river rat

I have 8 gallon of diesel fuel for about 10 years stored in metal cans part time then put in glass wine bottle the fuel runs good i read on another form it might be unstable how do i know when i become unstable how do dispose of this fuel if is dangerous is has not change color

AMB

I have used diesel fuel that was 10 years old no issue, the worst that can happen that you will lose ether through evaporation if it not tightly sealed and if it does can be brought back by adding ether (john deere starter fluid ,it will not form peroxides when mixed. It should ALWAYS be stored in the metal cans and never transfered to plastic jugs. you can pour off a pint or quart into empty acetone, lacquer thinner
or alcohol tin cans that you get in.the hardware store in pint or quart sizes for taking to the field thats why I save my empties for this use forget the glass bottles (they can break) martin

also with pure ether a small piece of copper wire chucked in the can will prevent peroxide formation

ffkiwi

I will disagree with dieseldan on one point only-the use of glass bottles. I find them perfectly adequate and have used them for 40+ years of diesel flying. There are several provisos-they must be dark glass (typicaly brown) and they should have screw on caps with a good plastic or rubber seal-the best seal is rubber with a teflon face. These sort of bottles are typically what you would get from a chemist or phamacist and retail wise perhaps some types of medicines available at the supermarket.[eg cough mixture]
The advantage of glass is that you can see if ether loss has occurred in storage. Without a wick, the evaporation rate of the kerosene is negligible and the oil zero, so any loss of volume is due to the ether component. By having a narrow strip of adhesive tape-masking tape is ideal-you can mark the level at the end of the day's flying. On the next occasion you use the fuel, check to see whether
the level has fallen-and if it has, simply top up back to your original mark with ether. This is something you cant do with a metal can-unless it has been modified with a sight tube-and unless you use a glass sight tube-you've introduced plastic into contact with the fuel and that is a no no! (with the exception of teflon)
Why dark glass? Well the ignition improvers such as DII, amyl nitrate and nitrites are light sensitive and will decompose (at a relatively slow rate) if stored in clear glass-so it is preferable to use dark glass.
I do keep my bulk stocks of fuel components in metal cans-but my working stocks-which are around 500mls, I keep in glass. Bear in mind that every time you have the cap off, you lose ether, so it is wise to have as small a working stock as practical. Obviously for C/L and R/C use with extended engine runs, you use more fuel than in freeflight-so you proportion accordingly. For the amount I use in a morning's FF, I could get away with 100mls! This in term leads to the precautions described above-I may only mix diesel perhaps 3 or 4 times a year-so each particular batch may be used for perhaps up to 6 months [I run the Model Technics D1000, D2000, and D3000 formulas, but mix my own to those proportions] so the potential for it to go stale is there.]
I make the point that provided it is well sealed, diesel fuel will last for decades.

'ffkiwi'

AMB

FFKIWI you make a good point it will give you a quantitative loss by your method. Several years ago
while flying in 90 degree temp here in Florida I got distracted and forgot to put the cap back on the can
it was off for at least 15 minutes it had a quart or so left, I just dumped a pt of half A mix in and fed to my irvine 40 diesel on the next flight, it ran fine finished off the can next time out still no issues
martin

lukesp

I have used glass bottles for diesel same as Ffkiwi says, available over the counter at the local chemist/pharmacy. Unfortunately the bottles were great but the caps cracked with regularity. Avoid the bakelite type of cap, it's quite weak.

Motorboy

Store in a dark and cold place to prevent loss of ether in dieselfuel. As all say keep cap tight. I am using brown medicine bottle for my own mixed dieselfuel.

As rule i am making dieselfuel enough to fly one day until all are empty for all dieselfuel. It is better to keep low loss of ether with a fresh mixed fuel for a one day use..

AMB

Motorboy. We all have our own methods on the fuel thing. There is no "right or wrong" issue if you know what you are doing and by mixing fresh " the milk will not go sour" the really big no no is course plastic bottles.the brittle plastic cap thing issue may be fixable by wrapping with fibreglass tape and epoxy
even the new white plastic caps are brittle on the prescription bottles martin

some Ether loss seems much more critical on the small 1/2 A engines at least with mine