No matter how you try to spin it, you are costing yourself a whole bunch of extra effort and lots of time just to avoid making a few stops at a gas station. Bottom line is your reasoning is way _out there_ and you arent saving yourself anything.
Your friends are correct, you are loony if what you posted is the whole story.
Harry K
Your login of 'smoky burns' is apropos! :)
I agree that the biggest danger is fire, either from the fueling itself or from wildlands catching on fire and then the gas can burning.
And, the biggest danger are the fumes catching fire. The story doesn't say it was a 'static spark' so we really don't know WHAT caused the vapors or fuel to ignite. I find it hard to believe there was enough static charge built up 'just' from siphoning - what? Maybe twenty gallons? (How much does a boat hold?).
But, the boat might not have been grounded. Maybe it was up on blocks? It doesn't say. So maybe without that grounding, enough static electricity built up from the fuel going down the rubber hose - but most of us would at least put the containers being filled on the ground if the boat wasn't grounded.
Let's hope he wasn't smoking cigarettes, or that he didn't turn on some other more likely ignition source.
How many incidents like these are there daily in the USA? I'd bet one a day is likely (just guessing). But still, I'm more likely to die from a flu or a car accident, each of which kills something like 30 thousand people a year so we should put it all into perspective.
Does anyone know the number of people killed a year in refueling accidents?
I wonder how to find out WHO called it in.
When I asked, they said it was anonymous.
I wonder if it really was. Maybe there is a public record?
Either way, I'll figure out something. He can't get too far from me without me seeing his dirty laundry (literally).
Nope, never.
But one of my ex-neighbors did. In fact, he was in a constant battle with the neighbor across the street. One day he comes home and finds a paper bag full of dog shit on his front stoop.
He storms across the street with the bag and starts yelling at the neighbor. After the argument escalates for a while he returns home threatening that he'll be back and there will be violence.
The neighbor follows him with a shovel and just as he reaches his house the neighbor hits him in the head with the shovel.
And that's how he became an ex-neighbor. A dead ex-neighbor.
I actually did the opposite recently when the prices were hovering around $4.30 a gallon.
At those prices, I stopped refilling the gas cans and just refilled the cars as the prices steadily dropped.
When they got down to about $3.90, I started filling the gas cans again.
With my 1,500 gallons of propane, I can easily fill up in August (typically the low of the year) which lasts me through most of the winter at least. So I know what you mean about buying in volume to take advantage of the cheaper prices.
If 'our' California special gasoline ever got anywhere near 3 bucks a gallon, I'd run out and buy a hundred five gallon cans! :)
I'm in California so the state lines are hundreds of miles away - but I could see this system working if you lived in, say, New York or Pennsylvania, and all you had to do was cross state lines to get cheap gas.
I suspect the toll bridges might have special regulations though but there are plenty of non-bridge crossings which could save you a ton.
When we were kids, we used to do that with liquor, taking advantages of the differences in state laws. (Uuugh, don't remind me of those days!) :)
A while back federal laws changed so that every gas station pump had to be redesigned so that they would capture gas fumes before they escape into the atmosphere while your tank was being filled.
Your clever scheme makes a shambles of that effort to clean up the environment.
Putting the pollution you create aside, your scheme sounds a bit nuts.
Turning to your neighbor, do you think it would hurt if you stored all those red cans out of sight?
I use up all the Chevron in the drum in about six weeks (give or take a few weeks either way).
This long-term-gas-storage Chevron web site says California reformulated mandated gasoline lasts as long as any other gas, even with the corn in it soaking up all that water.
Two months is the absolute maximum my gas would stay unused, if that long, so shelf life just isn't all that big of a problem for me.
We had seawall repairs done at our condo..about $35k?..and shortly later the newer condo next door had a major pipe burst which flowed onto our property and eroded a lot of soil from behind the seawall. I enjoyed nagging the city from time to time because some of the city building dept. were real a--holes. I sent off an email to the bld. dept, asking whether the city had signed off on the grading of the neighbor's lot during construction. The neighbor had a huge paved lot and all of their downspouts emptied onto that...curb around their lot had a channel that let all that water go onto our property, which was a huge amount during summer t-storms. I'd paid attention to what was going on, and had researched a number of serious problems re: our condo. When the city got my email, and nice engineer and a student intern came out; engineer was impressed with what I knew and understood about the problems. Shortly later, the neighbor had some minor adjustments done, including a culvert that dumped their water into the channel, rather than onto our property. Didn't stop the neighbors in that condo from letting their dogs poop in our yard...I have been really impressed by the gall some people show by walking their dog into our property to poop; strangers with no axe to grind :o)
That was a fairly serious issue in FL, with all the foreclosures and whatever nasty disease the mosquitoes were spreading at the time.
In FL, rats are about like termites...don't wonder IF you'll have them, only WHEN. It is basic practice to keep trees away from structures. Rats chew up wiring, holes in structure, etc.. Elderly folks should not be forced to live with rats because they have rats for neighbors :o)
Christopher A. Young Read the Book of Mormon!
Now, to find out "which" neighbor is calling in, before you go make an innocent bystander miserable. Of course, it seems logical that the insect which is buzzing the loudest is the one that stung you.
Not sure I'd want to fight fire with fire (not funny) on this one.
I suspect it's a neighbor who thinks everyone should live the same as everyone else and is using the mechanisms of the government to harass the OP into conforming.
I doubt it. The OP would likely know exactly what he had done to anger a neighbor if he did anything that crossed over the (property) line.
If it's being used for a business... so what? If he's not making noise or emmitting noxious fumes/oders what difference does it make?
The story just keeps getting better...
Trolls aren't really crazy. They just make anybody who takes them seriously appear to be crazy.
--Vic
Why drive to the gasoline station? Just stop at one that's on the way or on the way back.
IMO the reason to have that much gasoline on hand is to A) smooth out price spikes. B) to get through some sort of disaster, power outage, etc.
-snip-
I think you may have just nailed it. That is the only way it would make any sense at all.
He's either nuts or a thief. [not to say he can't be a nutty thief, or a thieving nut]
Jim
That can be fixed with some attention and a shovel. Take it back to the neighbor and place it on the front step.
As for the strangers, pick it up in the shovel and catch up to them and offer it back to them. They will surely appreciate it.
Don't know the numbers, but thedanger is VERY REAL and a significant static charge can build up in a hose transfering only a few gallons of fuel under the "wrong" conditions. You want the tank being filled and the tank you are filling from (and the nozzle) at the same potential - which is why ALL fuel dispensers use metallic nozzles and metal braided rubber hoses - and ALL vehicles have metal (or at least conductive) fillers, which are grounded to the body. Most plastic fuel tanks on equipment are also "conductive" plastic.
I'm sure the city is NOT amused to have their inspectors sent out on false complaints whose sole intent is to harass the target. Talk to your local DA Ask him to get hold of your neighbor's phone records to verify if he made the calls If he did, then ask the DA to prosecute for malicious false complaints.
First, identify that it is 109% positive that the neighbor you think it is is the correct one. If so, just look up practical jokes and pranks and books on how to get even on the Internet. There are a lot, and probably a lot for free. Third, go at it.
After that, it just depends on your level of vindictiveness and creativity. I would stick with things that unprovable, and likely do little damage. Don't do anything that might bring out the authorities, either, as they get highly pissed when someone breaks up their donut klatch. Something like throwing road kill over the fence. From there, you're on your own as to how far to go.
I really like the cable around the rear end of the police car in American Graffiti.
Of course, I have no personal knowledge of acts of revenge like that that I would like to publicly share. And in my case, you must remember that nothing was ever proven in a court of law.
Steve
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