Cleaning out large fuel tank

[Humpy]

Jeepsinker you are absolutely correct. After I put in my inputs I remembered a course I took at Rock Island Arsenal 30 years ago called Corrosion Control and Prevention of Material Deterrioration where among a thousand other topics diesel fuel deterrioration and its after effects were discussed but since there is dust on my floppy disc I could not remember exactly what the details were so I called the course instructor yesterday and we talked for 20 minutes.

I told him I had just obtained a high quality drum hand truck that would handle steel and plastic drums upwards of 1000 lbs and that my intention was to get some drums and lay in a couple with off road diesel while the price of diesel is down and filled the drums in the upright position straight from the pump and seal them immediately and bring them home and store them in a place where sun light would not heat them and extreme cold would not be a issue in my shop.

He had the following recommendations:

Use Polyethene (HDPE) drums or Polypropylene. These drums will have such information molded into them and might indicate PE, HDPE, PP. Basically these are the only plastic drums suitable for food products.

No stabilizer is needed as long as the drums remain sealed and not exposed to conditions that will cause the formation of moisture. Once moisture is introduced to diesel you are on a downhill course.



HE STRESSED THAT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES USE PVC DRUMS ! ! ! ! !

 

[Another Ahab]

He had the following recommendations:

Use Polyethene (HDPE) drums or Polypropylene. These drums will have such information molded into them and might indicate PE, HDPE, PP. Basically these are the only plastic drums suitable for food products.

Good source for drums and tanks is U.S. Plastics Corp:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=74067

Product description says "not for fuels and oils" but it is HDPE.​

 

[Humpy]

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23527&partnumber=8639#8639

Very interesting, I just called them and have dealt with them several times over the years and they have excellent products.

The above http makes reference to HDPE fuel tanks they sell and some are available with high gallon capability. Besides the color differences I could see where a plactic 55 gal drum laid on its side could instroduce a stress condition that would compromise the bung integrity. Also it could be a DOT thing for fuels with the following:

"Tanks have been successfully used for very demanding applications of non-DOT, portable and stationary storage tanks for fuel oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, biodiesel, antifreeze and most motor oils, new and used. Tanks are not recommended for strong oxidizers or aromatics as well as gasoline, or jet fuel"

Went out to unused well house built with concrete blocks and in 50s where I have gas stored yesterday morning and noted some 5 gal HDPE buckets I have non ethenol gas stored in were exposed to the sun and the area exposed to it was contracted inwards. I opened the top expectiing to hear a sucking sound and nothing. The HDPE buckets right next to those two sunlight had not touched were unchanged. Had another looksee at them last night and they had resumed original shape. While there I got to looking at the Blitz cans and could not find the HDPE or PE symbol on the mold data so this morning I pulled up:

https://www1.gardnerinc.com/intl/pdf/promo-blitz_cans_flyer.pdf

which state "Holds 5 gallons featuring theself-venting spout.
• Convenient top and back
handles for ease in carrying
and pouring.
• Made of durable HDPE."

They are the pre California design with normal spouts and the website says these can only be sold "outside the US" and only 6.99. About eight years ago Tractor Supply was selling these for like 4.00 and I bought about 15 of them in yellow (diesel) and red, once they were gone the new ones were California approved spouts and three times the price.

I am (from what I have seen) thinking that BLITZ is the largest manufacturer of fuel cans in the US and they hold gas and diesel quite well and they are about 1/4th the wall thickness as the 5 gal buckets are molded from and for whatever reasons some scream on their website/catalog "no gas" "no fuels" yet others sell HDPE containers 7 days a week for such.

Thusly I can only assume some vendors have "lawyered up" hoping to prevent law suits but then again this begs the question of why the bucket/drum manufacturers don't have "no gas or no fuels" molded into their cans if this were the case and just a minimum of searching reveals fuel tanks on vehicles, generators, off road equipment are molding fuel tanks for their vehicles from HDPE.

I am aware of one generator manufacturer with molded gas tank (7 gal) that has a recall on ones they sold as they tend to crack at the seam joint. I have one of these and found the crack and repaired it about a year ago with MarineTex (gray) and no leaks since. I learned of the recall, and called the manufacturer and they sent me a new tank I have in storage just waiting to see how long it takes for the Marinetex repair to deteriorate. After I repaired the tank I cut up the sardine can I mixed it in and placed a section with MarineTex on it in a jar of non ethenol gas and dated it and set it on shelf and I am watching it and there is no sign of deterrioration. I also used Marinetex on a Onan generator steel tank and it no longer leaks.

Based on the Rock Island Course I took I do know that sunlight exposure will degrade a large range (if not all) plastics in time. Thusly don't leave your plastic cans exposed to the sun.