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how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/4/2003 2:58:01 AM   
JAYNC


 

Posts: 141
Joined: 7/2/2003
From: newport, NC, USA
Status: offline 		What do you do with old glow fuel that you cant burn anymore, LEGALLY, where do you bring it.

< Message edited by JAYNC -- Aug 3 2003 11:09PM >
       Post #: 1

how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/4/2003 11:48:41 AM   
downunder-RCU



Posts: 1125
Joined: 12/27/2001
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Status: offline 		Just because it's old doesn't mean it's bad....you could be throwing away perfectly good fuel. Are you having problems with it?

(in reply to JAYNC)
       Post #: 2

how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/4/2003 12:28:17 PM   
JAYNC


 

Posts: 141
Joined: 7/2/2003
From: newport, NC, USA
Status: offline 		well lets put it this way, I have had the lid off for over a year and its not even the same color as it was when I bought it. I just want to know what people do with old fuel.

(in reply to JAYNC)
       Post #: 3

Old Glow fuel ... - 8/4/2003 4:30:46 PM   
DerFly



Posts: 229
Joined: 3/11/2002
From: sydney, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline 		... goes in my lawnmower.

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how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/4/2003 8:52:29 PM   
downunder-RCU



Posts: 1125
Joined: 12/27/2001
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Status: offline 		Ohhhhhhhh...then it's probably got enough water in it to put out scrub fires

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how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/9/2003 2:20:46 AM   
hauckf


 

Posts: 188
Joined: 3/1/2002
From: Decatur, AL, USA
Status: offline 		How do you dispose of your trash? A landfill? A trash pickup service? Check with them. (In my city, we have a "hazardous material day" once a year. On that day, they'll take anything you have; oils, insecticides, paint, flammables, whatever.)

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how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/10/2003 2:08:12 AM   
hauckf


 

Posts: 188
Joined: 3/1/2002
From: Decatur, AL, USA
Status: offline 		JAYNC thought that my post about checking with whoever takes his trash was "smart a$$" (his description). It wasn't meant to be. Apparently it wasn't read in the same spirit that it was written. Sorry I tried to help JAYNC.

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       Post #: 7

how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/10/2003 9:36:02 PM   
JWN



Posts: 4795
Joined: 3/26/2002
From: Florence, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Old glow fuel makes wonderful weed killer.

John

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how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/11/2003 9:40:46 AM   
Sport_Pilot



Posts: 7451
Joined: 1/21/2002
From: Acworth, GA, USA
Status: offline 		Even if the lid's been off for a year then if the oil is in solution I would try it on the engine. The dye used in our fuels will change color with light and age. If it runs good use it, if not, well don't use it in your car. I don't even recommed using it in your lawnmower. It's not a good weed killer. Might be good for starting your charcoal grill though. I suspect adding a bit more nitro or using an Enya #3 plug would make this fuel usable.

(in reply to JAYNC)
       Post #: 9

how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/11/2003 8:38:37 PM   
JWN



Posts: 4795
Joined: 3/26/2002
From: Florence, TX, USA
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sport_Pilot
Even if the lid's been off for a year then if the oil is in solution I would try it on the engine. The dye used in our fuels will change color with light and age. If it runs good use it, if not, well don't use it in your car. I don't even recommed using it in your lawnmower. It's not a good weed killer. Might be good for starting your charcoal grill though. I suspect adding a bit more nitro or using an Enya #3 plug would make this fuel usable. [/QUOTE]

If the lid has been off for even a week in a part of the country with high humidity, forget it. There will be enough water in the fuel, methanol is hydroscopic, to make the fuel unusable. Adding nitro and a hotter plug will not remove the affects of the water. Also, it does in fact make very good weed killer. I have a weed free dirt road as proof

Been there, done that for all of the above.

John

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       Post #: 10

how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/11/2003 10:33:53 PM   
Sport_Pilot



Posts: 7451
Joined: 1/21/2002
From: Acworth, GA, USA
Status: offline 		While the fuel is hydroscopic it will not pick up any moisture it is not in contact with. Methanol vapor is denser than air and will sit above the liquid, if there is not much airflow around the room then the worst that will happen is that the fuel will evaporate leaving a high percentage of oil. I have left the cap off of a gallon of fuel during the summer for about a month in Myrtle Beach SC. It ran fine, just had to add some methanol and nitro, it was obvious that the level had dropped almost an inch or so. I was mixing my on fuel at the time and had some extra meth and nitro. I have also added water to my fuel. About the best thing you can add to get rid of detonation in very high nitro fuels. It won't hurt anything to try it. And it doesn't even kill my grass when I spill it on the lawn. You must have weeds allergic to one of the ingrediants.

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how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/11/2003 11:28:40 PM   
JWN



Posts: 4795
Joined: 3/26/2002
From: Florence, TX, USA
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sport_Pilot
While the fuel is hydroscopic it will not pick up any moisture it is not in contact with. Methanol vapor is denser than air and will sit above the liquid, if there is not much airflow around the room then the worst that will happen is that the fuel will evaporate leaving a high percentage of oil.
[/QUOTE]

As the methanol evaporates, the empty space in the jug is replaced by air. In high humidity areas, this means water is coming into contact with the methanol left in the jug.

[QUOTE]
I have left the cap off of a gallon of fuel during the summer for about a month in Myrtle Beach SC. It ran fine, just had to add some methanol and nitro, it was obvious that the level had dropped almost an inch or so. I was mixing my on fuel at the time and had some extra meth and nitro. I have also added water to my fuel. About the best thing you can add to get rid of detonation in very high nitro fuels. It won't hurt anything to try it.
[/QUOTE]

If you've found something that works for you, great. But, having tried to run a couple of gallons of fuel in the past that had been left open, I'm not willing to try adding anything else to it. It's easier and less frustating for me to simply replace the entire jug.

[QUOTE]
And it doesn't even kill my grass when I spill it on the lawn. You must have weeds allergic to one of the ingrediants. [/QUOTE]

I've had little problems with grass, but regular old weeds keel over in about 4 days after a little glow fuel drink

John

(in reply to JAYNC)
       Post #: 12

how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/12/2003 12:01:04 AM   
Sport_Pilot



Posts: 7451
Joined: 1/21/2002
From: Acworth, GA, USA
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by JWN

As the methanol evaporates, the empty space in the jug is replaced by air. In high humidity areas, this means water is coming into contact with the methanol left in the jug.


If evaporating the empty space is replaced by more methanol evaporating behind in, it would take some airflow across the jug to get air in it. In my case it was during the summer in a hot covered storage shed the fuel was in a 5 gallon plastic can similar to a 5 gallon bulk paint can, the heat made the pressure build and popped the top. However if during the course of a year there is likely to be some temperatures below its flash point where the vapor would contract pulling in a small amount of air. Even so this would be a small amount of air. Even a whole gallon of air would not contain to sufficiently contaminate the fuel. Air would have to be exchange on a continuous basis, but, it would not take much airflow to accomplish this.


If you've found something that works for you, great. But, having tried to run a couple of gallons of fuel in the past that had been left open, I'm not willing to try adding anything else to it. It's easier and less frustrating for me to simply replace the entire jug.


I'm not saying it's not contaminated (well actually all our fuel is, just not enough), it very likely is. But, unless the water is causing the oil to separate out, it won't hurt to run it up on the ground.

I've had little problems with grass, but regular old weeds keel over in about 4 days after a little glow fuel drink

You have a point, I have some Bermuda that keeps overgrowing and spreading into the landscaped areas. For some reason it takes two or three times the roundup to get rid of it.

John [/QUOTE]

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       Post #: 13

To the original question... - 8/12/2003 4:50:22 PM   
Jarsu


 

Posts: 35
Joined: 8/4/2003
From: Oulu, FINLAND
Status: offline 		You can mix a small amount of your old fuel to new fuel without noticeable changes in performance. I guess something like 10% of the old fuel would be ok, at least worth trying.

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       Post #: 14

how do you get rid of old glow fuel - 8/13/2003 11:16:36 PM   
jessiej



Posts: 1793
Joined: 7/6/2003
From: STATESBORO, GA, USA
Status: offline 		{You have a point, I have some Bermuda that keeps overgrowing and spreading into the landscaped areas. For some reason it takes two or three times the roundup to get rid of it. }

Correct. Some of the grasses are quite hard to kill. Let me so much as carry a sprayer of Round Up within fifty feet of one of my wife's prized plants however and it keels over like it has been torched!

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       Post #: 15

Old Fuel - 8/15/2003 4:35:10 AM   
RJConnet



Posts: 554
Joined: 1/6/2002
From: OR
Status: offline 		A while back I dumped about half gallon of old helicopter fuel into my rotary lawn mower. It ran great but I had to put three bricks on it to keep it on the ground.

RJ

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       Post #: 16