Category: Fuel Storage & Distilling

Letter Re: Bulk Diesel Fuel Antibacterial and Stabilizer

Hi As to diesel fuel treatment, it is a investment that will involve the operation and reliability of your backup power engines and vehicles. The fuel is expensive so don’t cheap out on the fuel treatment. You need to have a diesel fuel maintenance program in place, 1. Treat the fuel with the proper required [stabilizing and antibacterial] chemicals. 2. Clean and polish the fuel once a year, pump the water & sludge out of the bottom of the tank. A clogged fuel filter is a serious problem. A cheap cleaning rig can be home made, [consisting of] two filters …


Letter Re: Bulk Diesel Fuel Antibacterial and Stabilizer

Hi Jim, For what it is worth: I was quoted $1.99/gal for diesel/fuel oil for Friday delivery (Northern Virginia) from the terminal, and since it looks like prices will be heading up from here, I am filling all of my reserve tanks. After several hours of study, I decided to go with FPPF Super Fuel Storage Stabilizer and FPPF KILLEM (rather than PRI-D or Stanadyne products) in 32 ounce bottles to protect my investment. The best price I found via mail order was from Fleet Source in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Delivered cost: $126 for enough to treat 4,000 gallons. …


Two Letters Re: Jerry Cans Killed Nationwide by California Political Correctness

Mr. Rawles, I just wanted to get the word out to all that have not heard yet, all non-CARB (California Air Resources Board)-approved fuel cans will be no longer be sold nationwide [in the US] after January 1, 2009. That means you will not be able to buy any more of the ever-so-useful NATO gas cans to store fuel in and I assume any other fuel can that does not meet this new regulation. I know this is a little late to post this, I just found out myself a few days ago. I talked to Maine Military Surplus this …


Letter Re: Advice in Storing Extra Gasoline in Cans at Home

JWR, Thanks so much for Survival Blog. It’s been an invaluable resource to me and my family as we prepare for what’s coming. This is the first time I’ve ever emailed you, but it’s with a question that I haven’t been able to find a good answer to elsewhere. I’m hoping you’ll share your advice. With the price of gas so low right now, I’m thinking it would be prudent to stock up. I’d like to have some on hand at my house to run the generator for small events like snowstorms and such, but I’d also like to have …


Two Letters Re: The Big Chill Causes Diesel Gelling Problems in the Lower 48

James: The blog post regarding diesel gelling is correct for the most part. However there are solutions that are easy and inexpensive. There are many aftermarket additives that will keep your fuel oil from gelling and also raise the cetane level of the fuel. The cetane level is similar to the octane level of gasoline, the higher the better it burns. DieselKleen, Stanadyne and others are good choices. My 6.0L Ford F350 gets a full mile per gallon better mileage with the addition of DieselKleen and I have not had a single engine problem in over two years of operation. …


Letter Re: The Big Chill Causes Diesel Gelling Problems in the Lower 48

Hi Jim, My Bug Out Vehicle is a diesel truck that is also converted to run waste [vegetable] oil, on my trips to my retreat I sometimes need to tank up. As all diesel owners (should) know our new diesel is ULSD which is a new standard for low sulfur in diesel. As this fuel becomes more common and mandated more and more diesel pumps dispense it with no other option. Important information for those running diesels as their prime source of transport. We’ve had fleets of school buses and even our street plows taken out of commission in the …


Letter Re: Winter Solstice Slam 2008–Observations from the Pacific Northwest

Hello Jim: I send this to you from the snowy Seattle, Washington metropolitan area where we are digging out of a fairly impressive storm of snow and icy temperatures that have plagued an unprepared area. As a cop and a Preparedness Oriented Person (POP), I have been watching the lead up to and duration of this weather event. Here are some observations: Advance Warning & Notification Folks in these parts complained that there was little warning of the impending snow event. Some stated that since weather forecasters were often wrong, they would be wrong about this. When you had local …


Mobile Choices for Survival Retreats by T.D.

Our family lives full time in our camping trailer and have found out there would be many advantages to keeping one in any situation. I am not talking the big 5th wheel or the ones with a motor, just a plain travel trailer [with a traditional vehicle hitch]. Our trailer is 27 feet long and weighs in at 9,500 lbs empty and almost 11,000 lbs full. It is a bunkhouse model and can sleep up to 11 people. It has a 40 gallon fresh water tank, 40 gallon black water tank (waste) and a 40 gallon gray water tank (drain …


Letter Re: The Recent Storm in New England–A Ready and Able Family

Hi Jim. I have been a long time reader of your blog and have spent quite a bit of money with many of your terrific advertisers. I am writing to tell you about the serenity of my day in the midst of the hard hitting ice storm up here in New England. Thanks to the information you present in your blog and the preparation that I have taken over the last few years, all I had to do to prepare for this storm the day before was two things – fill the fire wood box and fill the bath tub …


Sabotage and Counter-Sabotage, by A. Farm Graduate

The purpose of this article is to put another skill (if not a skill, perhaps a seed) in the mental toolkit of preparedness-oriented individuals. Although not an exhaustive study on clandestine operations, this article will give you a glimpse into an advantage seeking two part mindset – sabotaging the enemy’s equipment and keeping your equipment from getting sabotaged! It is assumed the condition under which this article would find use is the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). Please don’t go do something listed in this article that you don’t have the skill or legal right to …


Letter Re: Another Perspective on Vehicles for Prepared Families

Hi, We’ve read your blog pretty faithfully for some time now and found it extremely good in all regards. While I’m actually writing regarding vehicles, I’d like to share for just a moment how preparedness saved our behinds recently. This year we have had a string of minor events that collectively should have put us in the poor house. Broken bones, loss of a tenant and friend to a heart issue, surgery, car accident that totaled the vehicle – right in the middle of the other mentioned things – and a few other items too. Had we not maintained a …


Two Letters Re: A Vehicular BoB

Mr. Editor: I have been a reader of this blog for a little while now and one of the earlier postings I read caught my eye: In regards to a vehicle “bug out” kit. That list was certainly a good place to start, but it was missing a few items, so I thought I would put my “two cents” worth in. To give you a little bit of background, I would describe myself as essentially being a realist. I watch the news, I read the papers. I know what is going on around me. I am aware of today’s political …


Letter Re: A Vehicular Bug-Out Kit

One thing that I have not seen properly addressed anywhere online is an appropriate kit for the bug out vehicle. You folks in snow country can reply to this with some recommendations for that scenario. Please do. I survived five hurricanes , one of them in the Virgin Islands, over the years so I consider myself an advanced student of the Bug Out Vehicle. First and foremost. Cars are useless without fuel. They make a decent shelter but they’re tough to carry with you. I haven’t seen a backpack that would hold one. Get yourself as many large cans as …


Letter Re: Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a Retreat Locale

I am new to SurvivalBlog and have found it very interesting. I thought I would comment on what it’s like living in the Upper Peninsula (“UP”) of Michigan. I built a 1,920 square foot log cabin on 20 acres here, about 30 years ago. I see that you have recommended the UP as a possible retreat location for people in the eastern U.S. I should give you a little personal background before I get started. I moved to the UP several decades ago from southern Michigan. Most of my children were born here and therefore are native Uoopers [or “Yoopers”] …


Letter Re: Survival is About Skills–Practice Makes Perfect

Mr Rawles, You’re regularly posting first hand stories about the need to test gear. Imagine my surprise when my arrogance that that didn’t apply to me proved false! You really do need to test equipment and skills! Unused tools (both physical and mental) are useless tools! I store gas for my lawnmowers in two five gallon plastic containers. I figured that I’d pour what was left in them into my car when I put the mowers away for the winter. I know you always recommend being able to relocate more than one tank of gas away, so I figured I’d …