gasoline rotation and stockpile questions

[Mark W.]

OK so I have decided on a method of stockpiling some gasoline for an emergancy.

And this is based partly on other things in my world (like that I am restoring my 1948 Willys Jeep) and how much storage I have for something like gasoline.

I figure I will aquire a total of 6) Jeep Cans (what some call Gerry cans) they hold a little over 5 gallons. Total storage lets say 30 gallons

I can build a nice rack for these to sit in along one wall of my carport/garage. I figure that since I typically buy fuel once a week. I can dump a can in the pickup and put the can in the back of the truck filling it on my way home from work when I get the weeks fuel in the pickup.

Once home it goes on the rack and I hang a tag above it with the #1 on it and move the other tags one peg up the rack. So when a can gets the #6 tag it gets emptied in the truck and the process starts over.

This way I would always have 30 gallons of fuel none older then 6 weeks.

I realize 30 gallons on top of the 22 the pickup carries will not last long. but my pickup gets 20mpg so with say 10 in the truck at min. And 30 in the rack I'd have 40 gallons or 800 miles to work with.

The 5 gallon can size would be easy enough to load into the pickup or Jeep if need be. And would not kill me to dump into either once a week.

I know a couple 55 gallon drums and a 12V pump would be the cats meow BUT I have no way to unload a 325+Lb drum of fuel by myself. And drums would then get into longer term storage and stabilizers and their cost.

So any thoughts or comments?

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[jcontreras86]

you could treat your gas with pri-g.Will preserve your gas for a year, and you can retreat your gas yearly. also it has been lab tested to revive 10-13 year old gas to be in usable condition.
heres a link of the faq page on the pri-g site. <broken link removed>

 

[Riot]

I use Pri-G as well...much better than that Fuel Stabalizer stuff you buy at Wally World. I swear by it...even put a little in the tank of my Mower when I take it out the garage to start it again for the first time.

You put a little bit in each can and make sure each can is AIR TIGHT. Flip the can upside down and make sure nothing comes out. Air is Gasolines greatest enemy since the fumes are what makes it flamable. I rotate my gas about every 4-6 months. I also try to buy it without ethenol, but that is harder to do than you think since almost every gas company has additives and at least 10% ethenol. The gas station I go to for my stored gas is the 76 station in town. It's more expensive, but ethenol free.

I did a little research on this topic, if you haven't noticed...lol

 

[knuckle Head]

PRI-G is the best, if you use Stabil do a double dose, I have done it this way ( double dose of stabil ) and the gasoline has lasted me a year without a problem.

 

[Just Jim]

Or you could go to coastal farm and by a L frame fuel tank that fits in the back of your pickup. I got one that holds 57 gallons and has a hand pump in the back of one rig. Gas goes down in price I fill it up but still run off my tank till gas goes up. I am rarely without enough fuel to run anything I would need in an emergency.

jj

 

[Gunner3456]

I just started a rototiller that had 2 year old gas in it. No stabilizer, no problem. I usually dump all of the gas out of all of my machines in the fall and then run them until they are dry, but I missed this one. I do think I got lucky though.

Thanks for the tip on Pri-G.

 

[Thebastidge]

It's been mentioned in various fora that it's not only illegal to carry gasoline (diesel is different because it's not as volatile) in a large tank in the back of your truck, but it's unnecessarily dangerous on a day to day basis. It also uses up valuable real estate in the bed that I personally use ona regular basis for work and tasks, as well as adding hundreds of pounds in weight that eats into your fuel consumption in return for no regular benefit.

If one had a way to store a fixed gas tank on premises that was high enough and perhaps on rails to simply winch it across into the bed of a pickup for an emergency situation, that might work.

 

[ZeroRing]

Seems to me the OP's idea of rotating six 5 gallon cans is a good way to have at least SOME ready fuel on-hand without overly complicating things with long term storage costs due to additives and/or fuel degradation. Got me thinking that it might be a way to put all those cans I use for the ATV's to good use when not riding.

 

[MarkAd]

Good ideal. but instead of tags drill holes in the frame and make markers that you can shift. Then you skip tags and them getting torn off by things being moved. Avoid gas soaked tags for minor spills and not worry about changing marked up tags.

 

[Mark W.]

It's been mentioned in various fora that it's not only illegal to carry gasoline (diesel is different because it's not as volatile) in a large tank in the back of your truck, but it's unnecessarily dangerous on a day to day basis. It also uses up valuable real estate in the bed that I personally use ona regular basis for work and tasks, as well as adding hundreds of pounds in weight that eats into your fuel consumption in return for no regular benefit.

If one had a way to store a fixed gas tank on premises that was high enough and perhaps on rails to simply winch it across into the bed of a pickup for an emergency situation, that might work.

Show me where it says it's illegal to carry gasoline in a large tank in the back of a pickup? This would be news to a lot of people towing trailers?

 

[Gunner3456]

For about $200 you can get a good 12v fuel transfer pump which will pump about 20 gpm. That would pump from a full drum on the floor to an empty drum in your pickup. It would also pump into your gas tank. You could keep your drum full with 5 gallon cans. My pickup holds 27 gallons, so I could fill my pickup from the drum every couple of months, and refill the drum with 5 gallon cans and keep the gas in the drum fresh enough, especially with a stabilizer.

Or, if a service station would do it (I don't know the law) you might fill a 55 gallon drum there and then pump that into another drum in the garage. No heavy weight to move in and out of the pickup.

However, I don't plan on, or even feel certain I could go anywhere if the SHTF so this would be for home use.

<broken link removed>

 

[SheepDog223]

It's been mentioned in various fora that it's not only illegal to carry gasoline (diesel is different because it's not as volatile) in a large tank in the back of your truck, but it's unnecessarily dangerous on a day to day basis. It also uses up valuable real estate in the bed that I personally use ona regular basis for work and tasks, as well as adding hundreds of pounds in weight that eats into your fuel consumption in return for no regular benefit.

If one had a way to store a fixed gas tank on premises that was high enough and perhaps on rails to simply winch it across into the bed of a pickup for an emergency situation, that might work.

It's illegal to fuel your own vehicle from a bed mounted tank. You can carry up to ...149? 199? gallons of gas or diesel without needing a daimond warning sticker.

 

[Gunner3456]

It's illegal to fuel your own vehicle from a bed mounted tank. You can carry up to ...149? 199? gallons of gas or diesel without needing a daimond warning sticker.

Good info. If the SHTF and people are trying to bug out long distance (I still don't think that will work) I'll bet laws on filling your tank would be the least of someones' worries. Just sayin'...

 

[Mark W.]

It's illegal to fuel your own vehicle from a bed mounted tank. You can carry up to ...149? 199? gallons of gas or diesel without needing a daimond warning sticker.

Show me where it says that. I've had pickups over the years that had bed mounted fuel tanks. And I managed service stations for 7 years I never once heard of this.

I would really like someone making these statements to find and post the actual law.

 

[rdb241]

Show me where it says it's illegal to carry gasoline in a large tank in the back of a pickup? This would be news to a lot of people towing trailers?

I have also heard that there is a Federal law prohibiting any gas storage over 40 gallons at a private residence. That is not including any vehicles on the property. You can have 6 cars full and that is OK. But for storage, I have been told that there was a 40 gallon limit.

 

[SheepDog223]

Links to laws... <broken link removed>

 

[knuckle Head]

Links to laws... <broken link removed>

Good info... but if you want to carry extra fuel on a daily basis, I suggest buying a truck bex tool box with a built fuel tank in it, or if you going to arry extra fuel at all time permanently install the auxillary tank like under and cross over truk bed fuel tank, they are hard to see and out of sight means out of mind for criminals.

Personally I just keep my extra fuel stored safely at home and since I am 5 miles from work, whenever my 35 gallon fuel tank gets to 3/4 full (except on a trip) I stop and top it off. That way i always plenty of fuel in th truck enough to refill twice So I an can go pretty darn if I had to grab and go.

I plan to sell my truck and buy a good fuel economy car, then buy a older milit=ary 4x4 blazer and add a veggie oil tank and pickup an old 4x4 jeep this way I can have all of what I need for vehicles, except a 4 wheeler just need to find one without a computer ignition system on it.

 

[MissJ]

to Mark, the OP.

I have been implementing basically your exact same system for about 9 months now, and it works out great. very easy on my busy day to day life and only a minimal $$ investment in the fuel cans.

I've been shopping around, and every time the 5 gal red plastic gas jugs go on sale at Bi-Mart, Freddies wherever for 8.99 I buy 1 or 2. occasionally they will be on sale for $7.99.

Anyways, we don't have a ton of gas or anything....just a few of those 5 gallon cans...additionally we have 3 cars that we drive on a regular basis, and a tractor and riding lawn mower that we pretty much keep full. Our "daily driver" cars occasionally will get down to 1/4 tank but mostly we keep them about 1/2 tank., or more

The rotation system I have implemented goes like this: I used a big, fat sharpie marker and numbered each can in thick numbers (the numbers are about 2-3" tall). I also numbered an index card and used clear tape to completely cover, and adhere it to the can....but those index card numbers are looking pretty awful and ratty...the sharpie numbers are holding up just fine....maybe after another year I will trace back over the numbers with a sharpie again, but for now they are still perfectly legible for the intended purpose. I would totally skip the index card "label" if I were to do it over again.

So they are numbered #1-whatever highest number of cans you have. Then I have a hanging tag much like you described and it reads: "Use Me Next. Then move me to the next can # in sequence". So if today, I am going to fill my car from can #4, then I take the tag off #4, move it to #5 and then go fill up my car and put the empty, tagless can in the back of my car. The can with the tag on it is never the one you are actually using, so it stays pretty much in tact and out of harms way. My cans are all stored indoors, in basically a garage-like structure.

With this system I do not utilize any stabilizers, although I do have several bottles of "Sta-Bil" stored just in case.

I figure with only the gas in the cans we have about a 1,000 mile range or half that if we decide to take 2 cars, or make a round trip. not a lot...but A LOT more than most other folks. This doesn't include the gas in our various vehicles which generally should add at least a few hundred more miles one way....

I think that in many typical emergencies; people will be severely limited by gasoline. Gas stations are likely to run dry long before all the SPAM, batteries and candles are gone. My sister lives in Atlanta, GA and a couple summers ago they were waiting in line at the gas pumps an average of 2-4 hours to fill up their tanks...and at times there were 10 gallon maximums per car. It got so bad that her husband was going to the gas station every other night and filling up their cars in the middle of the night just so that she could go to work the next morning (he is a bartender, and she works a day job). He started taking his handgun with him, just in case, though thankfully never had any altercations...but he saw plenty of sketchy people, and sketchy moments while waiting for gas at 3:00 am. Think about what that kind of a wait would do to your bug out plans? Not to mention what drama you might find yourself in while waiting...what if people at the end of the line start to panic that the station will run dry? What will they do?

IMO, any fuel storage system is a wise investment. This may be the single biggest factor in getting out before the masses and getting the heck out of dodge.

 

[Mark W.]

In have no intentions of getting out of Dodge so to speak. I live in a small town in an environment I know intimately I feel this gives me an advantage to being on the open road. Where even a teenage girl in a honda can kill all of us in a blink of an eye. What I am looking at is fuel to go the store, to the relatives, to the fresh water source just outside town, etc. Once the Willys Jeep is operational it will also become our emergancy generator and can with a little work become a source of physical power (I have a PTO and corn binder belt pulley) It is to have a start at a fuel supply for emergancies. Not to run off to the Yukon. During the Columbus Day storm in 1962 when power was down in some areas around here for 2 weeks.

My Dad in this same Willys Jeep hauled fresh water in Millk cans from an Uncles hand pump well to a number of family and area friends who were without electricity to run their well pumps. Now since I live in a small town (roughly 2 miles East West and 6 miles North South. 800 miles worth of fuel would make a lot of trips around town. The Jeep also has the advantage of being able to run on very low octane fuel since it has only a 7-1 compression ratio and NO ELECTRONIC ignition.

 

[Just Jim]

Back in the 70s they had a gas shortage and they only allowed 10 gals and your automobile lic had to be on odd or even number to buy it (odd or even day to odd or even number on the lic). Some of us have learned through the years what government does and will do again. It won't take much to disrupt deliveries of food and fuel.

You are only going to go as far as you have fuel for before you turn to your lamberfeeties . Better get some good boots and break them in too

jj