This is how you siphon gas

[Bateluer]

http://www.ktar.com/index.php?nid=6&sid=1266383

PHOENIX - Phoenix Police said it is too bad the thieves did not use their genius for good rather than evil.

Three men were caught parking a van over a fuel storage tank at at a North Valley Cirkle K Friday, Feb. 22.

"What we were able to see is inside that van there were all kinds of hoses, there's a tank in there that holds about 450 gallons of gas," Phoenix Police Detective James Holmes said. "That tank had about 200 gallons of gas in it."

Police say around 12:30 a.m. a Phoenix Police officer responded to a call about a possible theft. The clerk who was working at the store received an interior store alarm that which indicated the businesses was losing a large amount of gasoline.

The clerk looked outside and saw a white van and another vehicle parked over the fuel tanks. Remembering a flyer that was passed out warning of a previous fuel theft with a white van, the clerk called police.

"It appears that, on at least two occasions, they used vehicles to actually siphon fuel from the underground fuel tanks at two difference Circle K stores," Holmes said of the thieves.

Police learned that one of the three men had passed out due to the gasoline fumes.

Police said all three were booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail for armed burglary because police found a handgun inside the car.

Why be content with a few gallons from a private car or truck when you can drop the hose directly into the gas station's underground tanks and steal hundreds of gallons? Have to watch those gasoline fumes though.

 

[geno]

Police learned that one of the three men had passed out due to the gasoline fumes.

lol.

 

[SunnyD]

This was a popular thing to do in Florida a few years back.

 

[Eli]

That's pretty funny, and I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

I'm also shocked that stations have any kind of alarm that goes off because fuel is leaving. What if all 10 pumps or whatever had people pumping? Seems odd, but I guess it makes sense.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

That's pretty funny, and I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

I'm also shocked that stations have any kind of alarm that goes off because fuel is leaving. What if all 10 pumps or whatever had people pumping? Seems odd, but I guess it makes sense.

The one I worked at briefly had no such alarm afaik. I imagine whatever gauge they use for it accounts for gasoline pumped by the pumps; it's probably more in place to detect a leak in the tank than someone actually siphoning gas atleast that's my guess.

 

[techs]

You young'ns don't remember that during the first oil embargo almost no American cars had locking gas caps and thieves were driving around with hoses siphoning out gas.

 

[OUCaptain]

I wasn't aware there was a black market for gas. I'm wondering how that works.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yeah, the alarm is for a leaking fuel tank.

No pump is running, but the tank is emptying, equals alarm.

 

[Jeff7]

I wasn't aware there was a black market for gas. I'm wondering how that works.

You see the white van with "GAS" spraypainted on the side. A friendly man approaches you to offer his goods. Just back up real slow, he jams his hose in the back, pumps away, and once he's finished, you make the drive of shame back home, with the fruits of his labor sloshing behind you.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

You see the white van with "GAS" spraypainted on the side. A friendly man approaches you to offer his goods. Just back up real slow, he jams his hose in the back, pumps away, and once he's finished, you make the drive of shame back home, with the fruits of his labor sloshing behind you.

I bet if you showed up to a job site you could unload 100-200 gallons easily.

 

[Jeff7]

I bet if you showed up to a job site you could unload 100-200 gallons easily.

It's a hell of a big load right there. It might even come shooting out hard enough that you might get a bit sprayed on your face.

 

[FoBoT]

these will be common place once gasoline reaches $10/gallon

 

[Born2bwire]

You see the white van with "GAS" spraypainted on the side. A friendly man approaches you to offer his goods. Just back up real slow, he jams his hose in the back, pumps away, and once he's finished, you make the drive of shame back home, with the fruits of his labor sloshing behind you.

So that's what happened to the guy that used to drive the "Candy Van" in my neighborhood.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

It's a hell of a big load right there. It might even come shooting out hard enough that you might get a bit sprayed on your face.

It's sort of odd that this is the first thing you thought of. Says a lot about where your brain tends to track.

 

[killster1]

You young'ns don't remember that during the first oil embargo almost no American cars had locking gas caps and thieves were driving around with hoses siphoning out gas.

sorry locking gascap does nothing.. my grandma in law actually defeated my lock cap on accident.. i think a combo on it might be better as she put wrong key in and it broke the lock mechanism. there was CSI episode on this same thing 450 gallons x 3 bux gallon really not that much money to risk exploding over.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Quote in OP's story;
"What we were able to see is inside that van there were all kinds of hoses, there's a tank in there that holds about 450 gallons of gas," Phoenix Police Detective James Holmes said. "That tank had about 200 gallons of gas in it." ----------
Do you have any idea how large a tank that would have to be? and how many pounds it would weigh if filled? I take it that this wasn't soccer-mom's mini van.

 

[Platypus]

PHOENIX - Phoenix Police said it is too bad the thieves did not use their genius for good rather than evil.

What the fuck does that even mean? lol.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

these will be common place once gasoline reaches $10/gallon

Not if Mad Max has anything to say about it.

 

[Blackjack200]

You can't siphon oil from an underground tank to an above ground van. They must have pumped the gas out.

 

[Eli]

Yeah, the alarm is for a leaking fuel tank.

No pump is running, but the tank is emptying, equals alarm.

Ahh. That makes sense.

 

[destrekor]

Quote in OP's story;
"What we were able to see is inside that van there were all kinds of hoses, there's a tank in there that holds about 450 gallons of gas," Phoenix Police Detective James Holmes said. "That tank had about 200 gallons of gas in it." ----------
Do you have any idea how large a tank that would have to be? and how many pounds it would weigh if filled? I take it that this wasn't soccer-mom's mini van.

my immediate guess is a typical cargo van.

At the absolute most, a 450 gallon tank of guess, not including the weight of the tank itself, could hold around 3100lbs of gas. If it were water, quite a bit more.
450 gallons, weighing 3100lbs, is a gallon weighing 7lbs. That's more than every figure I've seen. Consumer gasoline seems to weigh about 6 or 6.5lbs per gallon.

Cargo vans, according to uhaul, have a max cargo capacity of ~3600lbs.

Not even a challenge to transport that much gasoline. Of course, it requires a heavy-duty truck base, not some wimpy vehicle.

 

[0roo0roo]

high risk low yield.
3 men
450 gallons/3 x 3 bucks a gallon /2 street price $225

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

 

[Platypus]

wild card, bitches!

 

[Mike Gayner]

Someone plx explain to me how you siphon from underground tanks? K thx.