Propane

[Ranger72VH]

Anyone else stocking up on propane and converting to make it a primary fuel sourse for transportation. I used to have a truck that ran on propane. Now kicking myself for selling pripane system 20 yrs ago. Propane is goingbto be my fuel source for cooking and transport for a long term survival scenario. It has an indefinate shelf life! Probably rig up a kawasaki mule or like vehicle for propane. Thoughts?

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[Brent S]

Anyone else stocking up on propane and converting to make it a primary fuel sourse for transportation. I used to have a truck that ran on propane. Now kicking myself for selling pripane system 20 yrs ago. Propane is goingbto be my fuel source for cooking and transport for a long term survival scenario. It has an indefinate shelf life! Probably rig up a kawasaki mule or like vehicle for propane. Thoughts?

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I converted my gasoline welder/generator over to propane. I posted a thread while doing it here somewhere. The carburetor kit came from US CARBURETOR and was pretty easy to install. I put in a 500gal tank for it, and the plan is to hook up other appliances as well as they go out. Like you said, it has an indefinite shelf life, so for long term storage would be the best fuel choice out there. Another benefit is your engine runs cleaner. I just changed the oil in the genny and it almost looked new, even with a good amount of hours of run time.
I hadn’t thought much about using it for transportation but like the idea of a mule or even the tractor.

 

[Maverick]

I store propane 1 1000gal and 2 500gal tanks but not for vehicles, no plans to convert my gas engines.

 

[Dani]

We have a 500 gal propane tank that the house generator is hooked up to. As appliances need replacing, we will convert our electric into gas appliances. Hunny and our neighbor converted a forklift at work to run off propane, think it was diesel engine. As for vehicles, I have two right now and they only need filled up every 6 months or so since I don't drive much and not planning on bugging out, but that is something g to think about. Maybe for my tractor

 

[Mountain trapper]

I use propane only for cooking, the water heater and for heating the pump house in winter. My main generators are diesel and my portable generators are gasoline. Propane isn't the best choice for running a generator in cold (below zero) weather, unless you keep the generator in a heated building. If there ever comes a time when diesel isn't available then we have bigger problems than deciding what fuel to use. Years ago at work I did a test program on converting pickup trucks to run on propane. I think we converted about 20 units to propane. Besides carrying around a big bomb in the back of the truck the mpg was far worse than with gasoline, thus limiting the vehicles range. The cost of conversion and the extra cost of maintenance didn't make any economic sense. There's a reason why propane powered vehicles were never successfully marketed for the consumer market.

 

[Ranger72VH]

I use propane only for cooking, the water heater and for heating the pump house in winter. My main generators are diesel and my portable generators are gasoline. Propane isn't the best choice for running a generator in cold (below zero) weather, unless you keep the generator in a heated building. If there ever comes a time when diesel isn't available then we have bigger problems than deciding what fuel to use. Years ago at work I did a test program on converting pickup trucks to run on propane. I think we converted about 20 units to propane. Besides carrying around a big bomb in the back of the truck the mpg was far worse than with gasoline, thus limiting the vehicles range. The cost of conversion and the extra cost of maintenance didn't make any economic sense. There's a reason why propane powered vehicles were never successfully marketed for the consumer market.

I had a 3/4 ton 89 chevy 350 that ran on propane and gas. Never had any issues. Gad mileage wad not a consideration as it alteady got 10 mpg no matter what fuel or load i was pulling. Gas guzzeling SOB LMAO. But it ran great. Better to have a lower range than no range at all i guess. Another thing, i could fill it from any propane tank. Needless to say i never paid for propane

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[user 6493]

I have not given propane powered transportation a thought,,like you stated as far as I know it never goes bad,,,I may do some looking into that

 

[Ranger72VH]

I have not given propane powered transportation a thought,,like you stated as far as I know it never goes bad,,,I may do some looking into that

Articdude brings upna good point with milage and large tanks on vehicles also. My truck propane tank was as big as a tool box, want ti say it was 100 gal propane tank. Never knew how much was really in there when I ran it because I always balanced out from another tank. Something to look into if you need to travel far. I was thinking about a small side by side like a mule, only because it is expensive to purchase tanks and fill them for long term survival. But it will never go bad, so that is a major plus!

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[Kevin L]

I only use propane for cooking, but my situation is unique: I live in south florida, so I rarely need heat.

I want to get a diesel generator (lister type) since it can run off of animal fat mixed with vegetable oil, and I can harvest fuel from the chinese tallow trees that grow all over the place down here (see other post).

 

[Ranger72VH]

I only use propane for cooking, but my situation is unique: I live in south florida, so I rarely need heat.

I want to get a diesel generator (lister type) since it can run off of animal fat mixed with vegetable oil, and I can harvest fuel from the chinese tallow trees that grow all over the place down here (see other post).

Have you seen those bio diesel DIY fuel station / refinery things?

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[Kevin L]

Yes. In theory, it seems quite doable.

I've mixed up a small batch of biodiesel and ran it in an old ford diesel pickup truck.

Supposedly, China has a whole industry centered around the tallow tree (sapium sebiferum) with regards to biodiesel.

It's used to run farm equipment like tractors, generators, and harvesters.

This tree is an invasive pest here in the U.S., and, supposedly, more than 30% of all trees around San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas are Chinese tallow trees.

The drawbacks with biodiesel are that it seems to have a very limited shelf life (a few months at most), and it takes moderately toxic chemicals to process, such as wood alcohol and concentrated lye. I've also heard that it doesn't seem to work as well in cold weather.

On the plus side, it seems like a good way to supplement (or stretch out) existing stores of diesel fuel.

I've even seen motorcycles that run on diesel.

 

[Ranger72VH]

Yes. In theory, it seems quite doable.

I've mixed up a small batch of biodiesel and ran it in an old ford diesel pickup truck.

Supposedly, China has a whole industry centered around the tallow tree (sapium sebiferum) with regards to biodiesel.

It's used to run farm equipment like tractors, generators, and harvesters.

This tree is an invasive pest here in the U.S., and, supposedly, more than 30% of all trees around San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas are Chinese tallow trees.

The drawbacks with biodiesel are that it seems to have a very limited shelf life (a few months at most), and it takes moderately toxic chemicals to process, such as wood alcohol and concentrated lye. I've also heard that it doesn't seem to work as well in cold weather.

On the plus side, it seems like a good way to supplement (or stretch out) existing stores of diesel fuel.

I've even seen motorcycles that run on diesel.

Have you seen the conversion kit to run a gas engine off of wood smoke. Crazy huh! Wonder how well it works, drawbacks. I can only assume degrade in power and mileage

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[user 6493]

biodiesel becomes thick in cold weather so it does not flow very well and when recycling old cooking oil the impurities tend to settle to the bottom of your fuel tank slowly over time filling the bottom of your tank with sludge,,,,I will pass on biodiesel

 

[Ranger72VH]

biodiesel becomes thick in cold weather so it does not flow very well and when recycling old cooking oil the impurities tend to settle to the bottom of your fuel tank slowly over time filling the bottom of your tank with sludge,,,,I will pass on biodiesel

Would not have known that. Good looking out. Sticking with my propane.

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[Gazrok]

I drive too far each day to do it with a bomb strapped to my back...no thanks, lol.

But for home power, it's a great idea. Hoping to do that some day, and power a whole house generator, but that's a costly investment best done after we no longer have a mortgage.

 

[Brent S]

I drive too far each day to do it with a bomb strapped to my back...no thanks, lol.

But for home power, it's a great idea. Hoping to do that some day, and power a whole house generator, but that's a costly investment best done after we no longer have a mortgage.

Remember, you don’t need a huge generator. They are nice but also consume a lot more fuel too. Just having enough power to run your fridge/freezer is the minimum, but even a small generator can supply that and a lot more. A whole house system can run 15k, but a small generator can just be hundreds. Other things like just renting a propane tank vs buying one makes sense too. For 50 bucks a year I have a 500gal tank. The upside is if shtf then the tank just became mine anyways....

 

[Ranger72VH]

I drive too far each day to do it with a bomb strapped to my back...no thanks, lol.

But for home power, it's a great idea. Hoping to do that some day, and power a whole house generator, but that's a costly investment best done after we no longer have a mortgage.

That was always in the back of my mind when I drove around. However, 2 wrecks and no explosions. Oh to be young and stupid LOL

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[Maverick]

In really cold weather propane engines pose several issues from condensation freezing up the regulator to the vaporizer getting fetched up. I'll never run bio-diesel, off road diesel out here sometimes if really cold I'll cut it with 20% kerosene sometimes higher. Propane is a fair weather fuel in engines 40deg or higher below that one is taking a chance with the regulator and/or vaporizer if things ain't perfect.

 

[Ranger72VH]

In really cold weather propane engines pose several issues from condensation freezing up the regulator to the vaporizer getting fetched up. I'll never run bio-diesel, off road diesel out here sometimes if really cold I'll cut it with 20% kerosene sometimes higher. Propane is a fair weather fuel in engines 40deg or higher below that one is taking a chance with the regulator and/or vaporizer if things ain't perfect.

Good looking out.

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[Gazrok]

Remember, you don’t need a huge generator

Eventually I would like one. One thing I learned during Irma...I NEED AC. I thought it more of a luxury, but no, here in FL, it's really a NEED. LOL.

However, in the meantime, we're going to get a unit that can cycle run the fridge and freezer, the TV (so we aren't bored as hell), and a small window A/C unit in the guest bedroom. The guest bedroom is smaller and contained and has a little entry hall with a second door, so would be easy to keep cool. In the event of power loss, at least we'd have the one room we could retreat to and be cool, etc.

I did learn that my system for keeping the fridge and freezer contents fine without power, will work pretty well for at least 4 days. After that, we're gonna lose some stuff without power, but for those 4 days...fine. Heck, on the 3rd day, I had to take some frozen chicken breasts out to THAW before cooking them....all without power. (we had filled two shelves in the standing freezer with bottled water, before the storm, and they were frozen solid when we lost power...we then used them to keep the other fridge contents and that freezer cold).

 

[Brent S]

That was always in the back of my mind when I drove around. However, 2 wrecks and no explosions. Oh to be young and stupid LOL

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I read an article written about a hundred years ago. It was saying that gasoline carried around in an internal combustion contraption, aka car, would lead to explosions killing thousands of people a year. Well, needless to say, it wasn’t nearly as dangerous as some predicted. Unless you are a Hollywood special effects expert. They blow up every car that crashes!