Technical > Home Improvement > Convert from gasoline to tri-fuel

reply to fifty nine

Re: Convert from gasoline to tri-fuel

reply to itguy05
First of all, I never said storing gasoline is dangerous. Although it can be. It's inconvenient if you don't have a way to cycle it through (most people have cars or lawn mowers).
Storing propane isn't nearly as dangerous as what people here are making it out to be. I'd be far more comfortable storing propane vs. gasoline though. Propane tanks are pretty well built. Just follow the rules.

If you'll re-read my post, I was simply saying having OPTIONS is the benefit of tri-fuel. I wasn't picking any winners.

There are people on this site, and in this particular forum, who will twist my words to try and post anything they can to appear counter to me. I swear to god, if I were to put up a one word post that said "Black", withing minutes there would be a 5 paragraph dissertation screaming "white" and extolling the negative virtues of the word black.
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If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.

reply to telco_mtl

reply to nunya

reply to robbin

said by robbin:

said by alkizmo:

said by SwedishRider:

Your NG setup would be similar to my propane setup, and trust me... it'll be awesome to have virtually limitless fuel right on site when you need it.

meh I wish I could do it too. Then again, so far I don't see the NG line upgrade cost amortize itself vs. price of fuel anytime soon

I'm curious -- how do you quantify this? If you look at what happened after Sandy, the actual cost of fuel after a disaster appears to be the smallest part of the equation.

reply to SwedishRider

said by SwedishRider:

said by alkizmo:

said by SwedishRider:

Your NG setup would be similar to my propane setup, and trust me... it'll be awesome to have virtually limitless fuel right on site when you need it.

meh I wish I could do it too. Then again, so far I don't see the NG line upgrade cost amortize itself vs. price of fuel anytime soon

This is a situation where return on investment can't be measured purely in monetary value. You may not realize that return in lower fuel costs.... but ask those folks down in NY and Jersey about cost and they'd tell you they don't care about price per gallon of gasoline, they can't buy any gallons of it to save their souls and keep warm in these freezing temperatures. Their generator setups are worthless without fuel to run them. Nobody could have predicted that their setups would not yield the intended result, but in their case... it happened. How many of them would have gladly spent the money for a NG or propane hookup if available to them to do so... my guess is quite a few. And this could go on for weeks more for them..

Sometimes you spend money knowing you may never get a monetary return on it, but use trumps return... and IMHO, this is one of those cases. I'd rather have my propane setup over a pure gasoline setup when the you-know-what hits the fan.

reply to nunya

reply to nunya
Nunya,

I wasn't trying to twist your words or anything like that.

I was simply pointing out that everyone points to propane as this miracle fuel that will store forever (it will) and will be very easy to find in an emergency situation.

I was relaying experiences from "Ground Zero" in Sandy where propane was just as hard to get as gasoline. Given that fewer places sell propane vs gasoline it may be harder to get due to limited supplies.

I think neither fuel is better than the other - you'll have everyone and their brother looking for gasoline for their cars and generators. You'll have everyone and their brother looking for propane for their barbecues and other gas appliances so shortages may be the norm.

One thing I've learned in life is - no matter how brilliant the idea, you're not the first to have it....

reply to fifty nine

reply to rjgogo

reply to AVD
So I heard you like backups.
So I put a backup house in your house's backup generator's backup generator.

reply to Red Green
Where do you like that petrol is 2.85 / gallon?

The *ethanol that they sell in the midwest is a lot lower power producing that standard E10 IIRC

reply to itguy05
Sorry, the last half of that post was not directed at you.

Jack, I've had the police check my fuel tank several times in Southern Illinois (farm country). If you refuse inspection, it's a $1,000 fine. If you get caught, it's a $1,000 fine the first time, as a misdemeanor tax evasion charge. Second time is a $5,000 fine and moves up to felony.
I've always had dyed fuel available, but never fell to the temptation.
--
If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.

reply to Red Green
Does anybody makes a rig that will run on diesel, NG, and propane?

There are thousands of boilers out there that easily switch between fuel oil and NG, but I think most of those simply have separate burners in the same firebox. Not quite the same as a piston internal combustion engine.

Diesel seems pretty much unassailable, with more reliable long-term storage and lower volatility than gasoline, no worries about NG utility shutoffs, and less hazard than propane as well. But it's still more expensive than NG.
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USNG:
16TDN2870
Find your USNG coordinates:
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reply to itguy05

reply to Jack_in_VA

said by Jack_in_VA:

said by fifty nine:

I had no idea they sold dyed, untaxed gasoline. I thought they only did that with diesel.

Around here they sell off road diesel which doesn't have the road tax and it's about 50 cents less than regular on-road diesel. OF course it has the red dye so if you use it in your truck, the cops pull you over and dip your tank... thousands in fines.

Pull you over and "Dip" your tank? Wow the cops in NJ must have a lot of excess time on their hands to be able to pull over civilian diesel powered vehicles and check the fuel.

Gas at a marinas is not taxed here and if you buy taxed fuel for your boat just keep the receipts for a tax refund.