Gasoline Access
Pop
Is there any way, short of drilling hole in the tank, to siphon
or otherwise reasonably safely remove gasoline from this car?
Explanation: We live in the sticks and as such end up depending
on an emergency generator for power a couple times a winter,
minimum. Four or five day's worth of gasoline storage is a real
pain, not to mention the storage problems.
So, since the wagon has all that gas in it, I thought I'd see
about getting at it, but no luck.
I know you can turn on the fuel pump electrically, but that
requires opening a gas line to get the gas flow.
You can't siphon it; I don't think. I've tried and tried, but
unless the tank is overfilled, you won't get more than a couple
of quarts of gas out of the tank.
It just seems like there should be a way, but I don't seem to
have the ingenuity. And obviously, it has to be SAFE.
TIA for your thoughts,
Pop
altkarma
there is you can get a fuel pressure guage that fits it and then
connect it to the line, cut the end to the guage so that it is basicly
a hose, and then use a pair of vice-grips to regulate pressure so car
doesn't stall while running. the fuel pump will pump it for you then.
start off with the vise-grips pinching the line off and then open
slowly to allow flow until engine starts to stumble, then tighten
vise-grips again just enough to allow engine to run without stalling. I
hope that helps.
John S.
I'm surprised that you can't siphon most of the gas out with a pump.
Either a mechanical hand pump or a drill driven variety using a
rechargable drill.
One thing to remember is that for your car to serve as a mobile
gasoline reserve it will have to be full of gas all the time. For many
of us that would involve daily trips to the gas station to top it off
with 5 gallons. Is that realistic for you in your situation?
If not I think you should look into some sort of permanent storage tank
for gasoline, use some product like Stabil over the winter and just
rotate the gas into the car periodically.
Pop
news:1147800932....@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> Pop wrote:
>> 1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon 350 V8
>>
>> Is there any way, short of drilling hole in the tank, to
>> siphon
>> or otherwise reasonably safely remove gasoline from this car?
>>
>> Explanation: We live in the sticks and as such end up
>> depending
>> on an emergency generator for power a couple times a winter,
>
> I'm surprised that you can't siphon most of the gas out with a
> pump.
> Either a mechanical hand pump or a drill driven variety using a
> rechargable drill.
Hmm, why's that? Is there some way to get past the "sieve" or
whatever is in there that I'm not aware of? If the tank is
freshly topped off, I can get maybe a couple of quarts and that's
all. I've tried hoses as small as 1/4" and there's just no way
to poke thru whatever is in there to protect it. Or am I missing
something obvious?
>
> One thing to remember is that for your car to serve as a mobile
> gasoline reserve it will have to be full of gas all the time.
> For many
> of us that would involve daily trips to the gas station to top
> it off
> with 5 gallons. Is that realistic for you in your situation?
Yes, actually, it is. It's a low-mileage situation for it and
keeping the tank over 3/4 full is no problem. In fact, I
occasionally use filling the tank as an excuse to drive the two
miles to the gas station just to get a chance to drive it (my
meds put me "under the influence" most of the time)<g>.
>
> If not I think you should look into some sort of permanent
> storage tank
> for gasoline,
Currently I keep several 5 gal cans in a red shed, complete with
labels for the FD, but ... since I can barely drag those anymore,
let along manage to use pick them up to use them, well ... .
I checked into a storage tank; can't afford the environmental
crap required to have one of those. Our gummint at work again.
use some product like Stabil over the winter and just
> rotate the gas into the car periodically.
Not a problem; each spring it gets used up in the lawn tractor or
whatever, plus a little goes into the snowblower when my nephew
can't get here to plow the snow. My lawn tractor's my main mode
of transpo when the weather's nice<g>.
I just keep thinking the car's a good storage device, but turns
out also that it's illegal to have someone put, say a pepcock, in
the gas line. Our gumming at work protects us, dont cha know.
I'd do it myself but it's just not practical (or safe, in my
case).
Regards,
Pop
>
Oleg Lego
>"John S." <hjs...@cs.com> wrote in message
>news:1147800932....@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>I just keep thinking the car's a good storage device, but turns
>out also that it's illegal to have someone put, say a pepcock, in
>the gas line. Our gumming at work protects us, dont cha know.
>I'd do it myself but it's just not practical (or safe, in my
>case).
Don't ask, don't tell. Have a friend put one in and bugger the
bureaucrats.
John S.
Such devices are illegal because they are highly dangerous to not only
yourself but anyone else in the vicinity. A petcock on the tank could
easily be knocked open or broken off. A petcock or similar fastener on
a gas would face similar risks. In addition an in-line petcock would
require that the motor be running. That situation would be an open
invitation to an explosion.
If you use the five gallon cans in a shed as permanent storage just
siphon or transfer the contents to a more managable 1 or 2 gallon can
and carry it to the generator.