StarLoc FiveStar Adhesives Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 The queues in Liverpool are rediculous, My car does about 12 to 20 mpg , petrol warning light is on so less than 10 miles of fuel left , garages near me had £20 limit if you got in to them yesterday and massive queues at every one even all night they were lined up down the roads We are supposed to be going to the southwest model show today .....not a chance! , i am not heading off accross the country to queue for fuel all the time I cant see it being that busy at the show , people will be saving fuel and not traveling I doubt i can even get to work with all the queuing for fuel , if i queue it will run out before i get into the fuel, i have some duty paid toluene at the unit if i can get there, i will have to save enough of the toluene to get to the ferry next weekend incase the queues dont stop as i need to go to Bulgaria again Edited By StarLoc FiveStar Adhesives on 30/03/2012 08:40:19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Steve, not sure why you're being so defensive as I've already said that after your explanation I accept fully that you weren't departing from your normal pattern. My concern is over the actions of the many who are filling up totally unneccessarily and my interpretation of your OP was that you were one of these and, by posting your intention to seek fuel and mentioning the 2 cars and generator's fuel state seemed to be encouraging that behaviour. In the rare event of snow being imminent, I do depart from my normal practice and maintain a higher level in my tank but this doesn't seem to be a likely event in the next few days in my part of the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil May Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 On the way to work I spotted a small side street garage with only 3 cars in,so I stopped and put the usual £25 in, but it was £1.45 a ltr...... At work, a different story, we are a service provider for a steel plant and we operate 7 LGV's and 14 25 tonne fork lift trucks. We have enough fuel to see us through till Tuesday and none of our suppliers can guaranty a delivery next week. If this happens and we run dry,we will not be able to supply the steel to the mill, production will be reduce and staff will be sent home.......on 1/2 wage....... Thanks guys, I hope you do manage to make your working conditions more comfortable for your low wage of 35k plus......... Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Grigg Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Still pumping me bike tyres up,there is a que for the pump now!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly P Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Hmmm...Something the politicians seem to have done well at - turning a none event into a national crisis. I do find it odd that people actually listened to the politicians for a change though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Posted by StarLoc FiveStar Adhesives on 30/03/2012 08:39:31: The queues in Liverpool are rediculous, My car does about 12 to 20 mpg , petrol warning light is on so less than 10 miles of fuel left , garages near me had £20 limit if you got in to them Wouldn't it be more sensible to have a minimum spend? (Peter's (bubble?) car excepted...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil May Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Nice one Stephen......... I'm sat waiting for Auto Glass to come and replace the screen on the old Uncle Festa and just received a call to say they will not come today as it is emergencies only, and I quote, 'due to the unavailability of fuel for the vans' Phil Edited By Big Phil on 30/03/2012 08:59:25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarLoc FiveStar Adhesives Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Posted by Martin Harris on 30/03/2012 08:55:53: Wouldn't it be more sensible to have a minimum spend? (Peter's (bubble?) car excepted...) It would be , i was talking to a man over the road and he is `doing what they said on the telly...` and was keeping the car topped up........ He had been to the garage 3 times yesterday! , to fill up once and to top up twice to keep it over a third of a tank! . I told him that queuing may be ok for people with no job and all day to line up, but some people need to go to work and dont have the time to line up like pillocks Its idiots like this who are blocking the whole countrys fuel stations Im off to queue up to see if i can get to work, first its the petrol queue and then the runcorn bridge queue of people queueing for the shops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafman Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 When I first heard on the radio that there was the possibility of a strike by tanker drivers I thought here we go again, there will be panic buying at the pumps, but to my suprise it seemed normal until the goverment opened their mouths and fuelled a crisis, which I believe was carefully manufactured to get the response we are seeing now, on the news this morning they have made an extra 32 million pounds in fuel tax revenue just from the panic they have instigated. What is needed is for the good old public to take no notice of what the cronies in power say because they are pulling the strings and we are dancing to the tune. I say calm down go back to normal and deal with a strike as and when it happens. We should be looking to reduce our fuel buying to bring about an impact on tax revenue and then maybe the price of fuel might go down slightly. I won't hold my breath on that one rafman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codename-John Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Rafman, most people in this country are like sheep, and propoganda is a very powerfull tool, like I said on the first page, according to the forecasters we are in a double dip recession, its the end of the tax year in a week, school holidays now so no school runs twice a day etc. The government had to get a lot of money in a very short space of time to avoid looking very stupid, and this was the perfect storm, if one or two of them take the wrap for just making it look like bumbling then its no big deal, with an extra 32 million in tax raised in 2 days no doubt in private they`re getting patted on the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erfolg Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 If diesels will run on cooking oil, I wonder how much per litre it costs at the supermarket. Will it need to be virgin olive oil, or will any vegetable oil do, hmmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codename-John Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 its not far off the price of diesel per litre in the shops erfolg, youd need to buy wholesale to make it worthwhile, ive been thinking of getting a biodiesel processor so been reading up a lot about it, your allowed to make 2500 litres duty free, waste oil is obviously much cheaper if you can get hold of it but costs a bit more in production as it needs cleaning to process, the processors aint cheap, and its quite a dangerous process as methanol is used, but the way fuel is going im thinking i`d probably make a return on the investment within months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vecchio Austriaco Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I would be careful with experiments on diesel fuel - a major engine service costs more than a few litres of high priced diesel... Cheers VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve W-O Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I don't think the government is going to wprry about 32million, peanuts compared to the figures they need. The other point I don't think we could credit them with enough reasoning power to have thought it up. Was just idiotic handling of the affair that caused the problem. 2500 litres of biodiesel free of duty? That would be enough for all my travelling! I don't think there will be much waste oil around, too many people collecting it now. LPG or CPG may be worth thinking about, but for how long will that remain cheaper? Only long enough for enough people to convert so the government can make a tidy packet from taxes, and claim brownie points for reducing oil consumption. Of course we could nationalise trains and busses to make them affordable and offer a usable service, then we would not need so many cars. But then that wouldn't fill the coffers with duties and taxes. I think we are stuck with it as it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunnyFlyer Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 We must be much more sensible in the Midlands. Filled up both cars yesterday at 7.30pm with no queues, but every pump had a car alongside it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codename-John Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 100% biodiesel is meant to be better for engines than the high priced stuff everywheres sold out of today, VW group have even approved 100% biodiesel for all their diesel cars between 1996 and 2004. there are obviously as with anything a few things to consider when changing over like non rapeseed oil gels in freezing temperatures etc, this faq page is good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Bennett Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 i seem to recal that the germans in ww2 had plants that converted coal to synthetic oil. we have tons of coal sitting underground that we no longer dig up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve W-O Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Posted by Tony B on 30/03/2012 11:14:47: i seem to recal that the germans in ww2 had plants that converted coal to synthetic oil. we have tons of coal sitting underground that we no longer dig up. South Africa has the only commercial plant as far as I know, S a s o l, bee going for as long as I can remember. The production costs are high, and at one time they said it was becoming uncertain if it was worth continuing, but I imagine now it is more worthwhile. SA are also leading the way (or were until funding was reduced) on pebble bed reactors, which could be very useful here with the aging distribution system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 By the way. Does anyone know if diesel fuel deteriorates over time if kept in an approved plastic container. I have some which is years old and wondered if it was still OK. Not a bubble car. Its an AIXAM 500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I was going to take a gallon of used cooking oil to the dump, maybe I will put it on E-bay instead! What brushless motor & how many 3S 2200 LiPo 's would I need to electrify a push bike ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avtur Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 I shop at Costco from time to time, its not uncommon to see people buying 25 litre drums of cooking oil and pouring it straight into their vehicles in the car park ... cost wise it is just a little cheaper than diesel these days ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Posted by kc on 30/03/2012 11:29:54: I was going to take a gallon of used cooking oil to the dump, maybe I will put it on E-bay instead! What brushless motor & how many 3S 2200 LiPo 's would I need to electrify a push bike ........ kc if that was meant purely as a "tongue in cheek" comment then its not as daft as it seems at first glance! Think about it for a second. I reckon a human being can dish out about 0.5hp peak, so that's about 375W in round figures - call it 400W. Now if you have a 6s 5000mAH Lipo its at 22.2V nominal, so to deliver 400W it would draw a current of 400/22.2= 18A. Now that battery could deliver that for just over 15mins. So you'd have about a quarter of an hour's "powered bike" - and bear in mind that would be quite a lot of power. You wouldn't need that much to ride along a flat road at a moderate speed - and certainly not downhill. So putting in a "weighting" factor of 2, allowing for less use on the flat and downhill, this 5000mAh 6s Lipo would give you about half and hour's use. Plenty for many people to get to their destination. Where of course you could stick the Lipo on a 5C charge and it would be up and running again inside 15 mins. Of course if you have arrived in work, or somewhere else where you are likely to stay for while, you could take your time and charge over a couple of hours at 0.5C. Anyone "up for it"? BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 BEB promoting electric.......!!! I feel faint....!!! Surely an OS56 4 stroke with a small rubber wheel bolted to the crankshaft that rubs on the rear bicycle tyre a la Velosolex will do the job much better.........no need to re-charge either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Ah Yes - but you have to get the fuel BEB PS Eyeing up the bikes in the shed..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avtur Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 Oh dear, first casualty of the fuel 'episode', anyone seen the stories on the news about the lady in Yorkshire who has sustained 40% burns while decanting petrol in her kitchen. (unfortunately the cooker was on and the fumes ignited). Now it is quite easy to say that wasn't a wise thing to do but its difficult to account for different peoples understanding of the dangers in handling fuel. I work with the stuff, carrying in loads of up to 45,000 litres so I should know better, and probably most people do have some idea of how volatile fuel (particularly petrol) can be, but perhaps not everyone does understand volatility, flash point, vapours etc ... I'm sure this lady did not set out to hurt herself and would have done things differently if she had been fully aware of the danger, sadly it seems she didn't know better. This definitely falls under the heading of 'unintended consequence', I hope she recovers and that the dispute is resolved before anyone else gets hurt ... Also with the story hitting the news headlines perhaps that will help raise awareness of people who don't fully understand the dangers ... Edited By avtur on 30/03/2012 12:35:05 Edited By avtur on 30/03/2012 12:36:15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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