How to get rid of old gasoline?

[Planojc]

It makes good fire ant killer.

[Gene F]

I am not a fan of dumping it in the local auto parts store's recycle tank. The local NAPA stores used to take old oil back, and now they do not. The story I got was someone dumped either brake fluid, or gasoline in the tank. When the truck unloaded at the refinery plant the concentrations were evidently high enough that it kinda blew their equipment. ($10,000)

The fact that it is already black tells me it is pretty far gone (over 10 years old) Find out who their pickup company is and call them, or better yet stop over there. Talking to a person at the auto parts store any more is like talking to a brick wall, that just wants to make problems of their day go away. Even the managers are not real managers, and hardly even know about parts.

You need to find out the real way to deal with this, or you will ruin the program for everyone. Everyone includes you.

When I managed datacenters, we had our fuel oil dealer come pump out are old diesel fuel, and take it back. Then we bought fresh stuff. Consider stopping by and asking one of them. BTW, we paid for that service. Paying to get rid of it is way cheaper than an EPA fine, or a visit to the burn ward. Also, they sometimes use this chemical in gasoline called (EBT) tersherary buetal ethenol. About 1 pint of that will pollute an entire communities water supply for like 50 years.

Do the right thing, because if you don't you could be broke for life.

[lrf]

I've always been taught: One gallon of bad, old gas added to nine gallons of new, good gas equals ten gallons of bad gas. Simple chemistry. LRF

[updraught]

Originally Posted by Planojc

It makes good fire ant killer.

Roasted fire ants could be a bit tangy.

[Benson]

Maybe the black gas is from a gas tank sealer that someone used in the tank?

Sealer like maybe Black RTV?

[JayJay]

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This time of year I’d pour it into an oil drain pan or aluminum turkey roasting pan from the grocery store and let it evaporate. Any semi-liquid sludge left over can be absorbed into floor dry and disposed of as solid.

[Ray in La Mesa]

I agree with Jay Jay, the amount of material evaporated is minuscule compared to what is pumped into our atmosphere by industry every day.

[ronn]

I agree with you Ray.
My son is a merchant marine and the ships on the seas produce more crap then anyone.
He tells me 100 miles out, they burn any old crap all the way across the ocean, to run the diesels. No worries as to pollution.

[mhsprecher]

Lots of potential answers here. The first place I would go is your local municipality and ask them what to do with it. Best to have it disposed of properly than improperly. As Ray says, it's a drop in the bucket, but every little bit disposed of properly helps.

[JayJay]

Adding a bit to my earlier suggestion of evaporation, if you don’t want liquid hanging around while it evaporates, add a bunch of floor dry and then spread out the saturated floor dry on a drip pan and let it evaporate outside that way. Turn it regularly (say once a day). I’ve done this with gasoline, mineral spirits and with diesel. At the end you’ll have floor dry you can reuse. ♻️

I’ve had very poor luck actually running old gasoline in an engine. Totally fouled the carburetor in my generator by letting the fuel go stale. It’s the ethanol that does it. I did dilute a gallon of that fuel in the 20+ gallon tank of my pickup and it seemed ok, but in hindsight I won’t do that again.

[Gene F]

OK, I will be as polite as possible...

"The first place I would go is your local municipality and ask them what to do with it" No, I have had bad experience with engaging parties like the fire department, or the EPA for advice.

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by Gene F

OK, I will be as polite as possible...

"The first place I would go is your local municipality and ask them what to do with it" No, I have had bad experience with engaging parties like the fire department, or the EPA for advice.

Agreed - In my experience government is very good at telling you what you cannot do but very poor in solving problems by telling you what you can do.

NK, did you think you would open up a can of worms this big?

[eagle]

Pour it around the foundation of your outbuildings.

[Richard in Anaheim CA]

Spray it on your weeds

[al's28/33]

call your local refuse recycle place they will help. I see recycled oil waste and bags of dead batteries that people leave out on garbage pickup day, although you have 10 gallons to dispose of ..... do one quart at a time.... ?

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by al's28/33

call your local refuse recycle place they will help. I see recycled oil waste and bags of dead batteries that people leave out on garbage pickup day, although you have 10 gallons to dispose of ..... do one quart at a time.... ?

FWIW, California Household Hazardous Waste program limits to 5 gal at a a time. So 10 gal is two days worth.

[David in San Antonio]

The person behind the counter at my local Auto Zone which accepts used oil told me I could dump my old gasoline in the same tank.

[David in San Antonio]

As for used oil, including a case of used oil being stolen - A Volvo specialist in Boston told me one of his eccentric clients (lots of them in Boston) insisted having his Mobil 1 synthetic oil changed 4x a year, even though the mileage was minuscule. When no amount of explanation changed the client’s mind, the shop owner just collected the barely- used oil and ran it in his own cars.

[clifforddward]

Hi Neal...Over here in Wake county we have three hazardous waste collection sites...I have 8 gallons of old gas from my car that I just emptied out of the tank into two containers...plan to take them over to my waste site on Saturday along with some old cans of paint and a few boxes of other old waste liquids...

Check your county's web site...surely you have something similar...if not always available maybe as Colin said there is a periodic collection...decades ago when I lived in Franklin County they had monthly collection points.

[nkaminar]

Cliff, Thanks for the advice. Wilkes county has no hazardous waste collection facility or periodic collection. There is a collection facility in West Jefferson in Ashe County and I will try there.

My friend Peter who lives in California in a touristy place has the same problem. He is going to try and park his 1985 Ford truck with the bad gasoline out by the highway in the hopes that the tourists will siphon the gasoline out to steal it.

Update: The facility in Ashe County does not accept hazardous waste from outside the county. I will try the one in Charlotte.