Last ditch fuel choices for a Multifuel....

Hypothetical question... BADDDD event X has occurred ( Cat 5 hurricane is 12 hours away and I am in a surge zone, terrorists have unleased a bio-weapon, TEOTWAWKI, whatever) and I and 3 million other people gotta get the heck out of dodge... NOW...

I have made it X miles and am down to my last 5 gallons of fuel in the tank and need to go another 400 miles to be 'safe'...

I have reached a town that has been abandoned...

There is a Gas Station, the fuel tanks are empty, the office and shop have been looted... (we will disregard the possible 'heel' in the underground tanks and in abandonded car gas tanks for this conversation )... but there is a full Waste Oil drum out back...

There is a Fried Chicken Restaurant... the freezers have been looted... but the deep fryers are full of cold oil... and there is a waste fats tank out back full of heaven knows what...

There is a hardware store... trashed and looted too... but there is still some paint and various paint thinners on the shelves...

Other than wish I had bought and filled another 20 jerry cans 'before'... what should I do with the available flammable materials?

sailor2000 said:

Hypothetical question... BADDDD event X has occurred ( Cat 5 hurricane is 12 hours away and I am in a surge zone, terrorists have unleased a bio-weapon, TEOTWAWKI, whatever) and I and 3 million other people gotta get the heck out of dodge... NOW...

I have made it X miles and am down to my last 5 gallons of fuel in the tank and need to go another 400 miles to be 'safe'...

I have reached a town that has been abandoned...

There is a Gas Station, the fuel tanks are empty, the office and shop have been looted... (we will disregard the possible 'heel' in the underground tanks and in abandonded car gas tanks for this conversation )... but there is a full Waste Oil drum out back...

There is a Fried Chicken Restaurant... the freezers have been looted... but the deep fryers are full of cold oil... and there is a waste fats tank out back full of heaven knows what...

There is a hardware store... trashed and looted too... but there is still some paint and various paint thinners on the shelves...

Other than wish I had bought and filled another 20 jerry cans 'before'... what should I do with the available flammable materials?

Click to expand...

I think you need to consult Mcgyver.

RE: Re: Last ditch fuel choices for a Multifuel....

I AM McGyver!! LOL!!!

paint thinner is ok but only 1 or 2 gallons per 50 ( i know it eats seals and lines if used too much) I would go for used motor oil, the transmission fluid works very very well. you can get about 1 gallon of used oil and 2 out of the transmissions of most cars. Also don't forget about axles, gear oil burns well too. now thats it for the cars the are laying about.. as the cold non filtered cooking oil.. might as well clog up your fuel system. I would stay away from that at all cost.

Makes me think that a good oil pump powered by 24 volts off the slave receptacle would be handy for roadside refueling from tanks in the bed. So too would having a heater or something for liquifying the vegetable oil for the purposes of running it in the tank. Bjorn's heated tank setup would be VERY handy. I need to add a tank heater to my left side tank for this as well.

Well don't forget that the fuel is heated while you are running in normal conditions. Add a little at a time(god knows how much)and you should be ok. I would think the wmo would be the best option of your choices. Keep an eye on your filter stash!

There are a couple things to think about. If you are running unfiltered or not filtered well WVO in your tank you NEED to have spare fuel filters on hand. WVO also works best hot and if not hot them at least filtered and mixed with gas or diesel to lower the viscosity of it to emulate diesel fuels viscosity. That means you need to plan this well before you have run your tank dry. A running deuce will heat its tank as it runs, so you can dump resonable quantities into a hot running deuce to warm it. Don't forget that fresh in the bottle cooking oil is already filtered and water free. Most would most likely ignore that in a panic. I think I would dump any hardware store hydrocarbon of resonable viscosity into my fuel tank before I would dump in totally unfiltered WVO into my tank.

Personally if I was in a SHTf situation I would first hit any neighbor or any home that I could to get the home heating oil out of an external home heating oil tank. I know up north here is much more common though. It is basicly diesel just dyed. Of course I would suggest leaving your contact info, and a promise to refill the tank as things return to normal. I am expecting to be heating my garage with fuel oil this winter, so will have my own tank ready to go just in case. It is not an accident I chose this form of heat too as I like to be prepared.

Your in Texas, right? Find a well -

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache...e+crude+oil&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&ie=UTF-8

Yep, the LDT burns crude!

DD

Were it only that simple...

I'd stay way from the used tranny fluid. Too much asbestos from the clutch packs. The IP would probally get pissed. But if it's that bad. It might be the difference between walking and riding. If it were me. I'd bring along a .22 rifle. And shoot the bottum of a eletric transformer. Then place the jerry can under the oil running out of the bottom. That's if the wind isn't blowing. The power is probally off any way and the oil in them is pretty thin. It seems to burn pretty well in a multi to. Please don't ask how i know this. Not only that there is a semmingly endless supply on alot on poles on the side of the road.

ken said:

If it were me. I'd bring along a .22 rifle. And shoot the bottum of a eletric transformer. Then place the jerry can under the oil running out of the bottom. That's if the wind isn't blowing. The power is probally off any way and the oil in them is pretty thin. It seems to burn pretty well in a multi to. Please don't ask how i know this. Not only that there is a semmingly endless supply on alot on poles on the side of the road.

Click to expand...

I hate to give ideas like there were damaging important infrastructure could make it very hard to return power to very many people. If the equipment is already damaged or it is life and death then it might be ok. I would steer clear if nothing else just because it not always easy to check to see if things are live.

I would scour the sttores for fresh vegetable oil before I went for the used stuff. Chances are that any fast food place would have several gallons of it on hand at any given time.

Just you're luck the transformer you shoot is an ancient one that still has PCB's. You'd make it out only to die of some rare cancer down the road.

Anyone ever try to convert a multi to propane???

Plan Ahead!

Buy and stash a 50 gallon tank of 101 proof Wild Turkey.

In case of an emergency it won't make your multi run but you won't care.

Propane injection is not uncommon, but I don't know if it would ignite on its own. Anybody have an idea of what proof liquor you could feed a multi? i.g. Wild Turkey 101 or Bacardi 151 or Everclear?

If Everclear wouldn't work, I don't think anything would!

Ken I have used ATF for many years now (over 10k miles) with out a problem. The deuce has 3 fuel filters and anything that will harm the engine will get filtered out.

Some comments from a Chemical Engineer associate of mine:

"Good advice to stick with clean unused stuff if available. There is a lot of stuff in the auto supply store, hardware store, builders supply store, and grocery store that would be useful. We already discussed crude, which is fine if filtered for water and particulates, but generally less desirable in the long run, for other reasons. Not easy to find unless you are in the oldfield around production tanks, or forageing in a dead refinery haha.
I have burned 90w diff lube mixed with diesel in my truck. (2 gals diff + 13 gals diesel) Stinks like hell, but no reason to cause problem in proper proportion. Good way to get some butt off your rear end in traffic. Heh, heh.

Categories for where to forage:
Auto parts store – lots of oily stuff there
Hardware/builders supply/paint store/contractor rental – check the rectangular kero/lantern fuel dispenser, and paint thinner, 2cycle oil, solvents, other oils. Contractor rental places often keep whatever consumbables their rental equipment requires, which is gasoline, diesel, kerosene, oils, etc.
Grocery store – olive oil, vegetable oil, alcohol,
There will be a lot more possible places – drugstores for alcohol....
Some of the thin stuff can be mixed with some of the thick stuff to get a good viscosity and improved lubricity."

What does the Multifuel think of ethanol?????

Old Gasoline - will it work

I am relatively new to the Multifuel and after hearing what can be used as fuel I thought of using old gasoline. Now this would be kinda of a "in a pinch" fuel of course. Will it work when mixed with some of the other oils already mentioned?

RE: Old Gasoline - will it work

I've used quite a bit of "stale" gasoline, & leftover 2-cycle mix in with diesel. I don't notice any difference in the way it runs.
When in doubt I pour it through a filter/water-separator funnel into tank.
Eric
CBVET