Ahhh…hurricanes. The news shows the obligatory photos of people standing in line at Home Depot for batteries and flashlights, later they are on line at the supermarket for bottled water and milk.
Who are these people??? They really couldnt spend $20 once a year to keep a couple flashlights and batteries on hand at all times? Watch the aftermath..lines of people waiting for ice and water and other goodies…no need to worry, your friendly fedgov will take care of you. After all, who wants citizens who think and act responsibly? But convince them that .gov is the answer to their problems, that .gov will take care of you, and they’ll happily smile and nod their heads when you say ‘We’re doing this for your protection.’ Food, water, heat, light, first aid, security and communications…how bloody hard is it to set yourself up for those simple needs?
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I was talking about fuel with someone the other day. Me and the LMI’s try to have multiple redundancies and this applies to fuel. If youre going to store fuel the two biggest factors are safety and shelf life. Gasoline gets pretty wierd after a couple years. You can put Sta-Bil in it to stretch its life, but after a few years it’ll be good for lawnmowers and weedwhackers and not much else. (Unless youve an older vehicle thats very tolerant of wierd gas.) Propane is miraculous stuff as long as you can store it safely and the tanks keep their integrity. (Nice thing about propane, you can scavenge 20# ‘barbecue bombs’ off all the gas grills in your neighborhood).
Me, I like kerosene. Its cheap, lasts forever with no treatment, is completely safe to store (drop a lit match in a 55-gallon of kero and you dont get any drama..unlike gasoline.) I have kerosene lamps (good ones – Aladin and Petromax), kerosene heaters, and our camps stoves are multi-fuel so they can run on kero, white gas, gasoline, jet fuel, or anything else that’ll burn. They even make kerosene powered refrigerators. (Remember, a refrigerator uses a heat source).
However, a bit of gasoline is definitely worth storing and rotating every year. A couple five-gallon cans at least. Why? Because fuel is one of those things that people will trade heavily for if things go bad. Remember, when the power goes out all those gasoline pumps wont run..and you’ll be stuck with the 1/4 tank in your car and its 150 miles to your retreat. Now, you gonna walk or you gonna start bargaining with the fella who has a five-gallon can of gas to trade? Dont believe me? Talk to some folks in Arizona… when your ability to come and go quickly and conveniently is at stake, you’ll deal.
Of course, gasoline, diesel, (and propane, actually) are used for generators. Generators are a mixed blessing…theyre good for keeping things like your well pump, freezer and battery charger going but they usually make enough noise to let everyone know that youve got an island of civilization. Risk vs. rewards.
I usually buy sealed 5-gallon drums of kero at Home Depot, coat ’em with varnish to help protect the metal, and store them out in the yard. Ive also a couple dozen of the smaller propane bottles to be used on things like heaters, lanterns, etc. In fact, all my lighting, heating, cooking needs can be run entirely on either white gas (Coleman fuel), kero or propane…so if I do come up short on fuel, I can use whatever I find.
Kerosene heaters actually work very well. The trick is that when you light them and when you turn them off, let them sit outside for about five minutes..by then any smell has disappeared. No muss, no fuss. And kero burns hot so it puts out a good amount of heat.
I’ll be heading up to HD this week to pick up another five-gallon can or two..can never have too much. When I have my place out in the sticks, I’ll have four or five 55-gallon drums of the stuff in storage..lasts forever and can be used for almost all my needs.
Been pretty good with power outages here…we usually have one every winter but only for a few hours..but, just in case……
Had Isabel blown through Central Florida, I think all I’d have needed to do is fill up the bathtub, and buy a big bag of charcoal for the grill. Plywood panels for the windows would have been nice too (the ones I used a few years ago are probably warped by now) but, as it’s always in short supply in such times, it’s a really good way to get raped. I have plenty of tape to keep flying glass at bay.
Gasoline gets pretty wierd after a couple years.
Based on what I’ve read, gasoline can start to become unstable after just a couple of months unless is stored under optimal conditions, i.e. in an airtight container at less than a 80F. Gasoline shelf-life is also shortened if it’s been oxygenated as most are during the summer. Even with fuel stabilizers such as PRI-G or STA-BIL the recommended shelf-life isn’t much more than a year.
It’s also not wise to store gasoline in small engines. A friend’s generator just failed because he left the same gasoline in it for almost a year. The carburetor needed to be removed, cleaned, and rebuilt as a result. As for my generator, I intend to convert it to propane Real Soon Now. The only thing that I’m particularly concerned about is the availability of propane in the event of an extended power outage. At the very least, no power is required to fill a propane canister.
I love Petromax lanterns.
Theres an outfit that makes what could best be called a ‘reverse adapter’ that threads into your 20# barbecue bomb and lets you refill the small 1# bottles…but, the advantage is that with these and a hose you *could* refill your 500gallon tank (or 100 gallon tank) from a buncha 1# bottles or 20# barbecue bombs.
Scavenge and scrounge a buncha 20# and 1# bottles, take ’em home and refill your main tank.