Something else about the recent blackouts

[03Lightningrocks]

The big difference in a temporary power outage and complete breakdown of society, as in civil war, is that everyone knows the power will eventually come back on. Everyone knows stores will eventually restock shelves. In a civil breakdown situation, people could be without power for months and months. Stores won't restock and everyone will know it. This would create far more panic and "dog eat dog" behavior than a temporary situation. People living in suburbs will be in the most danger at the beginning.

[Liberty]

Keeping gas in cans for more than a couple of months is not advisable since it to will "spoil".

I actually did an experiment a few years ago:

I filled a 5-gal can with regular gasoline in July 2015 and added 2 oz of Sta-bil (from AutoZone) as per the instructions - cool little measuring method in the Sta-bil bottle, btw. In late November 2016 I used it and my car engine ran perfectly fine - pretty interesting considering that that gas had been stored in my garage for 16-1/2 months and gone through half a summer, a full winter and then a full summer again.

I'm not fond of the idea of keeping a flammable substance like that in the garage, but 1) I had no other place and 2) consoled myself that it was in a new military, metal jerry-can with good seals.

Using Sta-bil and Ethanol free gas is the key.

[flowrie]

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Using Sta-bil and Ethanol free gas is the key.
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Yep, that’s what I do. Buccees in Denton has Ethanol free gas, but it’s pricey. However, if I need it 6 months from now in an emergency, it’s not so pricey.

[Ruark]

I agree, a decent sized generator is NOT a long-term solution to anything, unless you can keep hundreds or thousands of gallons of treated gas on hand at all times, or maybe hijack an 18-wheeler gas truck.

Another thing many people don't know is that many of these generators, especially the lower-priced ones (e.g. Duramax), require an oil change every 20-25 hours. A high end Honda can go 100 hours.

One thing that can be very beneficial is a propane tank. We have a 250-gallon propane tank we use JUST for the range in the kitchen, as we hate cooking on an electric range. It will last through 2+ years of cooking easily. No electricity needed. That was a gift from Heaven a couple of weeks ago when our power and water were out. By sheer luck, we had JUST made our bi-weekly HEB trip a day before the freeze started, so that, combined with being able to cook, made things 1,000% easier. When the fridge was out, we put some of the food out in the snow and it was fine until the rolling outages started. So we had plenty of good, hot food, hot coffee, etc.

I really felt sorry for those folks with electric stoves and no water or food on hand. I heard about some people burning their heirloom furniture in the fireplace trying to keep warm.

[tomneal]

What about rotating your gas cans?
Fill them, then pull one each month and add the gas to your regular vehicle and refill the empty?
That could keep you will 'fresh' gas.

Any thoughts?

[carlson1]

What about rotating your gas cans?
Fill them, then pull one each month and add the gas to your regular vehicle and refill the empty?
That could keep you will 'fresh' gas.

Any thoughts?

We do this too. Every three months we more it the vehicles and reload the cans with Sta-BIL and gas.

[AndyC1911]

What about rotating your gas cans?
Fill them, then pull one each month and add the gas to your regular vehicle and refill the empty?

Same way we're supposed to rotate our food-stash, yep. In this particular case it was more a matter of seeing if I could stretch the gas to a year - and promptly forgot about it until I needed gas

[AndyC1911]

One thing that can be very beneficial is a propane tank. We have a 250-gallon propane tank we use JUST for the range in the kitchen, as we hate cooking on an electric range. It will last through 2+ years of cooking easily. No electricity needed.

How does one refill a 250-gal propane tank, out of curiosity? I'm pondering something similar for stove and possibly a dual-fuel genny.

[03Lightningrocks]

One thing that can be very beneficial is a propane tank. We have a 250-gallon propane tank we use JUST for the range in the kitchen, as we hate cooking on an electric range. It will last through 2+ years of cooking easily. No electricity needed.

How does one refill a 250-gal propane tank, out of curiosity? I'm pondering something similar for stove and possibly a dual-fuel genny.

https://www.collinspropane.com/

[Ruark]

One thing that can be very beneficial is a propane tank. We have a 250-gallon propane tank we use JUST for the range in the kitchen, as we hate cooking on an electric range. It will last through 2+ years of cooking easily. No electricity needed.

How does one refill a 250-gal propane tank, out of curiosity? I'm pondering something similar for stove and possibly a dual-fuel genny.

Well, the propane company sends their big truck out to refill it.

[03Lightningrocks]

One thing that can be very beneficial is a propane tank. We have a 250-gallon propane tank we use JUST for the range in the kitchen, as we hate cooking on an electric range. It will last through 2+ years of cooking easily. No electricity needed.

How does one refill a 250-gal propane tank, out of curiosity? I'm pondering something similar for stove and possibly a dual-fuel genny.

Well, the propane company sends their big truck out to refill it.

https://www.collinspropane.com/

[AndyC1911]

How does one refill a 250-gal propane tank, out of curiosity? I'm pondering something similar for stove and possibly a dual-fuel genny.

Well, the propane company sends their big truck out to refill it.

Cool - thanks.

[Paladin]

In light of the blackouts on top of COVID on top of crime and unemployment, awareness of common stress reactions to disasters is important:

If you look, its easy to see these stress reactions in response to present day disasters. Its important to recognize and work through them.

One reaction that's always fascinated me is euphoria or sense of invulnerability. The movie Fearless does a great job capturing it. Would strongly recommend the movie. I've had that feeling after high stress military training.

[Deitz83]

I did a disaster recovery seminar with Perot Systems and the City of Dallas disaster and recovery response team 8 years ago. We did it to inform small business owners how to prepare for natural disaster. We were more than prepared. My wife and I put a system in place years ago and executed it without any problems. The only thing we will add is a waterbob. I keep 4 months of cooking wood, propane tanks and we cooked off propane cooker. We had eggs, sausage and coffee every morning. Brisket and collard greens for lunch and smoked salmon for dinner. We are going to look into canning vegetables. My mother did this when I was young. I was told that there are ways to preserve sweet potatoes as well. Over the years we traveled to the Caribbean a number of times and looked at how they live without basic accommodations. Many did not have a stove to cook with. I took these lessons and applied a what if.