Jack Lawson Sends: Getting Prepared for Outages – Alternative Power, Part Four

Here is the latest from Jack Lawson, author of the Civil Defense Manual. This comes directly from Chapter 21. You can grab a copy of his book here. Jack is a strong supporter of American Partisan, and even had NC Scout write the chapter on Radio Communications (Chapter 17 in Volume I). I bought my copy the day it become available and I highly recommend you do as well.

Jack Lawson Sends: Getting Prepared for Outages – Alternative Power, Part One

Jack Lawson Sends: Getting Prepared for Outages – Alternative Power, Part Two

Jack Lawson Sends: Getting Prepared for Outages – Alternative Power, Part Three

Pouring vent cap…

From Dan D…

The photos show the fuel container pouring venting cap. You can buy these pouring vent caps on eBay to add to the top of your Jerry cans to improve the nearly impossible task of emptying fuel from these cans into a vehicle. You will need to drill a hole in the top to install it. I have found that using a Unibit is the easiest way to get to a ½” dia. hole. Afterward you will need to wash the drill shavings out of the can; this is easy by rinsing with water and setting the can in the sunshine on a hot day for quick drying.

These are made for both plastic and metal fuel cans. If you buy them, buy ‘Made in America’ ones as the foreign ones do not seal properly. Pay attention to whether they are for metal or plastic fuel containers or if they’re for both when you order these.

Jerry Can pouring vent cap

Remove or open all plugs and spouts and install on virgin unused cans only or rinse and fill the can with water to prevent explosion when installing these. They should be fastened in with a gasoline and fuel resistant sealing glue.

I now spray the bottoms of my metal ‘Jerry Cans’ and metal containers with pickup bedliner LinerXtreeme^TM to keep the protective paint on the bottom from coming off and it gives the cans a little tougher and more corrosion proof bottom.

Fuel Stabilizers

Like the ‘fiz’ going out of your Pepsi or Coke bottle when you forget to screw the cap on tightly, gasoline loses its ‘fiz’ too… actually it loses its capability to make fumes, which is what burns when gasoline ignites… not the fluid… but the fumes. To stabilize unleaded gasoline, you need a stabilizer that states it is specifically made for unleaded gas. Unleaded gasoline does not store as well as say straight 88 octane leaded gasoline… which you can still buy. This is what I store for reserve gasoline.

Sta-bil^® fuel additive

Sta-bil^® fuel additive is great for maintaining gasoline’s flash point and volatility during storage. They also make a preservative for diesel fuel. I’ve used Sta-bil^® for years and have burned stored gasoline in my Lincoln Town Car that has set for five years in the ups and down temperature extremes of the Southwest. Read about Sta-bil^®…

https://www.goldeagle.com/brands/sta-bil/

PRI fuel stabilizers

I also highly recommend PRI. These is the same company that makes the Berkey Water Filter. They make a PRI-G additive for gasoline and PRI-D additive for diesel. From their website…

Generator manufacturers estimate that more than half of all generator failures in emergency situations are the result of fuel gone bad. When stored for months and years at a time, fuel will deteriorate and become unusable – disabling engines, plugging filtration systems, damaging engine components with excessive carbon – and in some cases – refusing to ignite. This neglect of stored fuel is one of the weakest links in disaster preparedness.

 By simply applying a small amount of PRI-D or PRI-G at the time of storing, the fuel will remain refinery fresh and stable. This freshness will hold for a minimum of 18 months, and often many years depending on storage conditions. With periodic re-treating of the fuel, it will remain fresh indefinitely.

PRI-D and PRI-G are industrial chemistries – the choice of nuclear power plant operators, public and private emergency service providers and even operators of more than 2,500 ocean going ships. PRI chemistry is much stronger than ‘lawn and garden’ fuel stabilizers, and ensures quick startups each and every time.  PRI chemistries are also used to restore degraded fuels to refinery freshness.

Go to… https://www.berkeywater.com/pri-fuel-stabilizer-gasoline/

PRI-G will actually make ‘flat’ gas reconstituted. Pretty amazing stuff and a miracle worker with gasoline So have both Sta-bil^® and PRI fuel additives on hand.

Notes for use

When you use fuel additives to preserve your gasoline and when you store your gasoline properly in the shade and where temperatures fluctuate the least amount, it will stay good for at least two years. Diesel fuel… virtually forever… if preservatives are periodically added to stop mold growth on water that condenses in the container.

When putting stored gasoline in your vehicle’s fuel tank, strain it through fine cloth or paint strainers first. Have your vehicle fuel tank three-fourths full of fresh gasoline from the pump. Then, top it off with stored gasoline… about five gallons. In doing that, you dilute the stored gasoline with fresh gasoline to further minimize problems.

In a pinch you can also add Coleman fuel (naphtha) gasoline to run a car engine. This works best when the engine is already hot. Naphtha is the predecessor of gasoline so it has a lower flash point, that’s why you can’t run it straight and have to dilute is with gasoline.

The venerable M45 Tent heater and cook stove (SportsmanGuide.com)

What fuel or source do you use for your NPP cooking and heating when it is a Grid Down Situation. The perfect answer is the ‘H45 U.S. Army Tent Stove,’ at least for a few years until you establish fully sustainable prolonged use cooking and heating sources.

American soldiers loved this little wonder… and no wonder why. Consider soldiering in subzero temperatures where the shelter you’re in is almost like being outside. It keeps no heat in but only the wind out. Then along came the M45 stove. Ahhhh!

This stove burns about every kind of fossil petroleum fuel made and listed by the Draft International Standard (DIS)… diesel (DF) DF#1, DF#2, DF#4, DMB Marine Diesel Oil and DMA, DMZ grades of Marine Gas Oil, #1 furnace fuel oil, gasoline as well as paraffin based JP4, JP5 and JP8 jet fuels.

No electricity is required, and it will crank out 45,000 BTUs for heating and cooking. You can buy these on the internet new and used from $100 to about $400 excluding shipping, which can be expensive. But in the long run, these stoves are worth every penny spent on them. See the Chapter “Alternative power” for more information on cooking fuel sources.

In the next Civil Defense Manual Blog, learn all about Precious Metals… everything you wanted to know… but didn’t have anyone to ask.

As I Say And Recommend…

“Be prepared. Then relax, enjoy each and every moment of life… and love your family with uninhibited passion.”

– Jack Lawson