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Post by papaof2 on May 10, 2021 18:55:37 GMT -6
The Colonial Pipeline shutdown has begun to affect us - the two nearest gas stations went up $0.20/gallon today. This is day four of the shutdown and the experts had said "five or six days" for the prices to start going up. My truck is at 3/4 tank and my wife's vehicle is between 1/2 and 3/4 tank - and then there's the 15+ gallons of treated gas in the shed out back. Based on our current monthly travels, we can wait a month or so to buy gas. In practical terms, we'd be more likely to burn vehicle fuel in a generator during a power outage than to put the treated fuel in the vehicles to travel - we just don't travel that much these days and we could walk to the grocery store if it has food - and either take a folding luggage cart or wear a big backpack. Remember, no fuel = no tractors = no crops planted/harvested; no fuel = no trucks = no deliveries of anything: no medications, no EMS, no police or fire services. How many days until the fuel terminals which normally receive 100 million gallons/day from Colonial are without fuel? That also includes seven airports which they supply directly (Atlanta, among others in the 14 states Colonial serves). Go have a look: www.colpipe.com/Colonial isn't the only pipeline company in the US. Care to guess whether the others are any better protected?
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Post by hua man on May 11, 2021 14:33:53 GMT -6
The local Co-Op put a 10 gal max on their pumps today, and were (or so I was told) sucking fumes and getting ready to shut off pumps.
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Post by papaof2 on May 11, 2021 16:44:49 GMT -6
Our nearest gas station was up $0.20 yesterday. They had gas and lines at 3PM. My wife was by there around 5PM and the signs were all $0.00 (no gas) and there were no cars.
I'm certain some of that was needed buying - but I'm just as certain that some was panic buyimg - the people who usually only buy enough for a couple of days were filling their tanks and emptying the underground tanks. Sounds like we need WWII's ration cards ;-) Just another card to insert in the pump after your credit card and it checks how much of your weekly/monthly allowance you've already purchased and limits you to X gallons of fuel.
We "Fill at 1/2 tank" so my truck is at 3/4 tank and my wife's vehicle between 1/2 and 3/4 tank. We're good for a while - maybe mid-June? - and our fallback is the lawn equipment / generator gas in the locked shed out back.
The EV owners are probably feeling smug about this, but fuel taxes pay for the roads they also drive on, so expect a "road tax" on "fuel" for EVs some time in the not too distant future. Your EV charger might be on a separate meter and all KWH trough that meter get "road tax" added. Or you could do what Andy at the "Offgrid Garage" did (check the Youtube channel). He put a solar power system in/on the garage to have power to charge his Tesla.
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Post by biggkidd on May 11, 2021 19:03:40 GMT -6
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Post by papaof2 on May 11, 2021 20:26:13 GMT -6
No gasoline containers in the passenger compartment for me! I did carry a small gas can under the hoods of my '61 and '68 VWs, but that was small potatoes compared to the gas tank already there ;-)
That's one specific reason I bought a truck 30 years ago - place to move refrigerators, freezers, lawn equipment, top soil, flowers, fertilizer, furniture, paint, lumber and gasoline. I replaced that truck when it was 18 as my wife refused to ride in it and said "You need a new truck." Some things should only be answered "Yes, Dear."
My wife and I discussed fuel strategy and I'll add five gallons of treated fuel when a vehicle is down to 1/4 tank - if the pipeline stays down that long. The bigger tank is 19 gallons so five gallons would take either tank to just over 1/2. That can be done inside the garage so the neighbors won't see me fueling a vehicle with gasoline they can't easily get. Easy way to do that? Hook the trailer to the riding mower and put two five gallon gas cans in it. Back one vehicle out of the garage and back the mower + trailer in - not the first time I've put the mower + trailer in the garage for some type of repair or maintenance. Then five gallons of gas in the vehicle in the garage and leave that can in the trailer. Put the other gas can on the garage floor in front of that vehicle, drive the mower + trailer back to the shed, pull the other vehicle into the garage, close the door, add fuel to the second vehicle, then take the empty can down the basement stairs and out back to the shed.
Or the hysteria might all be over before I need to do any of that...
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Post by papaof2 on May 12, 2021 0:10:15 GMT -6
As of 4:30PM yesterday (11 May), about 20% of the metro Atlanta gas stations were dry according to gasbuddy.com
Colonial Pipeline is expecting to have at least partial service restoration in 2-3 days.
If we need to buy gas, I might just use the riding mower to pull the trailer with several five gallon cans in it - the mower probably uses less gas for a mile round trip than the truck - or maybe put a 55 gallon drum in the trailer?
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Post by biggkidd on May 12, 2021 6:57:46 GMT -6
Pavement is hell on mower tires! So glad we don't have any two legged neighbors closer than a 10 minute drive. Used sparingly we could go a year or more on the gas and diesel we have on hand now and I didn't run out and buy any when I heard about the shutdown. I actually practice what I preach. For normal use we have 3 to 6 months of fuel stored. Stabil marine 360 is my current stabilizer of choice. Buying it by the gallon makes the price more reasonable as 1 gallon treats 1280 gallons of ethanol added fuel.
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Post by papaof2 on May 12, 2021 13:31:22 GMT -6
I could make 80% of the trip to get gas by driving through grass near the road.
Practically, I don't see us worrying about a "fuel shortage" unless this runs more than ten days. That would certainly affect the supply chain and not only would there be no food delivered to the grocery stores (not an immediate problem for us) but other things would begin cutting back or shutting down for lack of fuel or people to do the work. You wind up with questions of "What happens if the County Water System or Sewage Treatment plant needs parts (or people) it can't get?" to "Do they have fuel for emergency vehicles (EMS, fire, law enforcement)?"
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Post by biggkidd on May 12, 2021 14:50:06 GMT -6
We had to go to town so made a round trip out of it. Went by all three local stations none of which had fuel of any type. Stopped by the neighbors at the end of our road and told them if they need gas to get in touch. They are both in their 80's and wonderful people. Told him to tell his daughter as well since they live next door. If this goes on much longer a lot of people are going to be in rough shape. It's 20ish miles to the next station in any direction and since the same suppliers service them I seriously doubt they have any fuel either. Out here in the country there is a one light town about every twenty miles but if none of them have fuel...
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Post by papaof2 on May 12, 2021 16:57:08 GMT -6
Does gasbuddy.com cover your area? Cheaper to check the internet than to drive to the nearest station.
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Post by biggkidd on May 12, 2021 21:45:07 GMT -6
Does gasbuddy.com cover your area? Cheaper to check the internet than to drive to the nearest station. We have plenty of gas I just happened to be going by all three stations while out, no special trip. I tried gas buddy awhile back they don't cover any stations around here until you get to the larger towns.
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Post by papaof2 on May 13, 2021 0:56:52 GMT -6
I suspected that gasbuddy probably didn't include any city of less than 100,000 people - maybe bigger.
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Post by biggkidd on May 13, 2021 19:14:24 GMT -6
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Post by papaof2 on May 13, 2021 22:40:23 GMT -6
The local TV news featured the "turning on" of the pipeline, but there's still the "hole" in the supply from having the pipe "off" for about 6 days. Based on one estimate of 5 to 7 days to replenish each day the pipe was closed, we're looking at about 30 days for fuel supplies to be back to "normal". And remember that Colonial just "drives the bus" all the riders are separate tickets so the first thing out of the pipe at any terminal could be diesel for Exxon, not unleaded for QuikTrip. They'll likely be stacking the input with more gasoline as the companies request it but fuel moving at 5MPH only moves 120 miles/day. If you're in Linden, NJ and looking for gasoline from Houston, TX, that's 1620 miles or 13.5 days for any new "product" to get from Houston to the NJ terminal
We've just done our usual driving and we'll do the usual fillup when the gauge gets to 1/2 tank. The closest station had $0.00 on the gas price signs and $2.99 on the diesel sign Thursday, but there's a station about a mile farther away that had gas today - according to gasbuddy.com - but it's not worth the trip to check when my truck is still close to 3/4 tank. I can wait until the closest station shows back up in the gas prices on gasbuddy.com ;-)
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Post by papaof2 on May 14, 2021 14:02:47 GMT -6
Our closest gas station is back in gasbuddy.com just minutes before this post - and it's still at the $2.89 it was before it went dry. Wonder how bad the lines are today? ;-)
I plan to go to Walmart over the weekend so I'll see several gas prices on my way there. Don't know that I'll bother to fill up - tank's still near 3/4.
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Post by papaof2 on May 19, 2021 12:34:12 GMT -6
I made a 20+ mile loop of errands after I left the hand surgeon's office today (last scheduled appointment ;-) I made a $100+ stop at Harbor Freight (mostly parts for a piano jack/mover - that's 400lbs the better half and I will not be lifting again - pictures when it's complete) and I did buy gas because the truck was at 1/2 tank. I did NOT see any "No gas" signs while I was out, so our immediate area seems to be close to normal on gasoline supplies.
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Post by gipsy on May 19, 2021 13:19:37 GMT -6
The prices around here are staying about the same as always
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Post by biggkidd on May 19, 2021 15:30:58 GMT -6
Still no gas in the closest town to us or where my dad lives. This is getting tiresome! We have gas but I hate using the gas we put away for homestead use in the truck.
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Post by papaof2 on May 19, 2021 16:47:58 GMT -6
bigg - just get a Tesla Cybertruck and put up enough solar power to keep it charged - if you live where there is enough sun...
It is do-able. Check out the off-grid garage on Youtube - he's in Australia and has mostly sunny skies - until he starts working on the solar system :-( He's as much of a scrounge as I am - just better funded, with dozens of used solar panels on the big garage to power it, charge the Tesla and run the irrigation pump.
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Post by biggkidd on May 19, 2021 20:56:42 GMT -6
LOL I couldn't afford the spare tire on a Tesla.
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Post by papaof2 on May 19, 2021 21:33:54 GMT -6
Well, my truck is 13 years old if that gives a hint as to what I can currently afford ;-)
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Post by gipsy on May 20, 2021 6:29:35 GMT -6
My Jeep is a 1996
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Post by biggkidd on May 20, 2021 6:34:20 GMT -6
My trucks range in age from 69-89. Bonus the 69 will run on just about ANY combustible liquid.
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Post by biggkidd on May 21, 2021 7:53:20 GMT -6
Our town finally got gas back yesterday.
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Post by papaof2 on May 24, 2021 14:34:18 GMT -6
My wife bought gas for her vehicle today. The station had unleaded and diesel but no midgrade or high test gas. Things are looking better but they aren't back to normal. Maybe I should add another 5 gallons to my mower and generator gasoline stockpile?
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