The subject came up in a comment about storing gasoline and it seems a few are surprised we don’t store gasoline. I’m not one of those who believes the world as we know it is coming to an end. Most days I don’t believe that! 🙂 Gasoline is the last thing we worry about keeping on hand. First, today’s formulas aren’t meant for storing. We don’t keep gasoline more than a month, even with stabilizer added, and even for the lawn mowers.
As far as generators, personally, I think they’re kinda useless. In theory, they sound like a wonderful item but if you’ve ever been without power for a week or more, you realize how truly worthless a generator will be. It doesn’t even matter if it’s propane, gasoline or diesel powered, if they’re hooked up to enough gadgets to make life comfortable, or as you knew it when you had power, you’d better have a huge bank account and cash on hand. The whole house generators burn through the fuel at an unbelievable rate. Having them hooked directly into a natural gas line is ideal but be prepared for an enormous gas bill if you’re running the generator to keep your house going. If you have a gasoline generator, most of us have no chance of having enough gasoline on hand to keep them running for a week or more.
We have generators that can be powered by just about any fuel you might think of but we’re more prepared to live without any power if the need arose. I’m not going to go into all the ways we prepare . . just because it’s probably boring to most. I will tell you that canned goods need no refrigeration. All the years we lived in Louisiana where we were concerned with hurricanes and in KY and MO, where storms could take power out for days, my biggest concern was my freezer til I said . . why? Why don’t I just can this stuff? I never keep things in my freezer that I’d be devastated if I lost it all. Everything that matters . . my entire food supply that I count on is in jars in my pantry.
As far as gasoline for the cars, my feeling is that if things got so bad we couldn’t get gas, we wouldn’t be leaving our little piece of land anyway. We’d stay right here where we have everything we need.
The tractor and RTV use diesel and as much as we’ve played on those for the past 3-1/2 months, we haven’t even used 1/4 tank in either of them. We keep diesel in cans for them but not more than enough to fill them up once.
I also try to keep my car at least half full at all times but normally, I fill my car about once every 2 – 3 months. I just don’t use a lot of gas. Vince drives 7 miles to work and he doesn’t use much gas either. Lately we’ve been to town more because of buying for the fence and coop, and plants but we don’t use a lot of gas.
We do not worry about storing gasoline or diesel.
Linda in NE says
If you have a well you might want enough fuel on hand to run the generator for the pump. That’s what most people I know who have generators use it for. That, and running the freezer for a very few hours a day and if it’s cold the furnace, just enough to keep everything from freezing up (remember, Nebr.). Even gas furnaces need electricity for the fan & ignition. But you’d better be a little handy with electrical wiring because they tend to get wired directly instead of with a plug.
As far as the end of the world as we know it, I’m with you. There may be an occasional crisis to get through, but if it’s really the end of the world do we even want to be here?
Karen says
We love our generator for during ice storms when power goes out in the middle of the winter – our generator powers the fan for our fireplace so we can heat the whole house with it and also keep the refrigerator going plus a light and the chargers for the telephones. I can even have power to the crock pot. We never intend to use the generator though for more time then we would need it for those kinds of events. We normally have one container of fuel for it which we purchase just before the storm is coming as we normally have plenty of warning now for them. I don’t like canned veggies all that much and I ;love frozen so I like to keep the fridge/freezer safe.
Karen
Lee Ann says
While a generator would be handy for short term comfort,and keeping frozen food frozen, I don’t think that I would want to be the only bright and shiny house on a very dark night. It would draw everyone (including the creepy and dangerous) straight to you!
vickie in nh says
We live in New England and are on a well. Over the 20 years we’ve been here we’ve lost power every year – the longest was for 12 days. Until this past winter we did not have a generator (or a wood stove) but now we have both and I’m not sure I’d want to be without. The stove keeps us warm, but the generator gives a few hrs each day (no, we don’t run it all the time) so that we an have lights at night (it gets dark really early here in the winter) cool the refrigerator down, flush the toilets and shower (if needed-) and of course, have internet. When we lost power in the october snowstorm this past fall we were without for about a week, but it was wonderful being able to have a life instead of the former struggle for daily survival 🙂 And the generator ran maybe 4 hrs a day TOTAL. We are not planning for the end of the world either, just making our day to day easier 😉
Barbara says
I have a generator because I have an all electric house and have a well that needs electricity to work. There have been times when I have been without electricity for two weeks. My concern was never about the freezer.
Fortunately we usually get plenty of warning for major storms so purchasing 5 gallons of gas is no big deal. That is all it takes for me to have a hot bath daily for a couple of weeks and worth every penny. I would never be without a generator, but I would also never store gas.
WiAmy says
Where I live most of us have basements. Basements have sump pumps that run and keep water from flooding house foundations and major things commonly placed in a basement like heating systems. Many people also use their basements just like their first floor living space so they have spent considerable money creating and furnishing them. Flooding is a huge concern when power goes out. Our electricity went out 2 years ago during a stormy period leaving us without a functioning sump pump. Our generator had not been needed for several years and when we went to start it it did not function (it did start but not generate–so when you periodically test it, you have to be sure it not only starts but generates!). Within a 12 hour period, we had little streams of water coming through basement drain tile (just like the water issue you had at the rental). Running a generator a few hours at a time keeps the foundation/basement dry and freezer/refrigerator going. In the winter without heat, we would freeze along with our plumbing! We have gas heat, but need electricity to start it! We have even shared our generator with neighbors who often help pay for the gas. More times than not power is restored within 12-24 hours–but within that window your basement and its contents could be ruined! If the power is out for less than 4-6 hours (fortunately this happens most of the time), we don’t even consider using the generator! For us it makes sense to have access to one, but I can certainly see where it doesn’t in your situation. In our area, it seems as though we have had those 50-100 year floods occur more than it should! The environment and products are changing .You are right. We need to take as many measures as we can to protect it as well as our pocketbook.
JudyL says
Everyone has different needs and that’s why everyone should be prepared for their own situation. We don’t have a sump pump and that’s one thing that we would never have considered because Vince had a house with a sump pump once and it flooded when they were gone.
Nann says
“Major things commonly placed in basements” — at our house that’s not only the furnace, water heater, and laundry room, but it’s also my studio!
Regina says
We don’t store much fuel – but our generator runs our sump pumps, and in the spring they run about every 2 minutes… much more than 15 min without power and our basement will be an indoor pool…though this year we did not get the snow so no melt off … hmmmm…..
I am trying to can more so we don’t need to worry about the freezer!
Alma says
I agree with you 100%.
Kathaleeny says
The best emergency tip I’ve ever had was to get solar powered garden lights. When the power is off you yank them out of the ground and stick them in a gallon jug. They light a room enough to get around and the next day you put them back outside to store more energy. Living in an old pecan grove, our power goes out mostly to limbs falling down.
JudyL says
I’m always happy to go to bed at dark when there’s nothing else to do! 🙂
Toni in TN says
We have used our generator once in 14 years and I was so glad to have it!!! A large generator [to run most things in a house] will need about 2.5 gals of gas a day. We don’t use it at nights for fear it will be stolen!! We store about 20 gals of real gas, not that ethanol stuff, with Sta-Bil added. It is constantly being used up by mowers etc. during the summer but will last four months or so during the winter. The gas with ethanol will spoil much faster than regular gas and also will gum up small engines like weed eaters, mowers and generators. We learned thru experience!! Our garage is detached so safety isn’t a huge issue as with an attached garage.
JudyL says
Most of the propane whole house generators say they use 1-1/2 gallons per hour when running at 50% so you’re very lucky to have one that uses only 2.5 gallons per day. I don’t think we’ve ever turned a generator on that we didn’t use at least 4 or 5 gallons per day.
Julie in WA says
I prefer freezing for longer term food storage, but I always have it in the back of my mind….what if we lose power. And each harvest season I eye the pressure cookers, wondering if I should buy one and can a lot of veggies! There certainly is wisdom in what you are saying!
As for the generator…they sure make a lot of noise! I would rather sit in the dark wrapped up in a couple of quilts than to listen to the loud droning of a generator. I can heat some water using the back packing stove for something warm in my belly. Good enough!
Freda Henderson says
We sure were glad to have our generator during the ice storm of 2009. It isn’t a whole house one but we alternated it between the freezer, refrigerator. It also gave us lights and Lynn got to watch his tv. We do normally have several gallons of gas with stabilizer cause we use our Polaris Ranger to carry wood to stake on our porch. We keep the gas in gas jugs sitting in our garage.
Barbara says
We don’t store gasoline either, except for a few gas cans for the lawn mower and diesel for the tractor. Back in the 70’s during the Arab oil embargo (I’m old), when we really did have difficulty getting gasoline at the pump, my dad stored a big 60-gallon drum of it in the back yard. We never used it. Eventually, it went bad. What a waste.
Brandy M. says
We don’t have a generator, either, and we only store enough gas for the lawn mower – MAYBE 1.5 gallons, and only during summer months. If our power goes out for a long period of time, we’re screwed, but… oh well. The power doesn’t go out often & if it does, it’ll be a good to toss the freezer contents & start fresh. Plus, if we NEED gas, we’d probably have enough to drive to where we could get some & where the power is still on. (the lines would be tough, though).
We do have 3 propane fireplaces. We are able to start all of them manually, but the blowers wouldn’t work. I think they’d generate enough heat to keep us from freezing to death, however. I hope. LOL.
I’m with you – no generator and (almost) no gas storage.
Lynn says
Living on a working farm we have a gas barrel and a diesel barrel that are both large but much needed to fill the tractors and trucks. Certain times of the year we use many, many gal. which of course add to the cost of farming.
We do have a generator too and have had to use it several times over the years. If you have any kind of livestock you must have a way to pump water as they require a lot of water. We had an ice/snow storm a few winter’s ago when miles and miles of power lines went down in parts of Nebraska. We were only out a few days here where we live but our daughter and her husband were out of electricity for over a month before they got all the poles and lines replaced. With young children they had to keep the house warm so used a tractor powered generator, yes it was very expensive. They kept the refrigerator and freezer hooked up and one or two lights and would have to shut off the furnace to do laundry or cook. As you said generators are not like full power so you must turn off almost everything else but keeping warm in sub-zero temps and keeping your livestock watered and fed and important. Living in the country can be different and more difficult at times but well worth it – enjoy!
Sandra Neel Hutchins says
Judy L. I think that I read that the big ranch has a pond ( tank, for you Texans) so if it should ever ice up and the power is off, the cows won’t need well water if the ice is broken on the pond with an ax. That happens here every winter, but I’ll bet it is very rare for your part of Texas to get so cold that the cows themselves can’t break ice. Plus, I would imagine that your metal stock tank holds enough water to get the cows by for a couple of days or more. We have made it just fine without a generator, also. We used old coal lamps for light, plus we have lots of flash lights and other battery operated camping lights. We cooked on the propane grill outside. We put insulating blankets over the food in the freezer. We kept our milk, etc. in an ice chest outside. (Because with an ice storm, there was plenty of ice for it!). And the temp was below freezing. It was actually kindof fun. It’s amazing what we can do without, if, like you, one is prepared for the power to go off. It it goes off in the summer time, it’s almost always restored quickly. The thing that it is so hard to be prepared for, though, is tornado damage. I’m still working on that one!