Getting rid of bad gas turns out more complicated than anticipated
Editor:
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Here is the dilemma, which I suspect is a common one. We have six gallons of "old" boat gas, 2-year-old premium, mixed with oil and stabilizer. our boat guy (names will not be given, to protect the innocent and/or naive) said absolutely do not use it, that it would gum up the carburetor on my engine.
Solution from our boat guy: Dump it in a sandy area. The Environmental Protection Agency allows small amounts to be dumped. (Do we want gasoline in our drinking water or lake?)
Solution from an eco-friendly friend with the same problem: Burn it off, just a tiny bit at a time. (My face is bad enough; I don't want to be scorched.)
Solution from Columbia County agency: Why not "sift it" through chamois cloth to get rid of the water and burn it in a lawnmower or car? But we don't have a lawn, and we don't want to ruin our car engine, thank you very much. They recommended contacting the fire department.
A nice fellow at the fire department checked with his captain, and he said, "No, we cannot take responsibility for it. Try a waste management company."
The person from a waste management company said there are companies that use gasoline in their work, but in industrial amounts. With six gallons, it would cost $300 to $400 and another $1,100 to ship it to Port Arthur, Texas. (Was he pulling my leg?)
Their advice: Contact your boat dealer (done that) or car dealer, because they have to deal with extra gas and oil all the time. Then, he said, "Why not just drop off your gas at one of those places and leave it at their garage?" Oh, I sputtered, "We would lose our gas container!" "Just write it off," he said with a laugh. (If you read Garrison Keillor, you know people leave extra tomatoes and zucchini on porches when they don't know what to do with them.)
Given that we need some hefty maintenance work done on our car, I called our local dealer. The service man, after some consideration, said "Bring the gas in when you bring your car, and I'll take care of it." I hope he isn't going to dump it on some sand.
Case solved, I hope. This telephonin' about bad gas was somewhat of a hoot, but this is a serious problem and I hope someone (like the EPA) takes note.
In the end, our neighbor took the gas to use in his "old" tractor, which he said could handle just about anything. Nothing stops the oldsters. And the moral of the story: If you need to get rid of some gas, check with your neighbors before letting go!
M.J. Godt
Appling