I bought a used beater bass boat back in 2016.  Since I only fish TM waters, the motor hasn't been started in years.  There is probably 10-15 gallons of gas in the tank left over from when I bought the boat.    Now the wife wants me to get the motor running to take her out on the river.  I'd prefer to use new gas.  How do I safely dispose of the old stuff and clean out the tank before adding new gas?

 

Thanks,

 

Dave

That’s a long time for gas to be setting around.  
 

 

 If it were me I’d be calling or web searching for ways to recycle or dispose of it.

Most places have some sort of household hazardous waste facility that will accept it.   

We have a Hazardous Waste Disposal shop close by, it’s a private company. The town pays for 2 gallons of waste a year per household, after that you get charged. For gas they charge $3 A POUND!

Use a transfer pump and put it into someone’s tank that you don’t like. 😂😂😂😂 

If the motor will run on the old gas, I would run a few gallons at a time through my truck.  If it's just old and mostly varnish, call your local dump and they can tell you what to do.

Our county dump has a gas tank next to the dirty oil tank and next to the old paint tank, etc.

$3 to dump trash, all recycling is free and that includes up to 4 tires on wheels.

Gas makes great weed killer….. I’m just kidding don’t do that. As others have said I am sure there is  a place to dispose of it safety. Maybe even talk to your local garage they might know I could do it for you. 
 

that’s also a long time for a motor to sit. You may have some dry rotting issues from it not being used. I would take it somewhere local, close and have. A buddy on speed dail that could come get you on the water if needed.

Find a mechanic shop. They usually have big drums of old gas sitting around and they don’t mind disposing of gas for people. I bring my old stale gas to my mechanic, throw him $5 and he dumps all the old crap for me. 

Properly wouldn't be the word I would use but it does work great in my fire pit to burn up brush. 

 

Allen

20 hours ago, GaryH said:

Use a transfer pump and put it into someone’s tank that you don’t like. 😂😂😂😂 

This is actually what I do with old gas.  I just run it through my car.  The trick is, to not run too much at once.  So, for something like this, I'd probably just put in a gallon into a nearly full tank of gas.  It'll mix with the good stuff and run just fine if it's something like a 15:1 ratio, new to old.  

 

But I'd give it a good look to make sure it's not too bad.  Make sure the color is clear and it doesn't have a lot of water in it and stuff.  If it's bad enough, there's always some kind of hazardous waste disposal center you can take it to.  

Just google hazardous waste disposal for your county or state. It doesn't mention gas but here's a start. Altho the first sentence of the second paragraph is a bit concerning...

 

https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/land/recyclingandoperationsprogram/pages/hhw.aspx

22 hours ago, PourMyOwn said:

If the motor will run on the old gas

I would not even try this.  If the gas is really bad it can cause big problems.  Keep trying to find a way to dispose of it, and flush all of it out.  

Thanks for all the input!  I'll check with a couple local shops.  And I'll be taking the motor to be given the once over before I even think about starting it.

Never had any issue running thru the truck. I generally dump 1-3 gallons of last years 50:1 gas/oil in the gas tank on an almost empty tank, every spring.

I wouldn't even consider putting 8 year old gas in an engine of any kind.

 

Proper disposal is the only option.  But then again I would never have 8 year old gas to begin with.