Who stole my rolling blackout?

[Coligny]

We can't open the windows in high rise office buildings in Tokyo. No air con, no computers, no computers no business.

Sorry Saitama.........

Yeah... might be time that architects learn aboot convection cooling and the chimney effect

[Yokohammer]

Don't all new cars have a little cross inside the filling hole to prevent siphoning ?

I don't know about "all" new cars, but Hondas sure do.

BTW, yeah, no more gas tank available anywhere. But you sure for the oil part ? My Yamaha which is a "really-I-don't-have-a-clue"-strokes need oil in a secondary tank which is a "4 cycle engine oil". now it might just be the regular lubricant... But I would have prefered a diesel one... as this time i'm sure you can run them on filtered cooking oil... (maybe...)

Yeah, 10W-30 in the sump for lubrication, unleaded regular gas in the fuel tank. Two-stroke engines need blended oil/gasoline fuel in the tank.

I hear you about the diesel thing though. I was going to ask you about this since you're already a generator user: since you can't store gasoline indefinitely, do you have some sort of system for regularly using or disposing of your emergency gasoline supply? And how often? [color="Gray"](My guess: chuck it in the car before it gets too old and refill the gas can?)[/color]

[Coligny]

Yes, I put stickers on the tank and rotate every 6 month /tank. On a 'fillup mornin' I empty the safety tank in the car and drive to the station to fill the reserve tank instead of the car.

It's a prepaid card self service station. So I get no comments. But plenty of other stations don't allow for reserve tank fillup.

[Yokohammer]

Yes, I put stickers on the tank and rotate every 6 month /tank. On a 'fillup mornin' I empty the safety tank in the car and drive to the station to fill the reserve tank instead of the car.

It's a prepaid card self service station. So I get no comments. But plenty of other stations don't allow for reserve tank fillup.

OK. Makes sense. Thanks.

I'll check with Honda to make sure that topping the car tank up with 6-month old gas is not a problem first, but that sounds like a plan.*

Should be no problem getting a can filled at the gas stations up here. There are so many people with agricultural equipment, wells with gasoline-powered pumps, etc., etc., that I'm sure it's an everyday thing.

As you may have guessed, my recent experience has caused me to switch to full-on survival mode (which I'm actually enjoying, in a perverse sort of way).

*[SIZE="1"]EDIT: If I had known, I would have gone all-diesel from the beginning: Nissan X-trail clean diesel AT and kilowatt class diesel generator ... maybe a plan for the future.[/SIZE]

[Mike Oxlong]

The farmers I grew up around stored gas for use in their machinery. They claimed that by using gas stabilizer they could keep gasoline a year. A quick glance at some of the survival websites sees recommendations of metal cans for storage (to prevent lose of some of the volatile compounds that are permeable to plastic in the long-term).

One example: http://www.survivalfiles.info/forums/archive/index.php/t-48.html

[Taro Toporific]

Don't all new cars have a little cross inside the filling hole to prevent siphoning ?

Yes, but all you have to do is add a thinner tube to the end of the kerosene syphon.

(The ideal tube that I use to get past the little cross inside the filling hole is a 24F non-Foley surgical catheter, which I bet you have several laying around the piles of medical crap cluttering your concrete castle.)

[Coligny]

OK. Makes sense. Thanks.

I'll check with Honda to make sure that topping the car tank up with 6-month old gas is not a problem first, but that sounds like a plan.*

Should be no problem getting a can filled at the gas stations up here. There are so many people with agricultural equipment, wells with gasoline-powered pumps, etc., etc., that I'm sure it's an everyday thing.

As you may have guessed, my recent experience has caused me to switch to full-on survival mode (which I'm actually enjoying, in a perverse sort of way).

*EDIT: If I had known, I would have gone all-diesel from the beginning: Nissan X-trail clean diesel AT and kilowatt class diesel generator ... maybe a plan for the future.

I'm still pondering aboot the diesel car, not easy to find food in town... (but those damn trucks have to eat somewhere aren't they ?) Much more range per liter, non explosive storage, diesel is supposed to burn in case of fire, not explode. Especially since now the XTrail Diesel is available with auto gearbox... For now I'm really daydreaming aboot a Delica D:5 can be turned into a makeshift home quite easily... but my wife don't like boxes... I think she didn't pay much attention to the Nissan Note's (total lack of) design...

[Coligny]

Yes, but all you have to do is add a thinner tube to the end of the kerosene syphon.

(The ideal tube that I use to get past the little cross inside the filling hole is a 24F non-Foley surgical catheter, which I bet you have several laying around the piles of medical crap cluttering your concrete castle.)

Will have to ask dadinlaw...

BTW, WHY ON EARTH DO YOU KNOW THAT ?

and did the cop catch you yet ?

[Yokohammer]

The farmers I grew up around stored gas for use in their machinery. They claimed that by using gas stabilizer they could keep gasoline a year. A quick glance at some of the survival websites sees recommendations of metal cans for storage (to prevent lose of some of the volatile compounds that are permeable to plastic in the long-term).

Metal cans are important for long-term storage. Plastic is a no-no. That's why just about everywhere is sold out at the moment. When the gas shortage hit after the quake/tsunami, people, in their usual rational, considerate way, went out and bought 'em all up so they could store extra gasoline for themselves.

This kind of "regulation" gas can is normally available in just about any home center or Autobacs/Yellow Hat outlet, but is currently extinct:


Diesel really is a better alternative if it's readily available (no problem where I am). It's cheaper, stores better, and is less dangerous. Diesel engines usually have better torque, too.

[Mike Oxlong]

I'm guessing marine shops carry those gas cans too, but maybe everyone else has already thought of that...

[Greji]

Metal cans are important for long-term storage. Plastic is a no-no.

I believe non-metal containers for gasoline are against (or were against) Japanese law. Most gas stands will not even allow you to put gas in a non-metal container. If you have a regular stand with some "buddies" working there, it can be done, but it's a no-no to supposedly keep grandpa and grandma from betting mixed up on the containers and mistakingly pouring the gas into the kerosene heater (gas does warm the house up quicker than kerosene, or at least what is left of the house).