Have been told that gas goes bad after a time does using a tank of gas a month allow the gas to go bad?

Answer 1

The risk of gasoline (petrol) going stale is often exaggerated. Still, no getting around one basic truth: in principle gas can go bad. The shelf life of gasoline depends on the type of gas and the storage conditions and can range from a couple months to a couple years. One wild card is that gas you buy at the pump may already have been in storage for anywhere from days to months. If you are burning a tank of fuel a month or even every two months you have nothing to worry about. I would however buy my gasoline at a station that sells lots of fuel. That way you will get fuel that has not been stored underground very long. I would also add a can of good Fuel Injector cleaner once a year. Seafoam & Techron are both excellent and sell for around $6 per can. Add the entire can to a full tank of fuel once a year. So don't worry, your fuel is not going to go bad in one month.


Modification: "Still, no getting around one basic truth: in principle gas can go bad." Gas does not "go bad" as, say, meat or vegetables do; but if stored in a vented tank (and most tanks are vented, for safety reasons) the volatile components of gasoline will evaporate, leaving behind the less volatile parts. (Remember, gasoline is a mixture, not a single chemical compound). Since a prerequisite for burning (oxidation) is the vaporisation of the fuel, it follows that if the gasoline has become less volatile, it will be more reluctant to vaporise and may not readily burn.