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Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Worse than the price of gas



There’s one thing worse than the high price of gasoline. That’s not being able to get gasoline at all. Most people in the US don’t think about that. It could happen and it has happened. 


We’ve come dangerously close to running out of gas in sizable parts of the country due to hurricanes. When pipelines are damaged the clock starts running. Local supplies don’t last that long. In fact, authorities have downplayed the damage to prevent panic buying. It worked too. If everyone decided to fill up at the same time the system couldn’t handle it -and that’s during normal times. Add in an actual supply issue and gas could easily run out. 


There are things that can affect local supplies. Areas have run out of gas for various reasons. Locally we once ran out of gas due to a blizzard. Just a few days delay and gas stations were closing right and left. 


During the Arab Oil Embargo supplies were spotty. It wasn’t impossible to get gas, but it wasn’t always easy. There were times when you could only gas up every other day depending on your license plate number. On a long trip it took some planning as gas stations did not stay open 24 hours. I remember being parked in front of a gas station early in the morning waiting for it to open. 


I don’t store a lot of gas at my house. The stuff is dangerous. I have a storage place that can be locked located outside. Even with stabilizer it doesn’t last too long. You have to keep rotating the stock. Rather than try and store a huge volume of gas it might serve you better to figure out how to get by without it. 


-Sixbears

8 comments:

  1. I've got a '93 GMC pickup powered by propane and gas sitting idle. Filled the LP tank (90 gallons) a few years ago. It's getting harder to find this type of rig these days.

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    1. I don't know the last time I saw one for sale. Best hold onto that beast for as long as you can.

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  2. Our normal stockpile of gas is around thirty gallons. Pretty much what it would take , to run the generator for two weeks . Usually the power after a hurricane comes back on after that period.
    That said , in a scenario where the power definitely was going to stay permanently off. Then that same amount would be stretched out much, much further using alternative methods .
    Yeah it is a hassle to keep those thirty gallons rotated and stabilizer is an added cost. However , with the ethanol added gas, you'd best keep stabilizer in it just to keep the stuff mixed up.
    I'll admit , that once in awhile I fill the tanks on the motorhome too , when extreme paranoia kicks in lol.

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    1. AC in the FL heat can be a life saver. I can still get ethanol free gas here but they charge plenty for it. I'm tempted to test to see how much ethanol is actually in our mix.

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    2. Sorry , but AC isn't even considered in that equation. Just food refrigeration , lights and fan in that order. You'd need much, much more fuel than I store for AC.
      We don't do AC for our camp out for archery season either in the tent. Just fans.

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    3. Then you are well adapted. Most FL people are not as they have AC everywhere.

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  3. What I have come to understand, which could be way off base, is the car should get at least a ten percent increase in MPG if you pay the price and get the straight gas. Either the alcohol does not cause a decrease in MPG or the gas I'm buying that is supposed to be alcohol free isn't.

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    1. gallon for gallon there's less energy in alcohol than gasoline. How the numbers work in the real world . . . who knows?
      There are some decent Youtube videos on how to test for the percentage of ethanol in your gasoline.

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