How long does petrol stay flammable?

[Geordie_Rob]

Hi people.

Basically I'm thinking a few Molotov cocktails could be handy post SHTF & seen that guy was testing bottles of spirits out for this use. The only thing is, vodka is £10 a bottle (cheap brands). It's a lot cheaper to use petrol but petrol goes off.

So my question is, although petrol goes off, does it lose its flammable qualities?

If it stays flammable, I'm thinking a few beer bottles filled with petrol & capped with new lids. A couple of windproof matches on the side & away they go

Again these would be for post SHTF. Using these before would be bad.

[Highlander]

Well I certainly know that fuel does loose it flammable qualities,.. I was only watching a program on the telly about a month ago, where they couldnt get an old engine going, no matter what they tried or what parts they replaced,... the last resort was to remove some of the fuel and put a match to it,.... it went out as if the match had been thrown into water

but they didnt say how old the fuel was

[NorthernRaider]

(5 February 2013, 19:42)Geordie_Rob Wrote: Hi people.

Basically I'm thinking a few Molotov cocktails could be handy post SHTF & seen that guy was testing bottles of spirits out for this use. The only thing is, vodka is £10 a bottle (cheap brands). It's a lot cheaper to use petrol but petrol goes off.

So my question is, although petrol goes off, does it lose its flammable qualities?

If it stays flammable, I'm thinking a few beer bottles filled with petrol & capped with new lids. A couple of windproof matches on the side & away they go

Again these would be for post SHTF. Using these before would be bad.

Treat it with fuel stabiliser like wynns or Sta-Bil then it will store for a few years.

[Geordie_Rob]

I might just go for turps or something instead.

Cheers guys

[Highlander]

(5 February 2013, 20:40)NorthernRaider Wrote: Treat it with fuel stabiliser like wynns or Sta-Bil then it will store for a few years.

Can you give a bit more info on that Nr please,.. i.e. how much do you add

[NorthernRaider]

(5 February 2013, 21:37)Highlander Wrote:

(5 February 2013, 20:40)NorthernRaider Wrote: Treat it with fuel stabiliser like wynns or Sta-Bil then it will store for a few years.

Can you give a bit more info on that Nr please,.. i.e. how much do you add

Depends on the size of the bottle you buy, The last bottle of Wynnes fuel stabiliser I got held about 300 mils and it treated 50 litres IIRC.
I use it to treat the diesel and petrol I set aside in Jerry Cans. You can get it off E bay, Mail order and often from ships chandlers / boat yards.

---

(5 February 2013, 20:49)Geordie_Rob Wrote: I might just go for turps or something instead.

Cheers guys

Try parafin

[Highlander]

Thanks NR,... I will remember that

[Geordie_Rob]

(5 February 2013, 22:12)NorthernRaider Wrote:

(5 February 2013, 21:37)Highlander Wrote:

(5 February 2013, 20:40)NorthernRaider Wrote: Treat it with fuel stabiliser like wynns or Sta-Bil then it will store for a few years.

Can you give a bit more info on that Nr please,.. i.e. how much do you add

Depends on the size of the bottle you buy, The last bottle of Wynnes fuel stabiliser I got held about 300 mils and it treated 50 litres IIRC.
I use it to treat the diesel and petrol I set aside in Jerry Cans. You can get it off E bay, Mail order and often from ships chandlers / boat yards.

---

(5 February 2013, 20:49)Geordie_Rob Wrote: I might just go for turps or something instead.

Cheers guys

Try parafin

Paraffin only really takes a flame off a wick of some sort in my experience. I've dropped matches in cups of paraffin & it's gone out.

I've got a really cool flame gun for my garden that's basically like a big Tilly lamp but shoots a flame out instead of illuminating a mantle. It allegedly gets to something daft like 3000 degrees. I was drying the pavement with it during a rainstorm once to test it out. Bloody good bit of kit.

[bigpaul]

i'm going with 6 months,after that it'll probably go off and gum up your carbs and jets, use it up and refresh it..rotate,rotate!

[cryingfreeman]

Petrol has a much shorter shelf life than diesel, if I recall aright from "Patriots" by J W Rawles. With treatment, I think he said petrol would last 2 years where diesel was closer to 10 years.

---

BTW, making Molotovs would probably be construed as "bomb-making" so even discussing it online could be dicey.