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Prioritizing Fuel for Long Term Grid Down Event

9K views 90 replies 34 participants last post by  Stoveman 
#1 · (Edited)
In another thread they where discussing equipment for a grid down event from manual labor/tools view point. https://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=935314

It was mentioned one could ease into only using handtools.

So lets do a thought experiment. How would you maximize the use of your remaining gas/diesel fuel?

Some parameters to help people have similar answers.

-You have 50 gallons of whatever fuel you want
-You have a small amount of land you can farm/plant crops (think homestead)

Do you use it to? Pick as few or as many options as you want or come up with your own choices.
-Saw a bunch of firewood
-Split the above mentioned wood
-Plow as much land as possible
-Use the fuel to harvest your crops
-Keep some in reserve for your bug out vehicle
-Use it for general transport
-Generator to make electricity
-Other ideas

Or do you use it all to keep your lawn mowed because you fear the HOA will come after you.

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I will comment later on with my thoughts.
 
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#53 ·
I recently set up a small solar electric system. 972 watts of panels and about 1.2 kwh's of usable battery storage(batteries are much larger than that but when fully charged I can use 1.2kwh's without damaging them unnecessarily) Before I set it up I was planning my most pressing use for gasoline to be to run a generator a few hours a day to keep my freezer cold. But now with a solar set up that shouldn't be necessary. It is also handy for moving water and lighting.

Most of the gas I have now is intend for vehicles or chain saw.

One issue with only having 50 gallons is, how do you know it is going to be long term? It would be very possible to assume it is going to be short term, use it all up only to later realize it is a long term situation.

I also think it is wise to store a verity of fuels rather than relying on just one. And ways to use that fuel.

I personally have a couple tons of firewood in the shed (even though I don't currently heat with wood)

2 100 pound tanks of propane for cooking and maybe running a fridge.

15 gallons of gasoline + what is in the vehicles.

25 gallons of diesel(intended for heat)

150 gallons of oil for heat or cooking and if I had access to a diesel vehicle it could be run through that.


Even with all that I consider myself to be totally underprepared for a long term situation.

We also have natural gas plumbed to the house but nothing we have can use it without electric available. I have thought of getting and plumbing in a non vented natural gas heater and a natural gas stove that can be manually used without power. That way we would have heat and cooking ability for as long as the natural gas keeps flowing(no idea how long that would be) without tapping into our stored fuels. And also without giving ourselves away with the smell of wood or oil fire.


Some here have suggested wood gasification. If you don't have a gasifier built, working and tuned now, as well as processed fuel for it you will probably have a difficult time doing once you can no longer run to town to buy parts or plug in you electric welder to grid power. I have built several working gasifiers, they are very easy to build but tuning them, keeping them from melting down, gas cooling and filtration are quite difficult. My biggest issue was always filtration. After shutting down I would have to pull the head of the engine and clean the tar off the valves and seats. If a person wants to go the gasification route I would suggest looking at charcoal gasification rather than wood. Almost no cooling or filteration other than particle is needed. However if I intended to rely on gasification I would be building it NOW when it is easy to build and and a failure is no big deal rather than later. I would also build two. One sized for 5-10 hp engines and one sized for 30-40 hp engines.
 
#58 ·
Fuel only for running a small generator for an hour per day to charge the batteries in the winter when the solar panels are starving for sunlight. A 1/4 acre garden and winter squash vines at the land borders really don't need fuel to work. Solar panels/batteries for : #1 running a shortwave radio for obtaining critical information outside of government censorship. #2 running a small freezer and using rotated frozen 2-liter bottles in a camping chest cooler for refrigeration. #3 running the fence charger to keep coyotes from eating the sheep. #4 LED lights in the house at night. We just have a small array (1260 watts) for survival power and a hand-pump well on the back porch for backup. Wood for heat.
 
#59 ·
I personally think refrigeration would be a short term need. Eat up, dry, can or salt what is in the fridge and freezer and after that the only time you will need it is if you kill a large animal at a time of year when the weather isn't cooperating with you and you need to keep the meat cool for the few days it takes to process it.

Considering humanity live through all of it's history and pre history without it we could probably quickly learn how to as well especially since we have modern knowledge of germs and bacteria and have modern tools like bottles and jars.
 
#60 ·
I too would not burn fuel to refrigerate food.

But that does not necessarily mean I would go without.

https://www.engelcoolers.com/shop/12-volt-portable-fridge-freezers.html

These AC/DC fridges are a perfect match for solar and 12V batteries. In 12V mode, they draw a peak of about 4 amps and have a steady draw of much less (often about 1 Amp). In most latitudes you can run an MT45, MT60 or MT80 off <200W of solar - with an AGM battery and controller.

The Engels are very popular with interstate truck drivers - many of whom pretty much live out of them.

I have an MT45, MT60 and an MT80. When I kill a decent sized game (or livestock) animal, I can keep the meat indefinitely.

They were not cheap but are one of the best preps I ever bought.
 
#66 ·
Some of you may find that as you age things don't get easier, and Having to deal with potential invaders how are you going to keep up with it all with out the advantage of modern electronics and machinery?
When I was young (45) I could outwork most younger people out hike men 35 years old and carry a 75 LB backpack. no Bragg just fact. I conditioned my self growing up doing hard work, but now that I'm aged and injured it's a whole different world. Modern conveniences are very important.
I ony have a few hundred gallons of fuel. gas diesel and propane, but I also have trees for fire wood and know-how to make methane gas and use solar energy for heating water and things we impatiently use gas for heating.
Also created the means to do laundry using an antique 15-gallon butter churn.
By the way there are a lot of antiques one might consider that are not currently available as new product, like the gasoline blow torch.
Most people are ill equipt for strenuous work plus the stress of warfare.
Working a hand saw all day for firewood in place of a chain saw is significant.

The benefits of using a greenhouse over open farming are significant. Fact is much of the farming done here now is gone to greenhouses.
Something to considder.
 
#67 ·
By the way there are a lot of antiques one might consider that are not currently available as new product, like the gasoline blow torch.

The benefits of using a greenhouse over open farming are significant. Fact is much of the farming done here now is gone to greenhouses.
Something to consider.
Over the years have acquired several gas & alcohol blow torches & refurbished them.



 
#71 ·
I can understand that for most but I try to not be like most. And I do see the point in having a year, even 5 or more years of stored food. For myself I don't see the point in having even a one year supply of ammo. I would rather have food. Mainly since in more than a quarter century of long term camping etc. especially camping, working and Living on my mtn retreat I have not ever had to use ammo even to scare off bears. I yelled or made noise or even ran at black bears which have been easy to scare off.
What do you think a years worth of ammo means?

In your location, it could mean none if you don't hunt.

The POINT is balance. To not prep in just one area without stopping and bringing your others up to that same level.
 
#73 ·
If planning on cutting firewood look at battery chainsaws. The day of the electric is long past.

The DeWalt Flexvolt chainsaw (16") is very impressive and you can use the battery pack on some 200+ other tools. A number of Fire Depts moving to Flexvolt chain and rotary saw for roof vent ops. The 9" rotary w/diamond blade is great for steel roofs and grain bin panels.

Could charge with a solar panel.

I have/had several Ryobi tools (gas) ALL are unmitigated junk. Their 40v battery shows as used it TWO tools only. Forget it.
 
#76 ·
If you check out MrTeslonian on YouTube he has a series of about 10 videos where he makes wood gas to run a fridge and generator. He then distills the liquid that is filtered out of the gas to make gasoline, diesel and oil.

With little more than copper and iron pipe a few containers and a bit of oxides to make the process more efficient he pretty much builds a refinery to make all the fuels he needs out of wood or even dried cow poop.
 
#81 ·
I did commercial backhoe for 20 years. 500-gallon overhead tank. SW Texas desert. Summer daytime temps 110+. Didn't know about Pri-D.

Things slowed down and I bought none for a year or so.

Backhoe kept running okay on diesel that was over two years old.

Underground tank and Pri-D? At least four years if not five.
 
#88 ·
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