Is your tank full or empty ??

[Billy Bob]

I always store my two 6 gallon boat tanks full with Sta-Bil in them so condensation will not form BUT also for spare gas in case I need it for the back up generator......last HUGE storm we had here ALL the power was out, even at the gas stations....a generator with out fuel is worthless.

 

Bob

[DanD]

....a generator with out fuel is worthless.

 

Bob

 

That’s my point exactly, about the fuel shut off valve; full tank, empty carb, no contaminated/stale fuel sitting in the carbs float bowl.

 

Dan.

[bigbuck]

This is an old argument that we see from time to time. Lew, you can't go wrong with running some marine Stabil in ALL of your small engines and jerry cans sitting around. It helps to stabilize the fuel and also helps to keep the fuel system clean. I store the boat with only a couple of gallons of stabilized fuel that I run for a few miles before pulling it out of the water. My snowblower/lawnmower fuel has marine Stabil in it. I've only used the blower once and that was for the sake of using it. It has always started on the first pull for 20 years except one year when it had bad gas. Filled with fresh fuel and some QuickStart and it ran right fine right away.

 

Canadian Tire puts Marine Stabil on special a few times a year and it's less than $20 for the big container which is more than enough for the season for most boaters. Ethanol is here to stay and it will be in all 91 octane fuel sooner or later. Sunoco has been using it to perk up their gas for years. Ethanol has the equivalent octane of over 115 so you blend it with lower octane gasoline to increase the octane rating.

 

As for running Premium fuel in small engines, it's up to you. It depends on how much you use them. A 5 gallon jerry can will cost you $2-3 extra, if you only use one or two a year it's no big deal. If you use one every couple of weeks, it adds up quickly. They are designed to run on 87 octane and run fine on it.

[lookinforwalleye]

Just a note on storing fuel.

I had a '95 Plymouth mini van with about an 1/8th of a tank of regular unleaded in it. I had it sitting in my yard for almost 3 years. Any time i wanted to start it, it started and ran fine. I took it for a spin and it ran great. A few weeks ago, I sold it. I went and added $10.00 of regular unleaded to it and this didn't even bring it to 1/4 tank on the gauge. I took it in for an emission test and it passed with flying colours!

 

Just how bad did this gas get in all that time?

 

One argument I heard a long time ago regarding running everything dry for storage, was that any seals could dry out over the storage period.

 

I have always just used Stabil stabilizer in my motors and left the fuel in them. It has worked for many, many years.

 

 

I am with you Brian I have never stored anything dry always a full tank with stabilizer and never any problems.