MMC wrote:
Larry,
How long should diesel last if the tank is topped up with no void for
condensation ?


Diesel lasts pretty well forever, it doesn't have nearly the volatiles
that gasoline has and it doesn't have alcohol in it to soak up water. I
have used ancient diesel without any problems and you can use it as fire
starter as well, or solvent, it's much safer stuff.

James Sweet wrote:
MMC wrote:
Larry,
How long should diesel last if the tank is topped up with no void for
condensation ?


Diesel lasts pretty well forever, it doesn't have nearly the volatiles
that gasoline has and it doesn't have alcohol in it to soak up water. I
have used ancient diesel without any problems and you can use it as fire
starter as well, or solvent, it's much safer stuff.

Diesel fuel attracts moisture, and that moisture does most of the
damage you see in diesel fuel systems. Because diesel fuel attracts
moisture, the alcohol statement is moot.

"James Sweet" wrote in message
news:%laXg.2290$P92.95@trndny02...
MMC wrote:
Larry,
How long should diesel last if the tank is topped up with no void for
condensation ?


Diesel lasts pretty well forever, it doesn't have nearly the volatiles
that gasoline has and it doesn't have alcohol in it to soak up water. I
have used ancient diesel without any problems and you can use it as fire
starter as well, or solvent, it's much safer stuff.

I had the same question last year since I have 500 gallons of diesel sitting
in a boat that has not been used for over a year. It's a good idea to add
some biocide (even a little water in the fuel will encourage critter growth)
but the fuel itself will last indefinitely. I have to check something
though .... I know gas fuel tanks on boats are vented, but I am not sure
about diesel tanks. I think they are .... which is another reason to add
some biocide from time to time.

Eisboch

Eisboch wrote:
"James Sweet" wrote in message
news:%laXg.2290$P92.95@trndny02...
MMC wrote:
Larry,
How long should diesel last if the tank is topped up with no void for
condensation ?


Diesel lasts pretty well forever, it doesn't have nearly the volatiles
that gasoline has and it doesn't have alcohol in it to soak up water. I
have used ancient diesel without any problems and you can use it as fire
starter as well, or solvent, it's much safer stuff.

I had the same question last year since I have 500 gallons of diesel sitting
in a boat that has not been used for over a year. It's a good idea to add
some biocide (even a little water in the fuel will encourage critter growth)
but the fuel itself will last indefinitely. I have to check something
though .... I know gas fuel tanks on boats are vented, but I am not sure
about diesel tanks. I think they are .... which is another reason to add
some biocide from time to time.

Eisboch

They would have to be vented, because as you pull fuel out, unless it
were vented, you'd create a vacuum.

"Eisboch" wrote in
:

which is another reason to add
some biocide from time to time.


And....biocide is only good BEFORE the diesel grows algae, not after. If
there's algae in it, it just needs polishing and you come up with good
diesel fuel again...without the bugs.



--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

"MMC" wrote in news:%i7Xg.10249$fe2.4957
@tornado.tampabay.rr.com:

Larry,
How long should diesel last if the tank is topped up with no void for
condensation ?


I don't think diesel has a shelf life if you can keep it DRY. What makes
diesel grow algae is a thin layer of water under it. The algae lives in
that surface layer, eating the diesel and drinking the water.

Should last indefinately, but, more realistically, it's nearly impossible
to keep diesel dry...especially near the ocean. Topped off every time, of
course, is best....



--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

Larry wrote:
James Sweet wrote in news:N_ZWg.1257$P92.1020
@trndny02:


There must be close to 20 gallons of 50:1.



Where are you located, James? I burn it in my gas car, a Chevy V-8 EFI, if
it's free...(c; Just add 5 gallons to a tank of "new" gas to dilute it
with more octane producing light elements. If it knocks, cut back on the
old gas even more.

Does the gas smell like shellac or gas? Was it in a plastic tank or metal?
A full metal tank with no air pocket in it will store gas indefinately.
There's a metal tank on my Honda 5KW genset that starts on the first pull
that's been in there since 1989! It still smells like regular gas, not
shellac, because it cannot breathe in a full tank...losing light elements.

Don't pour water in your car, however....

4-stroke engines, by the way, run just fine on 50:1 2-stroke mix. We used
to call it "top oil" back in the 50's....a good thing.



I'm near Seattle, the tank is metal, if you want some of the gas you're
welcome to come and get it.

James Sweet wrote in news:SjaXg.2289$P92.2278
@trndny02:

I'm near Seattle, the tank is metal, if you want some of the gas you're
welcome to come and get it.


Nuts...I'm in Charleston on the other side of the asteroid.

The metal tank, if full and without water in it, would store gasoline
nearly indefinately. Plastic cans, i.e. polypropylene, will NOT. Open
the bilge of any boat with a poly gas tank. You ALWAYS smell gasoline.
There's a reason. Poly is made of huge molecules with "large" spaces
between them. It doesn't show, but there is always a constant "leakage"
of the lighter, smaller molecules THROUGH the poly. To reduce, but not
eliminate it, they make the tanks thicker, which increases the path
making more resistance, but the light elements we want to save STILL leak
out through the plastic. Metal, even thin metal, is far more dense and
leakage is hard to detect through the metal. It's why airplanes have
metal fuel tanks in the wings and why they keep them plumb full to the
filler cap.

Another sweet thing was the old Evinrude pressurized gas tanks. They
were all metal and pressurized by a 2nd hose from the crankcase pulses in
the 2-stroke engines. No fuel pump was needed, no diaphram to fail. You
had to pressurize the tank, initially, by pumping a little airpump button
on top to get the motor started. Because these tanks NEVER "vented", in
and out every time the sun rose and set, the gas would last for years in
them stored with the cap on tight. They didn't leak if inverted so long
as the ball valves in the engine fitting didn't leak, making an explosion
hazard of course. As long as they'd hold pressure, they were great. Of
course, that wouldn't "do" in the modern boat business. Those tanks must
have cost Evinrude serious money.....

The pressure in them actually IMPROVED keeping the light elements in the
gas because of the pressure on them all the time...even stored.



--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

"James Sweet" wrote in message
news:N_ZWg.1257$P92.1020@trndny02...
So I recently acquired a 1965 Bayliner 19', I already know I have a huge
project ahead of me but before I can go much further, the fuel tank is
*full* of gas which has been sitting in there for over 4 years. There
was a bottle of stabilizer among the assorted crap in the boat but I'm
guessing this stuff must be far too old to run in a motor. How do I get
rid of it? There must be close to 20 gallons of 50:1.

I bought a boat that had 150 gallons of 9 year old gas in it. The boat had
a stainless steel gas tank and the owner had put stabil in before storage.

I got rid of it by siphoning off 5 gallons at a time and using it in my old
(1974) chevy pickup mixing with new gas. ( i got tired of driving that
old rig as my daily driver just to use up the gas)

I did this untill I got it down to around 1/3 tank and filled up the boat
tank. The outboards ran fine on this.

btw, the old gas still smelled like gas. --this is important

Good luck.

db