Could/should you keep petrol at home?

[Katymac]

I remember when the fuel strike was on (was it 2000/2005/2007) we work from home but live rurally so getting to the shops could be tricky

But my main concern is DD who is away at college, I think I'd like enough to be able to collect her & bring her home.

Can you store petrol? Is it safe? Are there rules?

There is some advice here -
www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/fuel-storage

We don't keep spare petrol in the car let along the house. Figure the risks of keeping it out weight the possible consequences of not having it, but then I am only a level 1 prepper

I don't keep it either - too risky for me. But then again I'm rural but not totally remote from civilisation.

We keep some fuel at home for the lawn mower etc but you can only store a limited amount and have to be very careful about the fire risk.

You should ideally always keep vehicles topped up though.

When I had a car, I always kept the tank pretty well topped up. (I know that that means I would be carrying extra weight around with me but I just felt better for it.) I wouldn't keep the stuff in the house though. Apart from the risks of having it there, the stuff stinks and seems to get everywhere.

Ours isn't kept in the house btw. That would not be good. We have a separate brick built building which is about 100 meters from the house and we only have a couple of jerry cans full.

No I'm thinking the shed

I may store the legal amount here & the same at my mums (separate garage) so I know I have enough

Oh - and if you're keeping it in an outbuilding, don't tell the world that you're doing that. Fuel is expensive and I used to live in an area where Fuel Rustling actually took place. (Including heating oil.) And that was in a place where theft was frowned upon to the extent that proved doing it would be likely to earn you - how shall I put it - direct and personal local action. Best to do it privately.

Lots of oil thefts around here.

That reminds me of the episode in "The Good Life"

Oh Yes. People generally secure their cars and houses (although how many would do it if the insurance companies didn't insist is another matter) but rarely pay attention to external matters - and that includes outbuildings and all their contents, some of which can be fairly expensive or irritating to lose.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-17560534

If you are going to store petrol I would either store it in 10 or 20 litre steel jerrycans and put it in your car and refill the cans on a regular basis as petrol will go off

Less likely to if the cans are full and there is minimal air space

If you want to get 20 litres or so as a hope I don't need it but can't be bothered with refilling and rotating cans messing then you could get Aspen instead as this has a five year shelf life

The only downside with Aspen is the price as it is close to £20 for 5 litres

Also worth considering the 2 stroke version of Aspen for those of you with chainsaws for firewood as it doesn't go off in the carb of the saw and cause starting problems if you don't use it for months at a time like petrol does

No, I considered it but I'm too scared.

If it's a short period of time, keeping a full tank of petrol as much as possible would help you get where you needed to.

If it gets to the point of no petrol being available for a long period of time, it would be stolen - or roads will be hard to travel on anyway as cars etc will have broken down.

So unless you need spare petrol on a regular basis anyway, I wouldn't think this was a good idea!

Yes, we keep cans of petrol spare. Not in the house though. I'm going to start keeping my car topped up as well, I am forever letting it get to less than a quarter full. DH rotates stored petrol through the cars and then restock every time we get a coupon discount from the supermarket.

I think cycling is going to get more popular with fuel shortages though, have just bought an electric bike to keep us mobile.