus in the fuel to grow and reproduce.

After that, I only use metal drums for storage.

WoD

 

[claymont]

Gasoline nowadays has additives blended into it to stop the buildup of various deposits. I've never had to do any maintenance to any of my equipment because of stale gas, thirty plus years and counting. My steel gas can's as clean inside as the day I bought it, somewhere around '75 or so.

 

[Chris Adams]

It's not chemicals in the plastic or anything like that. It's the light that they allow into the fuel.

I stored a couple of blue and white drums of diesel a few years back. Even with the biocide, they started getting brown wisps in the fuel after only about a half a year. The steel drums never did that. It's got to be the light being transmitted through the plastic helping the bacteria and or fungus in the fuel to grow and reproduce.

After that, I only use metal drums for storage.

WoD

Diesel will go bad in a sealed metal tank also. Biocide is only sorta adequate.

The light getting to it sounds reasonable as a problem, but only if you store your gas tanks out in direct sunlight.
Which is not safe as plastic degrades in direct sunlight.
Anything plastic around where I live will die of sunlight in darn short order.
That includes tanks, bottles, and taillights.


One big problem we had when I was in autoparts, guys could not grasp that some plastics ain't exactly compatible with petrolatum products.
I'm sure you used the right stuff, but I never sold anything for gas that was transparent, nor did we ever get offered it by vendors, even in the gas crunch days.

Not even slightly transparent which tends to support your post.

And diesel doesn't benefit as much from stabilizer as of course, 'green things live there'.

Gasoline nowadays has additives blended into it to stop the buildup of various deposits. I've never had to do any maintenance to any of my equipment because of stale gas, thirty plus years and counting. My steel gas can's as clean inside as the day I bought it, somewhere around '75 or so.

Yup.

 

[moparmuscle88]

i just leave it in there, and if it wont start the next season, ill pour in some new gas with some stabil

but truth is, gas around here doesnt last very long somthing i have is always taking it, so i siphon it from one to another all the time