On Sat, 26 Jan 2013 07:00:56 -0500, "Existential Angst"
wrote:

So ahm DoomsDay Prepping over here, altho I did blow my N'Yawk chance for an
array of assault weapons.... sigh
Proly just as well, as I'm too cheap to pay bux for that kind of ammo.....
I'd proly get $-per-bullet chest pains at target practice.... lol....

Plus, with the 500 gals of gasoline I plan on storing, I figger there's more
than enough gas there for a ****load of molotov cocktails, which should keep
the marauding cocksuckers at bay for a while.....

Even if you don't plan to get permits (because in your city there's No
Chance In Hell that they'll actually issue you one) you still need to
do it the safe and legal way to save the hassles later - and so your
local Fire Station doesn't rat you out to Code Enforcement.

(The firemen really only care that it's done safely, and they know
about it before charging in blindly - They hate surprises. If they
see a red "Flammable Liquid - UN-1203" sign and a filled in Hazard
Level Triangle, then they know exactly what they are dealing with.)

And if you ever want to resell that tank it'll be legal for the next
guy to use. It will have Resale Value.

It has to be a Double Wall Tank or "Diked Containment" tank that is
sitting in a big box to capture any potential fuel leaks. Some states
or cities require a "Flame Shield" tank that is a double wall with
fire resistant concrete in the space between the tanks, or a steel
tank with a concrete box poured around it.

Sometimes you can get the same tank as a "DOT-Rated Transport Tank"
mounted on a trailer chassis, and that gets around a lot of Local and
County zoning and fire rules - and if it's over the Reportable
Quantity of 110 Gallons it falls under a lot of State DMV and Federal
DOT rules instead.... Pick your poison.

And be prepared to go get a Class A or B Commercial Drivers License
and a Hazmat Certificate, and pass a physical checkup.

Don't skimp on the tank fittings and safety valves - it has to have
the proper 4" relief vents so if there is a fire it doesn't get worse.
The relief valve might have a gout of vapors or flame coming out from
the fuel inside boiling off - but that's good. If pressure builds up
and the tank ruptures the fire suddenly gets a Whole Lot Bigger.

And a few Big Fire Extinguishers - 4A60BC or bigger. One right at the
tank for easy "Oh, ****!" grabbing and a few in the garage nearby if
it's already going when you get there. Get them serviced every few
years.

And even past that, some cities want you to sit the Double-Wall or
Flame-Shield tank (or park the trailer) on a poured concrete pad with
an integrally poured 6" high dike lip around it, so if it manages to
leak the fuel will be caught before seeping into the dirt.

And crash posts all around the pad and tank, steel pipe is cheap.

Yeah, it's going to cost a serious chunk to do it right - but you get
to sleep at night too.

But since the consensus seems to be that gas does indeed go bad after a year
or so, I figgered instead of mule-ing boucou gas cans to and fro (Sandy,
boyzngerlz?), if I could tap into the fuel line and jump the fuel pump, I
could use the vehicle itself as a "transfer station" -- more specifically,
to take fresh gas from the vehicle's tank, and deposit it into my 500 gal

You have to put Fuel Storage Stabilizer into the fuel as it's being
put in the tank, 1 to 2 ounces per gallon. Buy it by the gallon, or
it'll break you. "Stabil" is the biggie, but K&W "Stor-X" is available
by the gallon (4 gallons per case) through NAPA Auto Parts.

And with a Sedan you can NOT put gas cans inside the trunk or cargo
area - Remember the Ford Pinto, boys and girls? Even with a Pickup
you'd better strap the cans down so they can't go anywhere.

The safe bet is to get a Receiver Trailer Hitch put on your car, then
one of the "Wheelless Trailer" cargo platforms. Strap two to four
5-Gallon gas cans at a time down on that.

Then, to fill up the vehicle from my stash (for recycling, shortage,
whatever), I'd just use a gas-friendly electric xsfer pump attached to the
storage container.

Dispensing pump, get a 12-volt Fill-Rite dispense pump and a spin-on
water filter. It comes with a 15' cord, get two alligator clips and
power it from the car being filled - or a Deep Cycle trolling motor
battery, and a small solar panel to recharge it.


So basically, the Q is:
How practical is using the vehicle's fuel pump as a transfer pump? Even
for, say, giving a stranded motorist a cupla gallons, without having to lug
a gas can around?

It is only practical to get a gallon or two out of a vehicle with the
in-tank pump - you can NOT use it to fill your stationary home tank.
Besides taking all day, your in-tank pump has a finite lifespan and is
Very Expensive to replace - you have to drain and drop the tank.

But you can get the fitting to tap off the fuel pressure test port on
your car, a 10' length of high-pressure fuel hose and a needle valve -
you can't draw off fuel too fast or you'll stall the car, which should
be idling so the alternator is running the fuel pump...

If you really want to build this in and will use it often, get a
separate 12V "Racing" fuel pump and tap off the suction fitting on top
of the fuel pump access panel meant for Generators on Motorhomes. And
Hide Everything behind a locked door.

You might have to drop the fuel tank to get to the fitting, and you
might have to swap for a fuel pump assembly that has that Generator
Fuel pickup fitting option - they put those on Pickups and Vans that
might get converted to Motorhomes, not sedans.

And note that those generator suction pickup fittings deliberately
don't go to the bottom of the tank, so leaving the generator running
all night doesn't run your tank totally dry and strand you. After the
generator stalls out you should still have between 1/8 to 1/4 tank
left to get to the gas station.

Some of the rationale for the Q is that it's hard to drop a tube via the gas
fill on a vehicle, as they seem to have the fill tube set up to block
siphoning. If there were a straightforward way to drop a tube into the gas
tank, I could use the external transfer pump both ways, and not bother with
the fuel pump.

I was also looking at just putting a spigot underneath, on the gas tank
itself, that I could quick-connect a pump to.
Dat seems to be a bit of work, tho, and perhaps dicey work at that, ergo my
fuel pump idear, but mebbe there's a neat way to do a spigot.....
Just have to make sure my entreepreeneering neighborhood homeys don't find
out about sed spigot....

Oh, HELL NO. They'll find the valve or just Ice-Pick the bottom of
the tank, steal as much gas as they can carry, then leave the faucet
or hole open as they run and drop a match on the ground when they've
reached a safe distance. {WHOOMP!} Car-B-Que.