>>> trad...@optonline.net wrote:

>>>> A pile of gas cans is not a small problem.  Even with stabilizer
>>>> added, it only lasts so long.   How long depends
>>>> on how lucky you feel.   So, you still have a bunch of gas
>>>> cans to manage.   You can also siphon it out of your cars,
>>>> but that's no fun either.   I'd probably go with a natural gas
>>>> portable.  I've seen 5KW or so ones for $2,000 with a
>>>> Honda Engine.   You could also get a conversion kit and
>>>> a gasoline generator and make one yourself for about
>>>> half that.   Some kits allow use of 3 fuels and you can
>>>> switch back and forth between gasonline, propane, nat
>>>> gas.  Overall, one of those approaches sound better
>>>> than a Generac standby to me.

>>> There's another strategy that mitigates the problem of managing gas
>>> cans.

>>> Have ONE five-gallon can full of gas and ten or more empty ones.

>>> If you have a local outage - say a pole gets knocked down - the five
>>> gallons should provide enough slack such that you can fetch more
>>> from a station outside the black-out zone.

>>> If, on the other hand, wide-spread outage is possible, such as the
>>> warnings over Sandy or a hurricane entering the Gulf, you'll have
>>> ample warning to fill all the cans you have.

>> That would be my thinking.  FWIW, Sandy has shown that something
>> needs to be done to insure a supply of gasoline to gas stations, plus
>> gas stations will need to have generators ...

>> Hereabouts, the story is that someone came to his regular gas
>> station, and asked for gas.  Gas station guy said I have gas, but no
>> power.  Customer says, I'll loan you my generators, be right back.
>> Result:  Long lines at that gas station.

> In my town, the town provided generators to a couple of local gas
> stations. The station I go to said the generator caused the computer
> to shut down and he could only pump gas while the computer was
> working. I suspect that if he had a UPS and had the generator charging
> the UPS, he would have been OK.