What is the shelf life of the nitro fuel? Does it go bad?





john

Hi John,

The enemy is humidity as methanol is extremly hydroscopic. In a full sealed container so as to have no air gap containing nasty water molecules and away from sunlight it will last longer than you will. If the container has an air gap old glow fuel is a good weed killer.

Cheers,

Colin

Cool thanks. Was wondering cause someone said they were going to give me a gallon, unopened, but he didnt know how long the shelf life was.




john

I've had it still run perfect after 5 years but you have to keep it in the dark and temperature stable

Bad fuel is frustrating. The engine will quit for unknown reason. If it gets really bad the engine will only run with the glow igniter connected.

You can never get the needle set. The engine will run rich until it is too lean to run any more

Same here. I've used fuel that was over 5 years old with no problems. As long as your jug is tightely sealed to keep moisture out you'll be fine.

Ken

Same here too. I was given quite a bit of old fuel ranging from 5% to 20% that was 8 years old and it worked just fine. It was kept under a bench without any temp control but the caps were all on tight. The temp went from the high 20s to the high 100s where it was stored. There was humidity over the years but nothing like you get in a lot of states, this was from the central valley of Calif. and not the mid west or east coast.

I recently called a fuel manufacturer and asked this question. He said keep it dry, and keep it out of the light and it will last a long, long time. I asked about extreme temperature changes, and in a much more animated way he told me not to worry about that

I read someplace that fuel with castor oil gets better with time and temperature cycling, but there is no effect with synthetic oil. I don't think absorbing moisture is as much a problem as methanol evaporating. Keeping your fuel capped is a good idea regardless. I flying three year old fuel at the moment.