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Thieves targeting plastic gas tanks using cordless drills to drain fuel

Miramonti

Miramonti

Lifer
Are plastic gas tanks common? This is the first I heard of this happening. Apparently some thieves are enjoying emptying them using a cordless drills from underneath.

link

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) - Puddles of gas remain in each driveway.

"My wife woke me up and says i smell gas," said Rio Rancho resident Frank Larribas

People in a North Rio Rancho neighborhood woke up Monday morning to the stench of gas.

Larribas saw a leak from beneath his truck and figured someone did a poor job siphoning gas.

But then he noticed four other trucks on his street were also leaking gas.

He knew this was no ordinary prank.

"We looked at the bottom of my truck and sure enough, it's got a hole in it," said Larribas.

What these criminals are doing is finding newer model trucks with plastic gas tanks, going underneath and drilling a hole into the plastic tank.

"Utilize a cordless power drill and drill a hole in the bottom of the tank and let it flow into a bucket or tank whatever they have to hold the gas in," said Sgt. Nicholas Onken with the Rio Rancho Police.

Criminals are bypassing the metal gas tanks that could spark and explode.

This new form of stealing gas is new to Rio Rancho Police Department.

"As the criminals evolve we have to evolve with it," said Sgt. Onken.

While police figure out how to combat these types of crimes, much of the expensive gasoline remains, eating away at the asphalt driveways.

Sgt. Onken believes these criminals are working a neighborhood they're familiar with before expanding operations.

"Hit the right pickup truck, that's thirty gallons of gas coming down on you. I'm sure these folks aren't sticking around to get all thirty gallons out of a full tank," he said.

Larribas and his neighbors want whoever damaged the vehicles to pay.

"Catching these kids and saying you need to pay for this, not only the gas but two of the neighbors lost a days wages," added Larribas.

Witnesses saw two suspects running away with gas cans in their hands. They have not been caught.

Police say they found a tool the crooks left behind. They say it will be used as evidence if they are caught.
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Hopefully one day the gas can drip onto their drill and go boom boom. I'm surprised that doesn't happen, actually, battery powered drills are very open and sparky.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
+1 very common.


Some kids pried open my gas cap a year or so ago and tried to siphon some fuel out.
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We raise 'em to be crooks AND stupid these days. There's a check valve in many of the fuel pipes to prevent back flow in case your car ever rolls. It has the happy side effect of preventing most would-be siphoners.

Motion activated lights and webcams are pretty freaking cheap these days.
 
Howard said:
The trick is getting the gas to vaporize enough to present even a remote danger of combustion.
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This.

I used to be one of the "OMG gas is going to explode at any moment" people. Then I worked at a junkyard and watched a guy cut a metal gas tank in half with a sawzall, which he had just drained fuel out of a couple hours before. Same guy showed me the cigarette trick and I became more modest.

Don't get me wrong, gasoline is still a volatile substance, but I think too many people were raised on bullet gas tank explosions (which are also fake).
 
So is there a gas black market? Guess they just use the gas themselves, if so there should be limited demand for it.
 
Pulsar said:
We raise 'em to be crooks AND stupid these days. There's a check valve in many of the fuel pipes to prevent back flow in case your car ever rolls. It has the happy side effect of preventing most would-be siphoners.

Motion activated lights and webcams are pretty freaking cheap these days.
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Heh... This happened at my work, which is in a very nice area. Cost ~$200 to have the filler door mechanism replaced, but at least they didn't hit the paint. I don't believe they actually got any gas at all

i-VspjWsk-M.jpg
 
IIRC they caught some dudes here locally who fitted a panel truck with a large tank and a trap door on the bottom, they would then drive over the fill spout if a store's tank and pump away while an accomplice went inside and occupied the clerk asking for directions, ect. They got away with it for awhile before getting nabbed..
 
Howard said:
Ordinarily, not in combustible amounts, no.
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Let me get this straight so that we're crystal. You're telling me that if I puncture a gas tank on a car and the gas pours out of the hole and this gasoline is exposed to a combustion source it won't burn.
 
It is technically the vapor that burns.

From Wiki:

Liquid fuels

Combustion of a liquid fuel in an oxidizing atmosphere actually happens in the gas phase. It is the vapour that burns, not the liquid. Therefore, a liquid will normally catch fire only above a certain temperature: its flash point. The flash point of a liquid fuel is the lowest temperature at which it can form an ignitable mix with air. It is also the minimum temperature at which there is enough evaporated fuel in the air to start combustion.
 
Same with a candle. It is the wax vapors that are burning.

The flame exists in the vapors above the liquid wax. You see the same thing with a pool of other liquid fuels. Sort of hovering.

316px-Candleburning.jpg
 
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