Fuel Storage Safety Basics: Gas, Diesel, and Propane at Home

Fuel gives you options during an emergency: you can run a generator, drive out, cook, or heat. Stored wrong, the same fuel turns into a fire and explosion risk sitting a few feet from your water heater. This guide covers how much to store, where to put it, and the basic rules that keep your home on the safe side of that line.

If you’re still building out the rest of your supplies, start with the Basic Home Emergency Kit List and layer fuel on top of that plan.

1. What “Fuel” Means in a Normal Home

Most homes aren’t dealing with large tanks. You’re usually handling:

• Gasoline for vehicles, generators, and lawn equipment
• Diesel for trucks, tractors, or some generators
• Propane in grill cylinders or a larger home tank
• Occasional kerosene or heating oil for space heaters

All of these are flammable or combustible. The goal is to store enough to ride out short-term problems like power outages or brief evacuations, without turning your garage or shed into a concentrated fuel load.

2. Know Local Limits Before You Stock Up

Fire codes usually cap how much gasoline and other fuels you can store at a residence and where you can keep it. Common rules include:

• Limits on total gallons of gasoline in attached garages
• Bans on storing fuel in basements or living spaces
• Distance requirements from ignition sources and property lines

Before you start buying extra cans “just in case,” check your city or county fire department website or call their non-emergency line. If you rent, your lease and landlord rules can be stricter than local code.

3. Use Only Approved Containers

Fuel doesn’t belong in milk jugs, soda bottles, or whatever empty container is nearby. Use containers designed for the specific product:

• Gasoline: Red, UL- or DOT-approved gas cans with good caps and working vents
• Diesel: Yellow, clearly labeled diesel cans or tanks
• Kerosene: Blue containers marked for kerosene
• Propane: Certified cylinders with undamaged valves and no deep rust or dents

Label each container with the fuel type and the fill date. That prevents mixups and keeps you from dumping stale fuel into your generator the one time you really need it to start.

4. Where Fuel Should (and Shouldn’t) Be Stored

Location matters more than the exact number of gallons. Basic rules:

• Good spots: Detached garages, well-ventilated sheds, or outdoor lockers designed for fuel
• Bad spots: Inside the house, basements, utility closets, or next to furnaces, water heaters, or dryers

Keep containers upright, away from direct sun, and clear of anything that can spark or flame. Don’t stack heavy objects on fuel cans or propane cylinders. When you do your regular home walkthrough, treat fuel storage as its own high-priority hazard area, just like electrical or gas.

5. How Much Fuel Is Actually Reasonable?

You’re not running a gas station. You’re trying to bridge a short disruption. A reasonable baseline for most homes:

• Gasoline: Enough for one generator tank plus one or two refills, and possibly one small extra can for a vehicle
• Diesel: Only what you realistically need for your diesel vehicle or equipment
• Propane: One or two grill cylinders stored outside, plus whatever is already in a permanent home tank

If you’re stacking cans across an entire wall, you’ve moved past basic preparedness into “large fuel load” territory. Scale back or rethink how you plan to power things during a long emergency.

6. Rotation, Stabilizers, and Shelf Life

Gasoline breaks down over time. It absorbs moisture, loses volatility, and can gum up small engines. To keep it usable:

• Write the fill date on every can
• Add fuel stabilizer if it will sit longer than a couple of months
• Rotate stored fuel into vehicles or equipment every 3–6 months and refill with fresh fuel

Diesel and propane hold up better but still need periodic checks for leaks, rust, or water contamination. Treat fuel rotation the same way you treat non-perishable food rotation—a simple, recurring task instead of a one-time project.

7. Refueling Safely

Most fuel accidents happen while people are pouring, not while containers sit on a shelf. Basic refueling rules:

• Shut engines off and let them cool before refueling
• Refuel generators and equipment outside on bare ground or concrete, not on a wood deck
• Keep a properly rated fire extinguisher nearby whenever you’re refueling
• Clean up spills immediately and let fumes clear before restarting equipment

Don’t use gasoline or other fuels as a shortcut to start fire pits, grills, or burn piles. That’s how “just topping it off” turns into a 911 call.

8. Generators, Heaters, and the “Never Indoors” Rule

Many people store fuel specifically for generators and heaters during outages. Two hard lines:

• Never run a generator indoors or in an attached garage, even with the door open
• Never bring outdoor-only heaters inside, no matter how cold it is

Carbon monoxide builds up fast and you won’t smell it. Plan your fuel storage and use as part of a complete outage plan that also includes water storage, food, and ventilation, not as a last-minute improvisation during a storm.

9. Getting Rid of Old or Bad Fuel

Eventually you’ll have fuel that’s clearly off—strong sour smell, visible water, rust, or equipment that refuses to start when you use it.

• Don’t dump fuel on the ground or into storm drains
• Don’t pour liquid fuel into regular household trash
• Call your local waste or recycling center and ask about hazardous waste drop-off

Keep old fuel in clearly labeled containers and get rid of it through proper channels. Fixing a short-term emergency by creating a long-term environmental problem doesn’t help you.

10. The Bottom Line

A sane fuel plan is simple: follow local limits, use approved containers, store fuel in the right place, rotate it on a schedule, and only run equipment the way it was designed to be used. Do that, and fuel becomes a useful part of your emergency setup instead of the reason firefighters are standing in your driveway.