GAS THIEVES - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

missing link · 05-20-2006, 04:12 PM

Well my wife went to her chiropractor in S.Datrmouth and parked behind the building as usual she came out and the gas door was pryed open and someone siphoned some gas out. So when I got home I had to bend and refit the gas door to somewhere near normal so it closes. Not much gas was taken the person probally got spooked, It just goes to show ya how desperate people are these days in broad daylight.
ML SR

TheSpecialist · 05-20-2006, 04:55 PM

That stinks, I think I am going to buy 2 locking gas caps for my wife and I.

Karl F · 05-20-2006, 05:36 PM

The majority of the newer vehicles have an anti syphoning device, which has it's own drawbacks. The theives now show up with a cordless drill fitted with a one inch hole saw, they crawl under, get up as high on the tank as they can.. saw the hole, slide in a tube, and with a portable high speed fuel pump and line set up they carry, fill their tank from your tank. Whole thing happens in less than 3 minutes.
They were showing the damage on one of the local TV news channels the other day.. you are out the tank of gas.. and the gas tank....
Bastages!

afterhours · 05-20-2006, 06:06 PM

unreal.....they ruin your tank for $40 worth of gas- thoughtless bastages- they should be filleted.

Slingah · 05-20-2006, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karl F

The majority of the newer vehicles have an anti syphoning device, which has it's own drawbacks. The theives now show up with a cordless drill fitted with a one inch hole saw, they crawl under, get up as high on the tank as they can.. saw the hole, slide in a tube, and with a portable high speed fuel pump and line set up they carry, fill their tank from your tank. Whole thing happens in less than 3 minutes.
They were showing the damage on one of the local TV news channels the other day.. you are out the tank of gas.. and the gas tank....
Bastages!

u gotta be chittin me!!!...that is about as low as you can get...

Karl F · 05-20-2006, 06:30 PM

yeah, lower than whale chit.. saw it on channel 7, the news reporter that did the story asked the cop about risk of explosion, the cop said that these guys must have some kind of mechanical knowledge, as they primarily target cars with the plastic composite tanks. They have seen a few done to metal tanks, but not many. Pretty stupid sending hole saw sparks into a gas tank.. must be the smarter ones doing the plastic tanks. No blow ups yet.. if one happens, I'd have no sympathy for the SOB.

pmueller · 05-20-2006, 06:55 PM

Its going to get alot worse.

Squid kids Dad · 05-20-2006, 07:29 PM

Remember the gas shortages of the 70"s..Siphoning happened all the time,but not to the extent of drilling out the tanks...I think a lot of the Jeep models have plastic tanks??

Backbeach Jake · 05-20-2006, 08:30 PM

Gasoline itself is not flammable, gasoline vapor is. That's how they can drill your tank. Still, it's theft and I despise thieves. It won't break my heart to find a charred theif skeleton under the remains of my car.

Raven · 05-20-2006, 09:54 PM

cars parked fulla gas with a video camera

running on it...

backbeach · 05-24-2006, 08:12 AM

I don't get that, "gasoline isn't flammable, only the vapor is"; how do you handle gas without ANY vapor being present. I had a kid pumping gas into my work truck, and saw he had a lit ciggarrette resting on the island near the pump. When I asked him to put it out he gave me that same line- but with this pearl of wisdom. "I can put this out in gas, and it won't ignite- it's only the vapor thats flammable." I told him, why don't you try that after I leave, maybe I'll come visit you at Shriners Burn Institute .... Darwin was right, he ended up wrapped around a tree within a year....

Fishpart · 05-24-2006, 08:56 AM

I have been thinking that the paintball gun could be a very effective tool in theft deterrrance. Can be used on gas thieves or fishing lot tackle thieves as well. Talk about positive ID "Yes officer the perp can be identified by the paint markings on his clothes and body and car"

Raven · 05-24-2006, 08:59 AM

especially if the paintballs had animal blood or glow in the dark or under black light ingrediants in them....

Raven · 05-24-2006, 09:10 AM

[quote=backbeach]I don't get that, "gasoline isn't flammable, only the vapor is"; how do you handle gas without ANY vapor being present. I had a kid pumping gas into my work truck, and saw he had a lit ciggarrette resting on the island near the pump. When I asked him to put it out he gave me that same line- but with this pearl of wisdom. "I can put this out in gas, and it won't ignite- it's only the vapor thats flammable." I told him, why don't you try that after I leave, maybe I'll come visit you at Shriners Burn Institute .... Darwin was right, he ended up wrapped around a tree within a year....[/quote
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thats true of deisel fuel and you can throw a lit cigarette into it and it will go out.... but i think gas would explode....

but it reminds me of this smart young kid in mexico...at the diesel fuel station....

the guy ahead of me yells to the kid in spanish in a mean voice..
yenno me tanka .... orita! (fill my tank now! ) translated
then the prick goes inside the building...

so the kid gets instant revenge and climbs underneath this guys truck and starts filling up every nook and cranny he can find with diesel fuel as i pretended to look the other way...

he musta loaded ten gallons under there and then jumps back out and quickly sticks the nozzle in the tank just before the guy comes out
and makes him pay for all of it.... and the guy drives off with diesel leaking all over the place much to my amusement....which will get you busted at the border...ahh ha ha ha....

bluzjamer · 05-24-2006, 10:08 AM

Gee, I use that high level lead paintball...can I use that? Should leave a findable blood trail!
Oh, the reason they didn't drill out tanks in the 70's was.......no cordless tools.
Just the astronuats had them! I guess it was in case they had to drill the Soyez Space Station for a little high octane stuff!!!

CAL · 05-24-2006, 04:17 PM

Lit cigarette won't ignite gasoline. Doesn't burn hot enough.

Mythbusters

Backbeach Jake · 05-24-2006, 04:55 PM

We were told the vapor thing at our safety meeting at work. He also said don't try it, if there's vapor settled above the gas, there's gonna be a problem. Well, when I tried it there wasn't any vapor above the gas, I guess.

Nebe · 05-24-2006, 05:10 PM

here's a prime example of gasoline not being flammable..a flooded engine. under normal conditions a fine mist is forced into the cylinders..pop. But, if you put too much in........ Nada.

wheresmy50 · 06-06-2006, 12:06 PM

Nebe,

That isn't because gasoline isn't flammable, that's because it has exceeded it's upper explosive limit, meaning it's too rich to ignite.

I don't know who started the myth that liquid gasoline isn't flammable, but they're dead wrong. I think it probably came from people who don't really understand how solvents burn. With solvents, there are two numbers, the flash point which is the temperature the solvent needs to exceed to ignite, and the autoignition temperature when it spontaneously ignites. I just looked it up and for gasoline the flash point is -50 F and the autoignition is 500 F. So as long as it's above minus 50, it will ignite. Another way to say it would be that above minus 50, the vapor pressure of the liquid is high enough to create a flammable fuel air mixture above the liquid, which is probably where the confusion came from.

My guess is that a cigarette either isn't hot enough or the ash slows the transfer of energy to the gasoline. Either way it's not a good idea to throw cigarettes in gasoline.

Swimmer · 06-07-2006, 09:32 AM

I watched as certain persons fire pistols at a gas can, a full gas can. The bullets entered and exited never causing fire or anything else. Wheresmy50 is right. It essentially from the fumes that would ignite the gas. Pore gas on your spring twig fire out in the yard, let it soak in. Light a rolled-up newspaper and throw it at the pile of twigs. The gas errupts before the newspaper hits the twigs because the fumes ignite, not the gas. We had a local guy one night try to kill himself on a drug binge. He disconnected the natural gas line at the heater in the cellar of his home. He walked away and came back with a lighter. While he was away from the gas line now spewing gas into the celler the gas content rose dramatically the cellar. Natural gas blows when the concentration is between 5 % and 15 %. He told the gas company people he sat there flicking his BIC numerous times until the house blew up. Company employees estimated that he probably flicked his BIC about fifty times before the concentration was at an appropriate level for blastoff. Guy lived, house had to be demolished.

MAC · 06-07-2006, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swimmer

I watched as certain persons fire pistols at a gas can, a full gas can. The bullets entered and exited never causing fire or anything else. Wheresmy50 is right. It essentially from the fumes that would ignite the gas. Pore gas on your spring twig fire out in the yard, let it soak in. Light a rolled-up newspaper and throw it at the pile of twigs. The gas errupts before the newspaper hits the twigs because the fumes ignite, not the gas. We had a local guy one night try to kill himself on a drug binge. He disconnected the natural gas line at the heater in the cellar of his home. He walked away and came back with a lighter. While he was away from the gas line now spewing gas into the celler the gas content rose dramatically the cellar. Natural gas blows when the concentration is between 5 % and 15 %. He told the gas company people he sat there flicking his BIC numerous times until the house blew up. Company employees estimated that he probably flicked his BIC about fifty times before the concentration was at an appropriate level for blastoff. Guy lived, house had to be demolished.

Sounds like a prime candidate for Jeff Foxworthy's "Here's your sign"