Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

So, I was able to break out the 2-stage honda a couple of weeks ago. It was brand new and never had gas in it for 2 yrs, until 2 weeks ago. Worked like a charm on wet heavy snow with my steep driveway. anyway, I have to put it away now. I might not need it for another couple of years. I know, I know, I should've just hired someone to do my driveway. But, hey, I like my power tools. I've read a couple of past threads on what to do for storage, but since this is for long term storage, is there anything extra I should do? 1. drain gas tank, I didn't use stabil because it was a last minute decision to use the snow blower. Or should I empty it and put in a fresh 1/4 tank with stabil? Or just add stabil to a nearly empty tank now? 2. change oil 3. wash it, dry it, and grease the moving parts 4. paint the underside of the front housing that got scratched on the concrete to reduces chances of rust? is this really needed? 5. oil the cylinder? is this really needed? I figure only, numbers 1-3 are necessary. thanks for the help

Overinflate the tires a tad and put some 2x's under the chassis to take weight off the tires.  Nothing worse than a flat from slowly losing air!

Did anyone mention to drain the carb and take pressure off the belt(s)?

really, fill the gas tank? Can stabil last a couple of years?

raysmd wrote:
Yes u want to fill the tank with gas and add a stabilizer that's works with ethanol.. the reason for this is so the tank don't Rust... either way your going to need to drain All the gas out and replace it when your going to use machine again... by adding stabilizer your not trying to "save" the gas, but hopefully prevent it from gumming up that's all...

I store all of my ope with the gas tanks empty,  yes even the ones with metal tanks.  If you drain all of the fuel from the tank and fog the inside of the tank with WD-40 it will put a protective coating on the inside of the tank that will prevent rust.   I have stored many a metal tank for long periods using this method and none have had any rust issues. draining the carb is the same issue.  If you are planning on storing for a very long time I would take the carb bowl off and give the inside of the bowl a quick shot of wd as well.  rubber parts can dry out when left dry but I have not had any bad experiences with that and have been storing all of my ope this way for over 20 years.

I would run it dry with treated gas. As it started to die out I'd open the choke and let it stall out. Fog the tank if you feel it's necessary.

Yes run dry or pump out gas and let run dry then fog the tank.....store in dry garage. If you only used for an hour or so greasing everything may not be needed but it couldn't hurt.

Honda tanks in particular are prone to rusting.. that's just what I have experienced.. I just replaced a tank on a Honda blower for a customer last month.. he bought the blower used it had been in storage for 3 years... tank was stored dry or all the gas leaked out.. either way tank was in rough shape!!!

If you were going to store it with gas in the tank, absolutely use stabilizer. But if that gas will just sit for several years, maybe it's worth considering using ethanol-free gas, and still using stabilizer? Like the canned 4-stroke gas at Home Depot, etc?

If you have a fuel shutoff after the tank, you might run the carb dry, even if you will keep the tank filled.

If you have grease fittings on the augers (where they ride on the auger shaft), you might want to grease those, remove the shear pins, and spin each auger on the shaft, to reduce the risk of the augers rusting to the shaft.

RedOctobyr wrote:
Good info Redoctobyr... I should of mentioned this as well.. sunoco ultra94 has NO ethanol in it... I switched about a year an half ago to using ultra94 ONLY... but still use stabilizer in fuel for long periods of sitting.. and I would agree use the fuel shut off and let engine run out of fuel but keep tank full if its a steel tank..

That's interesting. I did some quick reading, it sounds like Sunono in Canada and Sunoco in the US are unrelated to each other.

I just emailed the US one to ask which grades, if any, might be ethanol-free.

I did find this, about Sunoco Optima race fuel, which it states is ethanol-free. They have a tool to help you find sources for it near you.

http://www.racegas.com/fuel/21

I have seen some things stating that marine fuel sold at docks is typically ethanol-free. Apparently ethanol can cause problems in boats, damaging fiberglass tanks, and maybe other issues. So if there is a marina near you, you could call and find out if they sell ethanol-free gas. Although more expensive than regular gas, it might still be cheaper than the canned-gas options at Lowes/Home Depot.