Now we’ve all seen those movies of the apocalypse and people are driving around in cars 5, 10, 20 years in the apocalypse. Well, where did they get the gasoline and diesel? Where did they get the fuel? Most people don’t realize, but fuel will have degraded within the first 6 months to 2 years of any major apocalyptic event. The only cars you’re going to be seeing drive around are maybe diesel vehicles that can use alternative fuels that don’t degrade as quickly or ones that run on wood gasifiers or grass. There are 4 general types of fuel that you’re going to use as a prepper.

Propane, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel. These are ordered in terms of their volatility. Propane is the most volatile, gasoline is slightly less volatile, kerosene, less so, and diesel is the least volatile. The volatility is determined by something called the flashpoint. So that is the lowest temperature in which the fuel emits vapor. Propane is the most insanely volatile stuff. If it wasn’t contained in this gas canister here, it would totally vaporize you and everybody you know. Gasoline is the next most flammable. It is psychonically flammable. Make sure you’re nice to it. Kerosene is not that volatile, which is why you have things like kerosene lamps that won’t explode when you light them.

Diesel is the least volatile. In fact, diesel has the highest vaporization flashpoint at around 52 to 93 degrees Celsius. That means that it’s got to be really warm in order to actually ignite it. In terms of energy density, the least dense, medium density, more dense, and really dense. Kind of like how I feel when one of my World War 3 predictions doesn’t pan out. Propane often used in heating and cooking. Gasoline, of course, that’s going to run your vehicle, can power a generator. Kerosene is great for heating as well. It’s also good for kerosene lanterns. And diesel is the workhorse.

You can use this for diesel generators, although they’re very expensive. You can, of course, use it for diesel vehicles and diesel heaters. Propane usually comes in these white metal canisters. Gasoline usually comes in red. Kerosene usually comes in a blue container. Diesel comes in a yellow container. It’s very important that you stick to this color coding so that you don’t put gasoline in a diesel engine or diesel in a gasoline engine. In terms of the shelf life of the fuels, propane is pretty much indefinite so long as you can keep it contained. Usually one of these containers, the thing that’s going to go after around 10 years is the valves or the gaskets.

But that is the long-list lasting fuel that you don’t need to add any additives. Gasoline will be 6 to 12 months. However, if you use a pneumatically sealed container like a metal gas canister, it will last a lot longer. These plastic containers are porous, and thus they oxidate the gas, which removes a lot of the lighter, more combustible aspects of the gasoline. Thus, it’s not going to last as long. You can use things like fuel stabilizers to temporarily extend this 6 to 12 months. Usually a fuel stabilizer like stable needs to be added at the time of storage.

However, there are things like PryG, which can actually restore old gasoline and make it last indefinitely with annual treatments. One thing you want to avoid is ethanol-based gasoline because it can trap moistures and it’s just not going to last as long. Kerosene will last roughly 2 to 5 years and that can also be extended using fuel stabilizers. Diesel can last 1 to 2 years. Again, a lot of this is contingent on water vapors, keeping water vapor out of it as well as oxidization. So if you can prevent those two things, if you can store it in a perfectly airtight container, it will last a lot longer than that.

And of course, diesel’s life cycle can also be extended using fuel stabilizers. How much fuel should you store? Well, you know all those three or five letter agencies I talked about earlier? They are going to stipulate exactly how much fuel you can store and it’s going to vary by municipality. So if you were planning on stockpiling larger amounts of fuel, just make sure that you’re aligned with your local laws and regulations on fuel handling and storage. Generally speaking, you want it out of the sun. You want it stored in a cool, dark place if at all possible.

You want it outside or in a well-ventilated area and you definitely don’t want to store it near where you sleep. It should be stored as far away as possible. Now, things that are less volatile like kerosene, there’s a bit more leeway with respect to those, but I would never store gasoline or even diesel for that matter just because of the vapors that close to where I sleep. You don’t want to store gasoline in a place that doesn’t have airflow like a shipping container unless it’s a shipping container that’s designed to store gasoline and it is properly vented.

Obviously, those vapors can accumulate and a lot of fuels like gasoline or even propane are actually heavier than air so they will tend to settle lower near the ground and you might not smell them, but they might still be there and that, of course, can lead to a major explosive incident. I have large storage tanks for both diesel and gasoline as well as these small storage tanks. I could honestly say in my personal experience, I gravitate towards something like this, something that is man-portable. I can move around. I can take it where I need it.

I don’t have to bring the vehicle or the thing that I’m gassing out to the large storage tank. You can get large diesel storage tanks. They’re relatively cheap actually. Large gasoline storage tanks, not so much. You can get slip tanks that you can put on your truck. That could be a practical solution for some people who want to extend the range of their bug out vehicle. You can also get auxiliary tanks which will go in the undercarriage or some other place on the vehicle or you can just expand that will remove your original fuel tank and sometimes you can get upgrades that have expanded capacity.

That’s ideal because it’s out of sight, out of mind, and it doesn’t take up space in your truck bed, but it is a much more tricky installation. So while there’s some benefits to bulk fuel storage, especially if you’re on a farm, these man-portable options are great. I don’t have a metal jerrycan here, but there are generally three classes of container that you can use when you’re storing gasoline and diesel, which is what I really want to focus on today. There’s these cheaper gasoline canisters. They’re usually just made of a thinner single wall plastic material.

There are these heavier duty NATO spec military grade containers which are made of a thicker rugged plastic called high density polyethylene. This tether could be red or yellow depending on the type of fuel inside. There’s also of course gas canisters that are made of metal. This is another cool gas canister that a lot of overlanders like to use. It’s flat and you can actually install it on the side of your vehicle. Very durable, made of the high density polyethylene just like this. In fact, this one almost seems a little bit more durable. They say that you can use this as a traction board if you get stuck.

So I wouldn’t recommend doing that if it had gasoline in it. I want to talk about some of the pros and cons of storing in metal versus plastic. And for comparison, I’m going to be using the best plastic that money can buy. These tend to be about two to three times more expensive as these and there’s a reason why. Generally speaking, fuel that you store in these is going to last a lot longer than these because they’re less porous and the gasoline doesn’t oxidize as quickly. These ones have a much deeper and tighter lid to the spout.

They also don’t have a ventilation hole. The ventilation is contained in the spout that you get when you buy one of these things. These ones, of course, usually have the ventilation in the back, and that’s another place where the gasoline can oxidize. Metal is non permeable, which means the gasoline in there, presuming that you have a tight seal on the lid, is going to last the longest. So it can in fact last a lot longer than the general six to 12 months. The benefit of these, and I’m not trying to sell you on these, although I’ve made several videos about them in the past, is that they’re more UV resistant.

They’re corrosion resistant. They’re somewhat lighter than the metal gas canisters, and they’re designed so you can actually hold two at the same time in each hand. Metal can be a bitch to work with in the wintertime. This is, of course, not going to be as cold on your hands or as hot on your hands in the summertime. Now, one of the main reasons why the military uses plastic instead of metal is because if this sucker explodes, it’s not going to be emitting the lethal shrapnel that a metal gas canister will. The other advantage is that there’s no welding, so it’s all a seamless weld.

And with metal, albeit non-porous, over time with corrosion, you can potentially have leakages. And lastly, there’s less of an issue with static electricity, which of course could be a major hazard with something like this. Now, a lot of the larger gasoline tanks that you can buy, they have rounds so that they minimize the risk of a static electric charge being emitted, and then, of course, causing a major explosion. They also have spark arresters built in, and they have other safeguards like double-walled liners and various chemicals that they spray on the interior in order to increase the safety and reduce the degradation of the fuel that’s stored inside.

Some people might want to know, well, is the fuel in my car still going to be good, or if I find a car on the side of the road, will that gasoline be good in that car after 12 months to two years? It’s possible depending on the type of seal in the gas tank. I’ve had a vehicle sit for several years, and then I’ve tried to start it, and the gasoline is just stale. You have to either add some sort of rejuvenating chemical, like Prigee, in order to get it going. Stable is something that you have to use beforehand.

Fuel stabilizer works by using antioxidant compounds to inhibit the chemical breakdown or oxidization of gasoline, and in this inhibition of oxidization, it makes it more combustible. This is the type of fuel stabilizer you use at the beginning, and this is the type of rejuvenating fuel stabilizer you use every six months to a year. So this, the fuel stabilizer itself, has an indefinite shelf life, and this one bottle can treat 2,000 gallons. That’s a lot. Now, you can get it for gasoline, or you can get it for diesel. Prigee, it prevents damaging deposits, has greater efficiency, maximizes power, and it will improve the shelf life by up to five years.

What the hell are you talking about? Who are you talking to? So some studies show that even gasoline as old as 15 years will get back to refinery-fresh levels of specification after a treatment with this fuel stabilizer. This is why it’s the choice of militaries around the world. Here in North America, we are blessed with abundant fossil fuels. So it’s very unlikely, unless we’re talking about a Mad Max scenario, that we’re ever going to actually fully run out of gasoline. However, we could see drastic price increases. And if there is a lights-out scenario, you’ll be happy that you stocked up.

As preppers, we panic before the crisis. Thanks for watching. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe if you enjoyed the video, and check out our other videos that I’ll list in the description below that are pertinent to fuel and energy storage. Thanks for watching. The best way to support this channel is to support yourself by gearing up at CanadianPreparedness.com where you’ll find high-quality survival gear at the best prices, no junk, and no gimmicks. Use discount code preppinggear for 10% off. Don’t forget the strong survive, but the prepared thrive. Stay safe. [tr:trw].

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