The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk What To Do With Old Gas

How do you get rid of old gas? I've got more than a few gallons to dispose of and here in Hawaii there is no place that will take it.
I'm not allowed to burn it or mix it with other automotive fluids and I'm reluctant to just let it evaporate.
Any good ideas?

"More than a few gallons" - well one suggestion was to filter it using a paint filter , mix it with some new gas and run it in your mower and trimmer...if applicable. Have you tried contacting your local city government to ask if they have a hazardous materials collection site?

Not sure about Hawaii, but around here every municipality has hazardous waste depots.

Our city provides a central drop-off area for hazardous materials. The city also provides a drop-off at some of the fire stations. Check with your city government's website. They might have some information to help you out.

If your locality does not have a place for hazardous materials, those in charge of things are incompetent fools, as they would just be asking for trouble. As it is around here, too many people dump those kind of materials on the ground or down storm drains even if there is a local place that disposes of it.
The last thing one would want to try is burning old gas. It will make a cloud of black smoke that will cloud up a city block.

Carl

How old is your old gas?

Did it have ethanal in it or is it non-ethanal?

Mike B

Here in Hawaii each island is its own county with its own rules. I'm on the island of Hawaii, the Big Island. I've been on the phone with government agencies and am awaiting a return call from Honolulu on the island of Oahu.
Apparently there is no existing program on this island for old gas. There are 2 hazardous waste days per year for other stuff including automotive fluids.
The guy in Honolulu is trying to find a waste oil business locally that might take my gas.
I have 3 vehicles with a total of less than 20 gallons of gas that has turned punky. 12 gallons is ethonal free, about 2 years old and the rest is older with ethonal.

I'd have no problem running the 2-year old Non-Ethanal gas in my vehicle. I started and ran my Fire Engine for the first time on 7-year old Non-Ethanal and had no issues.

If your worried, just add a small amount of the bad gas (strained through a paper paint strainer if it has trash in it) into your modern vehicle everytime you fill up. Say 1-gal of bad to 15-gal of new...you won't even know it's in there.

Mike B

Old gas can be disposed of where they recycle old oil. Oil, gas and brake fluid are all petroleum products and can be mixed together for recycling.

i get rid of my old gas buy mixing in a bottle of Dry-Gas to dissolve any water that might be present. Then like Mike B says, I add a gallon or so of this mixture to a full tank on my work truck (modern dodge ram). it runs fine, a gallon in 20 is only 5% of the total. just make sure its clean (no varnish, flakes, etc)

If you let it sit , the water will collect on the bottom. Then you can siphon and strain the better stuff off the top and use it as suggested.

This is correct, at least in my experiences getting rid of contamination. In fact, just last week I had some old paint thinner, oil from my changes and some kerosene. When I got to the recycling center the BIG tank was full. The guy then told me to dump it in the Anti-freeze barrel as they suck it all out into one tank truck.

As a less Eco Friendly solution, It's brush burning season here (winter clean up). Stale gas is great for getting a wet brush pile burning, not as volatile so slightly safer.

That's what we do with ours too Jim! Ole papa had a heck of a fun time this fall on the Cat clearing trees on the home quarter section.

Eco friendly speaking here but : don't cars burn gas too? 😜 Haha!

just add 2-3 gallons to your driver and burn it. my boy just bought a 2006 ford f150 that got wrecked at 18,000 miles. it had been setting for about 8 years with a 1/2 tank of fuel. we reprogramed the computer and it lit right up, about one revolution and it was running perfect.
Jay D.

A gallon or two added every other fill up won't hurt a thing. Be sure to strain the old stuff through a paint filter or other suitable filter. It will be all gone in no time.
😎