Stocked up on Gas??

[rjfguitar]

Didn't see previous 2 post. Not for registered vehicles? How am I suppose to get my truck to tractor supply to get my rabbit food.

It's this simple....

I have 6 tractors on my ranch. My red diesel (offroad diesel) is excluded from road taxes. Road taxes are supposed (if it actually makes it) to fix pot holes and build new roads.

Why should I pay to fix a pot hole with the fuel in my tractor that is always on my property and never goes down the road?

I have a diesel pickup, but have to run the same diesel you would use if you had a diesel pickup. I can't legally go to Tractor Supply on red diesel, I'd be driving down a public highway.


City folk trying to get offroad, untaxed gas delivered to their .20 acre of a house.... Thats a good one.....

I don't get offroad gas and I have tons of gas burning, farm only gas engines. Forget going through all that paperwork...

You basically can't have a large 200-300 gallon tank at a house in town. Infact, there is likely an ordinance against it.

People that live in residential area (probably 85+% of the U.S.'s population) probably shouldn't have bulk fuel like that anyway, they don't need to keep that much and would likely be a spill and fire hazard. Most neighborhoods I've seen across the country range 3 to 5 houses per acre, way too close for safe fuel storage IMHO.

I keep 1,000 gallons of diesel or so and a couple hundred gallons of gas at the ranch, but my nearest neighbor is a 1/2 mile away and I have a reason to keep fuel in bulk storage.

 

[rjfguitar]

Gas will last a year in the right conditions, and diesel will last up to 5 years in the right conditions.

I know, because I've done it.

Somone said gas goes bad after a month.... Shoot, most gas probably doesn't even get burnt for a month after it's actually refined.

 

[rjfguitar]

Oh, to answer the question "is it worth it to try and store fuel in bulk?"

The answer....NO.

You can figure easily Chevron prices because there is a delivery fee. The people that fill my tanks wave the delivery fee at 400+ gallons worth of fuel, but thats even hard for me to take at times and I have multiple tanks.


PLUS.... you have to buy a tank. Tanks aren't cheap, just go to a farm auction and you will find out.

You would have to fill it a couple of times before you made your got your money back from the cost of the tank, depending on how much you could save, plus you have roughly an automatic extra 10 cents per gallon for delivery.

So... the price would have to go way up to actually save some cash, it would take a while to recoup the cost of the tank, lots of effort, and you would likely have a zoning officer up your rear as soon as your neighbor rats you out.

 

[smalltruckbigcid]

Oh, to answer the question "is it worth it to try and store fuel in bulk?"

The answer....NO.

You can figure easily Chevron prices because there is a delivery fee. The people that fill my tanks wave the delivery fee at 400+ gallons worth of fuel, but thats even hard for me to take at times and I have multiple tanks.


PLUS.... you have to buy a tank. Tanks aren't cheap, just go to a farm auction and you will find out.

You would have to fill it a couple of times before you made your got your money back from the cost of the tank, depending on how much you could save, plus you have roughly an automatic extra 10 cents per gallon for delivery.

So... the price would have to go way up to actually save some cash, it would take a while to recoup the cost of the tank, lots of effort, and you would likely have a zoning officer up your rear as soon as your neighbor rats you out.

^^^^^^What he said but....depending on what part of TX you live in it might make a difference. Smaller towns sometimes look the other ways on somethings....
George

 

[Metrodps]

OK I can only speak for back in 1979. My father had a construction company that built subdivisions from the start (fresh farm land) to when the builders started houses.

We had a 500 gl unleaded tank under ground and 1,000 gl Diesel tank the diesel was a different color and at that time I believe it was an 11 cent highway tax that we did not pay because it was OFF Highway use. The unleaded we paid the tax and with the delivery charge it was the same as going to the regular stations and buying.

Now you have to have all kinds of ground monitoring and EPA regs. Like it was said above. It is not worth the hassle.

 

[babyburb]

Did I get ya wound up rjfguitar, Sorry. I never intended to get out of paying taxes. I was just trying to find out how to save for the future. And I do not live on .20 acres, I live on 167 acres right now that my wife's family runs cattle on. Been there for ten years. I help with them but they are not mine. I was just joking about the rabbits and tractor supply thing. I did say if I knew it was illegal, I wouldn't have asked.

Just curious, how many acres does everyone own?

 

[babyburb]

and yes, it does NOT sound like it would be worth it anyway. I guess I'll make sure to fill up our 8, 5 gallon gas cans.

Thanks for the info guys.

 

[6.2Blazer]

I have a lot of friends and family that are farmers, and my dad works construction, so I've been around a lot of people with bulk storage tanks. The biggest reason they had their own tanks was simply for convenience, not to save money. You really don't want to drive a 15-20 mph top speed tractor all the way into town to fill up, and obviously any tracked construction equipment was limited to dirt/gravel only.

As already mentioned, it would hard to even recoup the cost of buying the tank and pump setup. Say you buy a 300 gallon tank and wait until the fuel price jumps up.....even if it jumps up $1/gallon I doubt you would be anywhere near breaking even on the cost of the tank and pump. Then when you use up that 300 gallons (which won't last long at 11-13 mpg if you drive any amount at all), then you are stuck with the chance of buying the $3/gallon gas and hoping gas only goes up, or choosing not to fill up the tank and hope gas eventually goes back down at some point......with this decision you now have the unused tank and pump sitting there and you still haven't broke even.

 

[dyeager535]

I got my hands on an aluminum boat gas tank, (for free) right around 75 gallons. Somebody was stripping the interior, and gave it away.

As has already been pointed out, thats just over two fillups for a 31 gallon tank, but I figure when I'm hunting from one place, it saves trips to town for generator gas, etc. Not big enough that gas will go bad from sitting, not so large that I can't mount it to my trailer.

Will certainly be cleaner/easier than a whole bunch of gas cans as we do it now. Done right, no more dangerous than the tank in the vehicle. Only expensive/complicated part is figuring out how to fill and empty the tank safely and efficiently.

 

[rjfguitar]

Did I get ya wound up rjfguitar, Sorry. I never intended to get out of paying taxes. I was just trying to find out how to save for the future. And I do not live on .20 acres, I live on 167 acres right now that my wife's family runs cattle on. Been there for ten years. I help with them but they are not mine. I was just joking about the rabbits and tractor supply thing. I did say if I knew it was illegal, I wouldn't have asked.

Just curious, how many acres does everyone own?

Oh no, I wasn't fired up one bit. Infact, I was in a slightly humorous mood as I wrote all that.

I just found it kind of funny, a 500 gallon tank sitting in someone's back yard.

If you have a ranch, you likely already have tanks and what not then right? In that case you would likely already have a fuel man? I'd say go for it then!.

My home ranch is 70 acres, and farm 650.

 

[goldwing2000]

Wow...just wow. If gas were that cheap here I dont know what id do but it'd involve using a lot of gas . It's 2.57 now here in CA, the cheapest its been for a long time

I should have kept my mouth shut. Went to the same station yesterday and it had jumped up to $2.159

 

[BKinzey]

Gran'pa Had a 200 gallon tank right at the side of the garage. It was on a stand about 5' tall. Worked on gravity. Fill from the top, drain out the bottom. Gas was delivered by a truck that made the rounds of the local farms & ranches. Convenience was the reason. That's about all I know.

 

[diesel4me]

not worth it for most folks...

Gas prices fell here recently--I saw gas seling for 2.09 a gallon yesterday,but diesel only "fell" 5 cents,to 2.45 a galllon..(and I'm driving my diesel 99% of the time--figures,don't it??)..

We had a lot of people hoarding gas here back in the 70's during the arab oil embargo,when you had to show the gas station attendant your gauge was less than half full in order to GET any!..if you had more than a half a tank,you were turned away!..(I knew how to hot wire my gas gauge to read empty with the flick of a switch though... )..

Many folks put 275 gallon oil tanks in their back yards and filled them with gas,a 5 gallon can or two at a time..but it wasn't long before someone had a fire,and theft was a common problem too..now fire laws prohibit anyone from storing more than 5 gallons in a residential area without a special permit,tank inspections,etc..

(It's funny the guy a few houses away could park his 18 wheeler and 10,000 gallon gas tanker trailer with no issues ,until someone who got "busted" for having an illegal tank in his yard squawked,and pointed it out to the fire officials though!--something about it having wheels and being portable exempted it from regulations??..now it is illegal however in residential areas.)

I had a lot of 5 gallon cans then,so I could get some gas for my "mower",and then stashed them in my shed..but I never liked the thought of having a lot of gas in cans hanging aroud--I felt one BIG tank was much safer,but they outlawed them...I kept the plastic 40+ gallon gas tank I took from a Dodge pickup in case I want to stash some extra gas away,but so far have never had the money to fill it,and now its probably got condensation and crud in it,so I doubt I'll ever use it..

Many people used any cans they could get--plastic 55 gallon "food grade" drums,plastic bottled water jugs,etc..I bet more gas got spilled or wasted than they used most of the time..finally gas stations refused to fill anything that was not fire marshall approved,that ended using milk jugs as gas cans..

Here they are anal about ANY petroleum chemicals being stored --for me to legally install an oil furnace in my shop,I must use no smaller thank than a 250 gallon one,with a concrete lined PIT big enough to hold twice its rated capacity in case of leaks,with a roof over it,in order to be legal!..gone forever are the days you could just use a 55 gallon drum on a "X" stand..it would cost well over 2 grand for all that!..thats why I took my old furnace out I had running off a metal 5 gallon can for a tank..my wood stoves are much cheaper,I get pallets for free and have a large wooded area to cut trees from
and they heat better in my opinion...

I think in the end your better off buying FRESH gas,at the cheapest price you can get at the time..had I a big tank,and went and filled it last year when it was over three bucks a gallon,I'd have F***** myself!...

 

[goldwing2000]

... my wood stoves are much cheaper,I get pallets for free and have a large wooded area to cut trees from
and they heat better in my opinion...

Wood is somewhat less explosive, too.