buying gasoline in bulk in the winter for use in the summer.
 

ok i have been kicking around this idea for years now. i have a trailer that is rated to hold 900lbs, so conceivably i could put 2 55 gallon barrels on it and fill them up with gas during the time of year when gas is cheap, and save this gas for use during the time of gear when its most expensive.

during the winter, gas goes to around 2.30 a gallon, summertime its 3 bucks a gallon and higher in the summer. and thats assuming no hurricanes are present. hurricanes in florida spike the gas up to 4 or 5 bucks a gallon. i worked out the math and i would save about 40 bucks for every 55 gallon barrel of gas i save. based on w-2.25 and s-3.00.
is this even worth the hassle? i mean i already own 2 barrels i can use, i already own the trailer. i already own a hand crank gasoline pump made for the barrels. so the only cost i would spend is the actual cost of the gas, maybe a bit of stabil to keep it for 6 months. i wouldnt need to actually buy anything else.

but theres the obvious danger of storing 110 gallons of gas. my cars tank is 16 gallons. thats 1/7th the amount right there. so 110 gallons really isn't a lot. i do have a shed in the back yard that is far away from electricity or any ignition sources, and the shed is well vented. i could store the gas in there.

so what do you guys think, am i nuts or does this sound like a reasonable idea to save 80 bucks?

$80 over 6 months isn't terribly exciting, especially given the effort/investment involved. Reminds me of a joke though,

How do you make a small fortune on the futures market?

You start out with a large one. :)

I would tend to agree with this... besides, doesn't gasoline go bad after a while?

I believe that the winter blends get worse mpg than the summer blends. The winter blend may cause your car to run poorly when the temps get high in the summer.

My dad had the same idea and bought up 200 gallons of winter gas last Feb. when it dipped below $2 per gallon. He started having problems during the summer with one of his old grain trucks (not fuel injected) that it only driven occasionally. He replaced fuel pump, and filter with no improvement and was stumped. As a last ditch effort, he drained the gas and filled it with summer blend, problems went away. The winter gas still smelled fine, it was just too hot oustide/under the hood for it to work well in that truck.

where i live, south florida, we don't have winter blends of gas. its the same year round since our temps are nearly the same year round.

none the less thats 3 strikes for my idea. i guess ill abandon the idea until the next time gas prices surge and i get inspired to rehash it again!

to save about 80 bucks in 6 months, having the fact that 110 gallons of gas is right next to where i sleep/live doesnt seem appealing to me.

I agree with all of the above. If you don't have one already and you were going to plop down $300 for 100 gallons of gas anyway you ought to invest in a Scan Gauge. If your car is compatible it will pay for it self in no time and you would save a lot more than $80 buck in 6 months.

I guess the idea is appealing in a sort of 'end-of-the-world-scenario' where something terrible hapens and nobody can get gas anymore, besides the smart puppy with 110 gallons in his shed. Make sure noone knows about it though :)

Yep, winter blend gas has more butane in it for a higher vapor pressure. Its just to help freezing cold engines start better. High vapor pressure fuel tends to boil very easily resulting in a tendency to vapor lock in summer, so the vapor pressure spec for summer grade is lower.
While butane has a high octane number its BTU content is lower than other blending components it displaces in winter gas. Less energy less FE.