Does diesel go stale?

[Stranger]

Took the '02 to get fuel tonight. Went to Baldini's in Sparks. Their diesel islands had been shut down for a few weeks.
During fueling I could smell paint thinner. It was coming from my tank. Mentioned it to the guy on the other side of the island. He could smell it from his side also.
I stopped after 3 gal. I figured I'd go elsewhere later but, I wanted to post the question here first. I think a 3K fuel pump wasn't worth fueling there if I was correct in thinking the fuel was stale.
Any body can smell stale gasoline. Does old diesel smell the same?

Does diesel go stale? Oo.

 

[MMeier]

Yes, diesel does go stale , not as quick as gas, but still does. As for what it smells like, couldn't tell you, still trying to get used to the smell of fresh ULSD. Wonder if that station didn't add something to thier tanks to cover up what may have been standing underground while they were down.

 

[CDonaldson]

I was wondering the same, good post/question. Do they make a stabalizer for diesel like they do for gas? Or, do you just dump in something like Power Service to up the antee on the cetane when using stored diesel?



I just picked up a 200-something gal farm/ranch tank I was going to setup for use with ALL the diesels I have on the place - trucks, tractors, Bobcat, generators, etc and wondered about this because I don't know for sure how long the fuel will last/be consumed over time?



Seems like I was always getting 3-4 5 gal cans filled, but never really paid attention to how many over what time period. I would like to make sure my investment into a full tank will be OK.



I have the same setup with GAS and it is really a great way to go. Get a good-sized discount when buying in this kind of quantity, want to reap the same benefit on diesel.



CD

 

[mfburns]

Not sure about "stale" but I know that if a tank stands too long there is something (algae? bacteria?) that grows in the fuel and will clog up the fuel filter and leave you idling all the way home. Happened to me once in a Mack after my 500 gal tank stood over the winter. Added some new fuel and some diesel treatment and all was well after I changed out the fuel filter. Thats a few years ago so can't remember the product name. But thats why I always try to fuel at the same location or at a busy location, reduce the chances of dirty, filter clogging fuel.

 

[Alan Reagan]

Stabil works with diesel or gas.



If your were smelling something other than diesel, something may have been dumped there and contaminated the fuel.



Years ago, I used to haul fuel. I would haul a load of diesel and then backhaul dry cleaner solution. The tanker would be steam cleaned before loading the dry cleaner chemical.



After offloading the dry cleaner solution, I would get another load of diesel but could always smell the dry cleaner chemicals. It could be that a truck hauled paint thinner or a similar chemical prior to loading diesel and you or smelling the chemicals. Or worse, someone didn't completely offload a chemical load before taking on a load of diesel.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Diesel may go "stale" but certainly stays burnable as a decent fuel much much longer than gasoline. For the past 4 years I've been burning heating oil in my lawnmower that had been in an old tank for over 30 years. . . so far so good.

 

[DennyDay]

Stale isn't the main problem - - - if it isn't stored at proper temp and condensation isn't eliminated, it will start growing nasty looking stuff (algie and something that looks like it might be deadly)



Denny