Posted: 12/13/2007 8:36:57 PM EDT
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I recently purchased a house with a basement that has an old desiel fuel tank that is in good shape. Also plenty of shelves. I'm thinking of storing propane and camping fuel in this basement. If I ever get a desiel vehicle I will fill up the desiel tank in the basement but is there any other type of fuel that I can store in it? I started thinking of what might happen with a house fire. Should I get a shed to store this fuel in instead? It would be much more convinent to have it in my basement with all of the other prep. Where do you store your fuel? Propane tanks and Coleman camp fuel. Using camping stove and laterns how much would you need to store for 3 months of constant use? |
Keep gasoline and propane outside and away from your living quarters. Both are heavier than air and vapors will pool if they leak. Once they find an ignition source, you can pretty much kiss your house goodbye. Inquire at your local FD about fuel storage in a residence. You'll likely find out its illegal or legal in very minimal amounts. Either way, its not a good idea to have any inside if you can help it. That second thought you had about "what might happen in a house fire" was your common sense.......I think you should listen to it. My propane and gasoline are stored out in a shed fifty feet from the house. |
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I think I'll go with propane and coleman fuel outside. The large desiel tank was for the old heater and is set up in a way I'm not going to bother moving it. Water will stay inside. How much propane would you store to last three months for cooking and light? Or do would you prefer coleman liquid fuel stove and lanterns? |
I have both coleman propane lanterns and stove and the adapter hose that allows use with a regular gas grill size tank. I have gone camping for two weeks, cooking two or three meals a day and lighting the lanterns for 3-4-5 hours a night and still had plenty of fuel in the one tank that I used.....I'd say more than half left. Basing my estimates on that useage, I think that four grill size tanks would get you by, maybe six if you wanted to have a little more buffer. I like propane because its clean and rather portable in its containers and less maintainance of the stove but have used fuel also for many many years. Propane could be difficult to get depending on where you are, whereas unleaded gasoline is usually pretty plentiful....even if you have to siphon a quart out of your vehicle. |
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As long as you are careful I would have zero hesitation of filling that old heating tank with kerosene or diesel. You have to be careful of what the inside has for a coating if going to something like gasoline since some coatings get disolved by gasoline and you can wind up with a mess. You need to figure out what you need for propane use. If I lost all power I would be using my propane grill for heating shower water and all sorts of stuff and it would not last as long as it normally does. A few 1 lb propane tanks inside is what I have. I have a hose connecting a 20lb cylinder to a big heater buddy with the tank outside and the heater buddy inside. All kerosene, diesel, and other propane tanks are stored outside. I have a 1 gallon can of coleman fuel around here somewhere, it is inside. I have lamp oil inside. |
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