Possible DEF shortages

[i7win7]

If you use DEF fluid you may want to watch this

https://banned.video/watch?id=61b256ec859af811ce9db20c

 

[RickB]

Can't watch it, I'm out of tin foil to fabricate the appropriate headgear.
Every result for my 'DEF shortage' search is a video from someone's mothers basement.

 

[Hay Dude]

I am having trouble finding DEF.
Walmart is always out. That was the place to buy it. It was cheap there. They have been out for months.

 

[RickB]

Walmart was short of Halloween candy and their toy aisles have been pretty sparse. Fortunately they aren't the only retailer on the planet.

 

[3930dave]

Most of us are a long way from Oz, but it's being taken seriously there....

Australia forms DEF taskforce to avert shortage | Argus Media

Uptake in China is a factor. Go figure.

Availability of Natgas may be an Oz issue; shouldn't be Can/USA. That said, all supply-chains are a mess today...... lady from Accting @ work said they received an email from the office supplier they use.... Domtar is warning about a potential shortage of printer paper.

I asked if Canada was out of trees...... No, some chemical they need for paper production comes from..... wait for it......... PRC.

May you live in interesting times....

Rgds, D.

 

[Hay Dude]

Walmart was short of Halloween candy and their toy aisles have been pretty sparse. Fortunately they aren't the only retailer on the planet.

Yep, anything made in China is controlled by them. They can create shortages and surpluses. They can do it as a means of controlling a country’s way of life and national security.
Those items you mentioned are heavily made in China.

This is serious business. People need to wake up and realize that production in the US needs to be restored to levels that can ensure national security and flow of commerce.

If you want to see panic, watch what happens to trucking when DEF can’t be found. The flow of goods STOPS

 

[workinonit]

I'm pretty sure you could just pee in the tank.

 

[RickB]

The issue with DEF in the US is more of an issue of price than availability. Natural gas and urea prices gave spiked. The recent collapse of NG prices should help.
High ingredient prices put pressure on bargain retailers who are more willing to leave shelves empty than locate new sources at higher prices.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yep, anything made in China is controlled by them. They can create shortages and surpluses. They can do it as a means of controlling a country’s way of life and national security.
Those items you mentioned are heavily made in China.

This is serious business. People need to wake up and realize that production in the US needs to be restored to levels that can ensure national security and flow of commerce.

That drumbeat is finally starting to get through to people, now that we're starting to reap what we sowed.

 

[deezler]

Just read yesterday about DEF/Urea shortages in Asia. Trucks are idled in South Korea as China has stopped exporting to them. Big problem.

If you have a DEF truck, I wouldn't consider it crazy to hoard a pretty good supply.

 

[RickB]

The US lacks the labor supply, regulatory framework and the basic desire for self sufficiency to regain its position of manufacturing superiority.
Complaining about empty shelves at Walmart is part of the proof. Every single one of us shares in the responsibility.
I have said for 30 years this country is on a path to ruin and that is more evident every day.

 

[Cycledude]

Fortunately I don’t need to buy DEF but there seems to be plenty of it available in my area, Walmart ,gas stations, hardware stores, a new Tractor Supply opened yesterday and they had a bunch of DEF in stock.

 

[finn1]

DEF has a shelf life. It’s foolish to hoard it.

DEF is distilled water with an ultra pure ammonia solution, at 11%. We used to make it in the basement of the engine lab before it was commercially available.

You need laboratory grade ammonia, though, or you’ll destroy your after treatment system.

Cost us $.11/gallon to make in the circa 2001 timeframe.

Walmart and six different grocery and drug stores are out of distilled water here in Tucson. No idea as to when they will get more. China doesn’t supply distilled water.

Finally found some at Sprouts, a local green store.

 

[Texasmark]

I am having trouble finding DEF.
Walmart is always out. That was the place to buy it. It was cheap there. They have been out for months.

I have been to 3 around here and the diesel oil racks are empty!

 

[ruffdog]

Here we go into panic mode again. Hoard!

 

[Jstpssng]

Here we go into panic mode again. Hoard!

Like all of the canned vegetables I stocked up on 3 years ago. Actually I try to keep 2 weeks worth of nonperishable food on hand over and above what I normally use. Every year I would donate the previous year's supply to the USPS food drive.
They haven't had that in the past couple of years and this week I found a year out dated can of string beans which had rusted through the can, spewing all over the rest of the box of goods.

 

[5030]

Interesting. I just purchased a full IBC tote of old DEF fluid that was past it's end use date. 300 gallons of it to use as a foliar fertilizer on my Alfalfa fields. Was appreciably less than 46 granulated urea which was 18 bucks last year and is now almost 30 per bag.

All DEF is, is deionized water and urea in solution. Nothing fancy. Not sure why it has a use date on it, but it does. Smells like cat pee to me. Alfalfa loves the stuff.

 

[RickB]

Putting nitrogen on alfalfa is like throwing money in a toilet. All you are doing is suppressing the natural nitrogen fixing bacteria that live on the root nodules. Healthy alfalfa growing in soil with the correct pH doesn't need any supplemental nitrogen.

 

[5030]

Putting nitrogen on alfalfa is like throwing money in a toilet. All you are doing is suppressing the natural nitrogen fixing bacteria that live on the root nodules. Healthy alfalfa growing in soil with the correct pH doesn't need any supplemental nitrogen.

Mine does real well with it but I also have Brohme grass in with it. It's vernal btw.... and you don't have the soil composition we have either. I can pull a plug and it always comes back N needed.

 

[gsganzer]

I've been finding DEF supply as hit or miss for the past year. When I was in O-Reilly's the other day, they didn't have any. And that was 2 different stores.

I don't plan to hoard it, but I might buy a few extra jugs and then just use the "first -in, first-out" inventory philosophy so it stays fresh and I don't get caught without.