I've got an old gas tank that needs to be emptied. I figure it's got about 5-8 gallons in it. What do you guys do with old gasoline? Ignoring the nasty smell, does it have any uses as a cleaner or other useful purpose? I figure I'll probably have to store it until the local haz-mat collection which is once a year. Any ideas?
Your local landfill usually has a couple of tanks for oil and other chemical disposal year-round. Give them a call and see what they recommend. Your local fire department will also be able to give you some advice. Bob
Works really good for killing fire ants or weeds. I had a fie ant hill in my front yard a couple of years ago. Dumped the old skunk gas from a tank I was going to get boiled and the grass still won't grow there. probably against some sort of a law.
See what did I tell ya? I don't figure that gas is any worse than 2-4D for killing brush. I used to dump drain oil on my firewood. It made it a little easier to get a fore started when the wood got wet.
Weed killer, I use a dish detergent bottle to spot kill the weeds that grow thu the sidewalks and ashpalt. Around your foundation if you get carpenter ants.
Do you have a daily driver (not a Hot Rod)? If so pour it in that tank-agallon or so to at least a half tank full. Use it up.
Don't use it as a cleaner. Even if it's old gas it could be flammable. More than one unfortunate dude has sparked a tray of gas while cleaning parts. Use safety solvent.
That and for those of us that use "traditional" lawn mowers you can mix it in with your mower gas. OK, so a 1970 Wheel horse isn't exactly traditional but who has one older they use every week?
If it was July 4, I would have an idea, but since it is July 6 I guess you just have to kill weeds with it.
I use it in the old work tractor (old 2cyl John Deere M, it loves the shit), works fine in old lawn mowers too... good weed killer too.
Use it up a little at atime to start fires in a fire pit. Who needs paper. Throw in the wood, pour some gas on said wood and then flick a match from 10-15 feet away and wait for the woomph.
As others have said... "it may be against the law" Most states have a water pollution prevention plan... sometimes referred to as "Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan" Your safest alternative is to burn it in a pit of sorts where the sediment can be disposed of in the trash. You really dont want that stuff contaminating your groundwater supplies.
Putting it on the ground is a bad idea, weeds or not. Organic solvents or petroleum will stick around for a LONG time. Basically they just make their way down to the ground water and then lay on top of that forever, either sticking around at your place, moving into your drinking water well or moving down the underground waterway to your neighbors, or eventually your favorite fishing hole. Don't do it. Work it off in good gas in an engine, or burn it in a controlled way or just dispose of it properly at a local municipal disposal center.
Dumping it on the ground is a bad idea for future house resale too. next owner might decide your car hobby may have caused problems and hire someone to investigate. They find petroleum residue and you have an expensive problem. Most municipalites have to have a place when citizens can dispose of old solvents, paint, gas, etc. Around here they rotate to a different fire station weekly in four different parts of town or you can take it to the city dump and they have an area there. City public works dept. usually deals with it under Clean Water Act.
I had some old gas so I dumped it the company work truck I drive and it worked fine. So I wound up giving a billion dollar company 5 free gallons of gas.
i've seen this method used before. i've taken it to an old service station where the guy said sure, dump it in our waste trap, it's a petrolium product, they'll recycle it.
add all your used styrofoam coffee cups till you get a creammy,,,,,,,naa forget about that,,,,bad idea....recycleing center is the safest
Pouring it on the ground is the sort of thing that causes site contamination. That can result in clean up order$, fine$ etc.
Mix it in with the lawnmower gas a little at a time, or mix it in with the gas in your daily driver (assuming it's not leaded gas and you have a catalytic converter.) Pouring it on the ground is a bad idea. My Jacobsen dates to about 1965. It will run on just about anything.
I pour old tired gas into a sealed container (old joint compound bucket with the lid), I use it to soak rags for nasty goo clean-up.
some junk yards will take it. They let it sit for a while in their storage tank to separate from water and dirt, then put it in the old cars they run around the place.