No Power=No Gas

[Ksail101]

I learned something new today. In the midst of our super winter wonderland (Global Warming LOL) our power has gone out. Well guess what the gas pumps at the Gas Station use, you got Electricity. So for a pretty large area in WA state you cant get gas for your vehicle, and heres the clincher your, generator that you are going to use to power the house that has no heat or lights in 15 degree weather.

So my question is does anyone store gas in any quantity for something like this? I dont know how well gas stores is the problem. Do you need some sort of stabilizer in it? Any one ever ran into this problem before. Now we fortunate enough to be able to get gas 10-15 miles away but if I could see that could become something a whole more serious depending on you situation.

PS I am crashing at another family member's house thats how this being able to be sent out.

[fightingquaker13]

I use a Honda generator that runs on propane tanks for just that reason. Not to mention its a whole lot safer to store. In the event of serious long term power outage? You're stuck siphoning out of the fill holes of gas station tanks. Obviously, less than ideal. I honestly belive that in a TEOTAWAKI situation, if you can't saddle it, paddle it, sail it, or pedal it, its good for about a month tops. Propane lasts, gas doesn't. Bio-diesel? Beyond my pay grade, but an option. Still, I would count on good old fashioned KISS for any survival situation.
FQ13 who has his canoe, Moutain bike and backpacking gear. Not Paranoid, just a swamp rat who isn't afraid of the the 'Glades.

[tombogan03884]

There are additives that you can buy that will preserve Gasoline for up to 10 years, I forget the name of it though.
Diesel has a much longer shelf life than Gasoline. Wood stoves and candles are even better.
Out here that happens every year, sometimes several times  

[kmitch200]

I've used Sta-Bil for stored gas and never had a problem, but I'm talking 1 to 2 years which I don't really consider LONG term.
Propane doesn't go bad.

[ellis4538]

Had a problem with propane in the sub 0 weather.  Liquid P doesn't gasify (is that a word?) as easily in the cold!

FWIW


Richard

[Sponsor]

[Pathfinder]

On a conference call yesterday, the guy in Seattle was whining about the lack of staff who couldn't get into work because of the big snowstorm. Everyone here in Fargo perked up, and I asked how much they had. The response - 3" - got everyone in the room laughing. Ya see, just Monday, Fargo got 12" of global warming in 8 hours and at that moment it was 8 BELOW ZERO.

Sorry about the whole lack of power thing.

BTTTAH - the best treatment for long-term storage of fuel is a product called PRI-G for gas, or PRI-D for diesel. Pricey stuff - I just picked up a quart of PRI-G and it was $35 shipped. Sta-bil is OK for over-winter storage, but I would not trust long-term to that.

And diesel goes bad too, depending on conditions, due to bacterial growth.

LPG is probably the best overall, especially if you have a 1000 gallon tank of it. Easier on the engine, quieter. You do have to deal with the use of LPG in the cold, though, but there are ways of doing that. I ran my ranches on LPG in minus 20 and minus 30 temps and never had a problem.

[rat31465]

The Sta-Bil label states that it recommends only a 6-month storage...so you might do as I did.

I use to keep 15 gallons of gasoline on hand in 5-gallon plastic cans in my garage, Three cans which I would rotate out one each month.
 This was enough to fill the gas tank in my chosen BOV in the event of an emergency Bug Out or for powering a generator long enough until another fuel source could be located.
Problem was that on several occasions I found one or more of my cans empty, being used and not replaced by my kids...and once I even found that someone had mixed an entire five gallon can with 2-Cycle Ams oil.   That might of been alright when I was still running my boat motor, chain saw, weed eater and leaf blower.  But at the time all I had was the leaf blower and weed eater.

Moral of the story is...If you store gasoline, keep a close eye on it.

[oldkat69]

    In addition to Stabil, I recommend gasoline without Ethenol (no gasohol).   It keeps better and does not draw water as bad.  Here in Missouri we have 5% alcohol in almost all regular unleaded.  Just, recently many stations have began offering alcohol free premium which is great for ATV's, motorcycles and the like.

[tombogan03884]

Sta-bil was the one I was trying to think of.  I don't drive, or have a generator, (second floor studio apartment ) so my info was second hand.

[Ksail101]

On a conference call yesterday, the guy in Seattle was whining about the lack of staff who couldn't get into work because of the big snowstorm. Everyone here in Fargo perked up, and I asked how much they had. The response - 3" - got everyone in the room laughing. Ya see, just Monday, Fargo got 12" of global warming in 8 hours and at that moment it was 8 BELOW ZERO.

Well Path to tell you the truth I'd take your 12 over this 4-5 (at my house). Here our cities are not equipped at all to handle this kind of weather. Yesterday so basically 48hrs later they put down a minimal amount of sand on one of our busiest roads by my house.

And on top of all that we dont get the kind of snow you get. We get snow, then it melts, then freezes, then snows again. So there is a layer of Ice below the top layer of wet snow. And 9-10 the roads already are wet from a previous days rain. So literally out side my house we have 2-1/2 inches of ice on the road. It pretty crazy.