Gas for generator - storage use

[alpinecrick]

The questions pretty much come down to this - for semi-long-term storage of gasoline for generator use, would you:

1. Buy regular whatever from the station (E15 around here), or ethanol-free if it's reasonably available? (strike-thru because apparently the only ethanol-free around here is premium)

2. Whichever one you choose, would you add Sta-bil?

3. How long would you trust that choice to sit in new steel cans before you use it?

The only vehicle we have that runs regular is the dually, so I could periodically cycle the fuel through that truck in order to freshen the stored fuel in the cans. I have read that even modern ethanol-free with Sta-bil goes "off" sooner than some have expected, which is pretty much the reason for this post.

Thanks!
Richard

Richard,
I absolutely would us Sta-bil Marine regardless if it is ethanol gas or not. I live in a ethanol region. All my small engine gas cans get Stabil Marine. I have generators, pressure washers, and a collection of chainsaws--a few of them 50-75 years old. I leave the gas in all my small engines, some may not be started for a year or more.

Also, my dad leaves his 1952 M38 Willys in the shop at our high country place for 6-7 months each year and has been doing that for 30 years now. It starts every spring.

The use of Stabil Marine has eliminated all the horror stories of ethanol gas for us.

 

[kennythewelder]

I haven't installed the generator socket or breaker yet but I've got the interlock kit so the main breaker and generator breaker can't be on at the same time. @kennythewelder you and I might remember to flip the breakers correctly but I wouldn't depend on my wife or someone else to do so.

Richard

Yes, I agreed, the interlock kit, is the way to go. My wife, can and will be rite there, helping my do any mechanic work, and when it comes to buff and polish work, She is grate at it, but when it comes to electricity, She won't touch it. It scares Her.

 

[454cid]

That is the beauty of e free. For the most part, people are afraid to use it because they don't know what it is. Can't count how many times I'd go to a station with no gas but efree during a mad storm rush...it's surreal...lol
But it's catching on more...

Efree? I've never heard that term before. Here in Michigan it's called "rec gas" or recreational gas.

 

[scott2093]

Efree?

Ethanol Free it's called here...
and no that's not a recent pic..lol
Just grabbed it online..

 

[454cid]

Ethanol Free it's called here...
and no that's not a recent pic..lol
Just grabbed it online..

Hmm, maybe our pumps say that too. I'll have to look next time, but I don't go to that gas station often.... it's over by the auction house I go to, which is out of town.

 

[scott2093]

Hmm, maybe our pumps say that too. I'll have to look next time, but I don't go to that gas station often.... it's over by the auction house I go to, which is out of town.

Yeah they usually become more abundant by the recreational bodies of water....

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Yeah they usually become more abundant by the recreational bodies of water....

If you live or commute near a Buc ees they usually have some pumps with ethanol free gas. On major interstates, or if you're in central Texas, Texas 71 and Texas 95, just east of Bastrop on the way to Austin.

 

[scott2093]

or commute near a Buc ees they usually have some pumps with ethanol free gas. On major interstates,

I keep saying I'm going to swing in one...I can see it off I95 when I go oot... Huge... I hear they have unbelievable food there too... Even my fancy friends say it's awesome...

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

I keep saying I'm going to swing in one...I can see it off I95 when I go oot... Huge... I hear they have unbelievable food there too... Even my fancy friends say it's awesome...

We usually get snacks, but I've heard the BBQ is really good. Will have to try it next visit.... The kolaches are great, I get the boudin ones.

 

[someotherguy]

I keep saying I'm going to swing in one...I can see it off I95 when I go oot... Huge... I hear they have unbelievable food there too... Even my fancy friends say it's awesome...

Some of the food is great, some is just "pretty good - better than most gas station food." They do have an amazingly large selection of just about everything you could possibly imagine. One drawback is there's nowhere to sit down and eat, other than in your vehicle. You'd expect to find tables inside but there are none.

We usually get snacks, but I've heard the BBQ is really good. Will have to try it next visit.... The kolaches are great, I get the boudin ones.

Those aren't kolaches; they're pigs-in-blankets they're decent. I'm spoiled by Kolache Shoppe though. The original location (1970) is still in operation in the old Greenway Plaza shopping center, though the folks that started it have since retired and sold it to some people that had befriended them years earlier and learned directly from the man himself. They remodeled, expanded the offerings, and have opened several franchise locations around town now. I still go to the original, been going there since the early 80's.

Haven't had Buc-ee's BBQ other than a chopped beef sandwich and brisket & egg breakfast tacos, which are pretty good! It's a bit of a hike for that though, as well as 92 octane ethanol-free, not sure what the current price is but it's too bad it's the opposite direction from everywhere I go, or I'd get it for the 300 and the SS's. I don't see any sense in getting it for the generator.

Richard