Gas pains

Friend Of The Blog ™, Harry Flashman, over at Self-Sufficient Mountain Living woke up to find the gas pumps dry and no one knowing when the fuel will be back.

Listening to the CB radio on SSB , I heard two fellows talking about gasoline shortages up here in North Georgia. One of them had gone to Cornelia , and on trying to get back, he found there was no gas to be had at the Ingles in Cornelia, nor in Cleveland. I assumed Ingles, which is a big grocery chain here, had simply messed up their order or had some kind of dispute with their supplier

When we went into town today, our own Ingles had no gas. I didn’t think much of it, until the next station down the road had no gasoline either. It turned out there was not a drop of gasoline to be had at any stations in our county.

Since my kids were here, I haven’t followed the news with anything like the attention to detail that has been my habit. That’s why I didn’t know that the pipeline that brings gasoline to Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama had “gone down.”  In town people were saying the pipeline was out of service and might not be up until next week.

What is the natural consequence of a good’s level of scarcity increasing as demand stay constant? Shortages and price increases.

Gasoline is something that you really do need. You can talk about how you’re going to be grid-free, ride your solar-powered golf cart around, run your life on propane, etc, etc, but in the real world gasoline is right up there with money, ammo, and food.

148848_slideI try to keep enough gas on hand for a) generator usage, b) barter/aid, and c) GTFO. All told, about 60 gallons. It’s all in 5-gal. NATO cans and treated with PRI-G.. I routinely use, in my vehicle, gas that is two years old and I’ve never had a hiccup. If you treat your gas, seal it up in a good metal can, and tuck it somewhere shady, it’ll last a good long time. There is a school of thought that says that you don’t even really need to use the additives..the gas will keep just fine. Maybe. But I’m willing to pay a couple extra bucks for snake oil to make damn sure that when I need to throw my gear in the vehicle and go, go, go, the engine goes ‘vroooom’ instead of ‘whirwhirwhirwhir…’.

Don’t cheap out and get plastic gas cans. Don’t cheap out and get bargain “NATO-style’ cans made in China. Don’t cheap out and get metal Blitz cans. Spend $50-75 per can and get the real deal. Here’s why:

When you show me any other can that can handle that sort of action, then I’ll consider it. until then..I’ll pay the money for the peace of mind.

When i bought my first motorcycle helmet, I complained to my buddy how expensive they were. he said, “What’s your life worth?”. Same thing for the gas can. What’s it worth to have 5-gallons of perfect gasoline on hand when the lights are out, the storms are raging, the hordes are coming, the waters are rising, the kids are crying, and the city is dying?
 

 

23 thoughts on “Gas pains

  1. But where to keep the cans? I am leery of putting them in my attached garage – it’s attached to the house I don’t want to burn down. Even a shady spot will swing from -20F to +100F through a year. Now what? Dig a potato cellar?

    • Youre leery of putting them in your garage? But..you park our car there, right? And thats about 20 gallons of gasoline in a single tank with electrical wires running in and around it. Isn’t that just as risky?

      I keep my cans outside. Build a doghouse for ’em and tuck ’em away.

      • Well, my car doesn’t leak or smell of gas fumes. Hmmm. Maybe time to replace the old round Eagle cans with dried out cork gaskets with something better. Any links to places actually selling NATO fuel cans?

        • I bought several of these and have liked them. The ones I bought were made in Poland. I have heard people say to be leery of the Chinese ones, but I’ve also seen youtube videos of people using their Chinese ones hard and they seem to hold up ok.

          This link is where I bought mine a couple of years ago. The only nit, and I think it’s small, is that the cam lock on the lid is really tight and I usually have to use pliars to get it open. I treat the gas with Stabil and one of the fuel system cleaner things, and let it go a year or more between rotating out the fuel in the cans. No problems yet after 2 or 3 years.

          http://www.morris4x4center.com/nato-metal-jerry-can-20-liter-5-28-gallon-pm-mcan20l.html

          • “Not for fuel use”
            I love it! I’ll by four of them……for carrying skim milk for my kitty cat.

    • The only reason I’d worry about it were if there were a natural gas / propane water heater in the attached garage.

  2. I have 20 Wedco jerry cans that I rotate through on a one to two year basis. I use Stabil and have never had any problems. I just make sure to use the summer blend gasoline for storage rather than the winter blend. I also keep 4 full cans in my garage, using them to top off vehicles on a weekly basis. Refilling the cans at the station allows me to get the full 20 gallons on loyalty discounts. Yes it is a pain, but its good practice, good exercise, and I’ve saved enough money to offset the cost of the Wedco cans.

    One thing I would highly recommend is to stock up on good quality gaskets for both the can and the spout (if different). Constant use and gasoline with ethanol will wear them out quicker than you can imagine.

    • Doesn’t Grand Poobah Rawles argue that you should store winter blend? Not sayin’ just askin’….

      • Beats me. I’m too lazy to go back and read through but I think the answer is no. I think.

        • You are correct, winter blend contains more butane to help with cold starts in the winter and is bad for summer use due to vapor locking engines. But that was in the day of carburetor engines and mechanical fuel pumps – happened in my 1974 Comet one summer. Used fuel from the shed my dad had for “emergency use only”. With the fuel injection carbs & fuel pumps inside the tanks the summer/winter blend is pretty much a non-issue. The key is to store fuel with as little ethanol in it as possible. Either the 94 octane or 100% ethanol free gasoline

  3. I heard the story Saturday night and Sunday (before church let out) I went to fill the truck for the coming shortage. Prices had already jumped $0.20/gal from Friday and ‘suprise!’ only the $2.45 premium was available.

    Yesterday it jumped another $0.20/gal. Supposedly they are bringing in more tankers and the much touted “State of Emergency” in AL and GA is mostly to allow Tractor drivers to go longer hours on the road.

    Still a good idea to have 30-40 gal of winter grade guzoline put aside for the gen sets for those unscheduled blackouts.

  4. Hi Zero,

    I’d like to store some but the heat in Arizona desert is brutal in the summer. I need a good brand to research. What are the ones that you’re using?
    – Unbreakable AZ

      • I just stopped in there when I was going through to a coal plant to do some work. Alot funner than shopping online. They got a lot of neat stuff in there and you save a ton on shipping. Work paid for the little detour and off I went down the road with a company car full of Jerry can. The guy working even through in some free gaskets. They are expense but we’ll worth it my off road and cabin experience now I am seeing the end for even more.

      • Thanks brother. A bit spendy, but when the devil is nipping at the heels a secure source of fuel won’t seem nearly as costly as the alternative.

        – Unbreakable AZ

    • Temps stay fairly stable underground. The normal problem storing anything underground is water. What depth is the water table? What happens during your yearly rain season at your location? Better to use some sort of draining platform to set the items on, so water doesn’t sit/pool against the base. Do a bit of research, talk to builders in your area about concerns they have with foundations, piping, etc.

  5. I just bought 2 wavian from jerrycandotcom. Ain’t cheap, as you said; $160 for 2 delivered. Very nice, thogh and each comes with a new nozzle.

  6. Your life is worth the cost of buying an expensive helmet? Better to not own a bike. I rode motorcycles for many years, because it was the cheapest transportation ( this was long ago ). False economics. I gave it up after one too many close calls. Now, with today’s traffic and idiots behind cell phones?

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