Lifespan of stored fuels

[Peter]

Well I look at it like this if TSHTF we won’t be bugging out, to old, and where we would have gone to
our friend has passed away, remember all land in the UK is owned by someone.

So we stick to keeping the car fuel tank as full as possible never letting it drop of below half, we do have
two 10 litre cans of petrol just in case, it’s esso synergy supreme E5, until about 18 months ago it was
zero alcohol, we use mounfield fuel stabiliser, then we can forget it for a for a couple of years. This
we keep mainly incase of industrial action.

If the worst should happen we will certainly not be mowing the lawn, but will probably need to use our
chain saw some time so we do need to keep some longer lasting petrol.

Incidentally I have a friend with an old mower, the carburettor will not take E10 petrol. He decided to try
to remove the alcohol, so he added about a pint of water to petrol in a demijohn (so he could see what was
happening) he corked it and shook it up for several minutes, as alcohol is more soluble in water than alcohol
he ended up with the petrol floating on the water alcohol mix (some food colourant/dye in the water would
show it up more). Could be worth remembering.

[jennyjj01]

He decided to try
to remove the alcohol, so he added about a pint of water to petrol in a demijohn (so he could see what was
happening) he corked it and shook it up for several minutes, as alcohol is more soluble in water than alcohol
he ended up with the petrol floating on the water alcohol mix (some food colourant/dye in the water would
show it up more). Could be worth remembering.

Interesting experiment. So, he added water to draw out the alcohol and then use gravity to physically remove the non-petrol?
A quick YT search reveals the method... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wash+the+alco ... iax=videos
A fascinating prospect.
I'd thought that petrol going off was because of the absorption of water from the headspace and then either separating or rendering it less flammable, but it's more complex: Water separating can cause corrosion damage, but petrol becomes less flammable, with age, anyway.

[rik_uk3]

Alkylate petrol has a 3-5 year lifespan. Burns very clean, perfect for mowers and chainsaws and will run in cars but its very expensive. Certainly in stoves and pressure lanterns I've used alkylate and Coleman fuel that been over 15 years old with no issues.

Aspen 4T is a well known brand but expensive compared to Husqvarna which is the same thing. Both do 2T for 2 stroke engines and 4T for 4 stroke.

Well worth putting what you can afford and need into your inventory IMO