modifying fuel pods

[texas-5-ton]

When we got this 813, we opted to buy the the fuel pods for water tanks to supply a fire pump. OK. What we was curious about was if we cut an end out of one of the tanks and welded them togather to make one tank. Our reasoning??? We will gain a much needed extra foot in the bed. Plus, the two sepaerate tanks will not fill at the same speed. One of them will always fill faster than the other and this would be eliminted by welding the two togather.I don't know if anybody has done this but if you can give me some pro's and cons, please speak up!! Will this tank lose it's shape when we go to carving on it??

Chad

PS. I was going to put a pic on here but I'm not smart enough to make it smaller so that it will fit !!

 

[Scrounger]

I would leave them as they are. The 600 gal. tank has two pins that line up with the next tank in line which gets them pretty close together. As far as filling, just connect the tanks together with a line that would run under them anyway. That way they would fill at the same time, just have to leave the valves open when filling.

 

[emmado22]

Better baffle them, or else they will EASILY take the truck over.. Trust me, I've seen 2 fuel tankers with the rubber side up because of unbaffled tanks

 

[Jones]

Am I wrong or is a basic premise of all Darwin Award guidelines being overlooked? Shouldn't some little warning, fatherly advice or disclaimer be inserted here?
CUTTING AND WELDING ON EX-FUEL TANKS; and the associated perils thereof.

 

[texas-5-ton]

Thanks for the advice. I was curious as to why the tanks didn't have baffles in them when they were manufactured ?? We had planned on installing baffles in them if we cut them apart. And as far as cutting on a flammable tank, these things have been purged several times with some high powered degreaser so hopefully we have discouraged Darwins Theory..

Thanks again..
Chad

 

[emmado22]

Chad,
One word of advice... If the tank says on it "purged 3 times" or something to that effect, MAKE SURE IT WAS REALLY DONE before cutting/welding.! One of the requirements to turn in any fuel carrying container is that the unit turning it in had to purge it 3X by filling it with water, cleaning, and degreasing it.. The only way to prove to DRMO that it was done was spray painting "Triple rinsed" or words to that effect on it. It's much easier and less time consuming to spray paint that it was triple rinsed than actually doing it.... Dont ask me how I know.....

 

[NEIOWA]

When we got this 813, we opted to buy the the fuel pods for water tanks to supply a fire pump. OK. What we was curious about was if we cut an end out of one of the tanks and welded them togather to make one tank. Our reasoning??? We will gain a much needed extra foot in the bed. Plus, the two sepaerate tanks will not fill at the same speed. One of them will always fill faster than the other and this would be eliminted by welding the two togather.I don't know if anybody has done this but if you can give me some pro's and cons, please speak up!! Will this tank lose it's shape when we go to carving on it??

Chad

PS. I was going to put a pic on here but I'm not smart enough to make it smaller so that it will fit !!

I've considered doing the same (have 20 pods) we are going to use for Fire Dept use. Have come to the conclusion that a better plan is to lock/weld the skids together and then welding on a "wrap" of Al plate to join the two tanks into one. Cut a waterway into each interior tank wall. End up with tank with capacity of approx 1300gal tank with 2 baffles. Actually we're welding together 4x for a 2700gal tank assembly. Still considering if will add a tie between the upper lifting eye plates to strengthen the unit.

Our pods were converted by DOD for CH47 internal ferry system by adding one transverse vertical baffle. When I get time I'm going to template the baffle. No reason you could not break it up into components that will pass thru the manhole.

I'm told that some/later ground pods also have a/some baffles but I've never seen any.

Regarding baffles

NFPA 1901 Chapter 19

19.2.5* All water tanks shall be provided with baffles or swash partitions to form a containment or dynamic method of water movement control.

19.2.51 If a containment method of baffling is used, a minimum of two transverse or longitudinal vertical baffles shall be provided.

19.2.5.1.1 There shall be a maximum distance of 48 inches between any combinations of tank vertical walls and baffles.

19.2.5.1.2 Each baffle shall cover at least 75% of the area of the plane that contains the baffle.

19.2.5.2 If a dynamic method of partitioning is used, the tank shall contain vertical transverse and logitudinal partitions.

19.2.5.2.1 The vertical partitions shll be secured to the top and bottom of the tank.

19.2.5.2.2 The longitudinal partitions shall extend a minimum of 75% of the tank length

19.2.5.2.3 The partitions shall be arranged in such a manner that the vertical plane of each partition shall create cells for which no dimention shall exceed 48 inches.

 

[emmado22]

RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

For the ground pods, there are (No kidding) over 12 different versions/manufacturers, and they are all slightly different.

 

[texas-5-ton]

RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the heads up. We have washed them ourselves so hopefully we got all of the petroleum product out of it. Looking at what the Colonel wrote was another idea that we had thought about doing. Just weld a piece of aluminum around as a band and connect the two tanks that way. That would give you an additional 100 gallons or so but my only concern would be the looks. Guess that would all depend on the craftsmanship. And like he said, NFPA or National Fire Protection says that the tanks should be baffled for"NFPA compliance". Guess we will do some more checking into it..

Chad

 

[jasonjc]

RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

If you are going to do that much work just make a tank. It can be wide and lower for a better CG with a flat top for hose bed or tool storage. and it would be easyer to put the baffles in when you build it. In putting 2 or 4 together has anyone thought about the flexing and thus the stress cracks and the leaks that mite happen.

 

[NEIOWA]

Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

If you are going to do that much work just make a tank. It can be wide and lower for a better CG with a flat top for hose bed or tool storage. and it would be easyer to put the baffles in when you build it. In putting 2 or 4 together has anyone thought about the flexing and thus the stress cracks and the leaks that mite happen.

A big pile of al/steel does not just transform itself into a usable tank. Big project (even if you stick to a cube.

Yes have thought about flex. Thats the kind of thing we engineers ponder. Still considering if will add a tie between the upper lifting eye plates to strengthen the unit. And a "band" joining two tanks will be stronger than a but weld on one cut off tank tack on the end of another tank.

 

[NEIOWA]

RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

Something else you might consider. If you remove the drain/valve assembly from a fuel pod drain, you'll find the fitting is a 90 degree elbow that is also a reducer (4" at the tank/2" camlock outlet). On the pod we modified for our Type 5 wildland we removed the valve/elbow/reducer assembly and welded a 4" elbow onto the alum tank fitting. Still clears the deck. Our pump mfg says a pump can "pull" 600gpm thru a 4" (but only 200gpm thru a 2").

 

[texas-5-ton]

RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

We had planned on doing either 3" or 4". The 4" would probably be the best. And like you said earlier, building a tank is VERY expensive, even if you go with steel. A 1,200 gallon steel tank was going to cost $5,000 to make and a poly tank was going to cost $11,000. If money was no object, I'd love to build my own tank.

 

[rdixiemiller]

RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

We had a ford F600 fire truck with a home made tank. I almost rolled the thing coming back from a fire one night where we had used about 1/2 of the 600 gallons of water. turned out there were no baffles in the tank. We cut through the top and did a "tic tac toe" series of baffles inside with a series of 6x6 holes at the bottom to equalize the level.
Much easier to drive.

 

[NEIOWA]

RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

Our current tanker is a L9000 single rear axle with SS 2600gal elliptical milk tank. Heavy no baffle. I show great respect when driving it. We strongly try to never drive in unless empty or full. I swear I can feel it moving around even when "full" but probably just paranoid.

Now working on replaceing it with a "new" truck a 1990 F900 Marmon Harrringtion 6x6. Tank is a 2500 SS baffled fuel tank from a HEMTT. Anyone have any idea what DOD has quite a few of these tanks available thru the surplus system? Truck rebuilds??? Larger tanks???

 

[texas-5-ton]

RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

Our tanker is a 1991 Ford F800 with a 1500 gallon sqare tank with one X baffle in the middle. This truck sounds much like yours in that it is a very dangerous truck to drive. We are currently trying to get it replaced before someone gets hurt. A neighboring department has an 05 International 4400 series dual tandem tanker with a 3000 gallon elliptical tank. Those guys say that it handles like a cadillac.

 

[emmado22]

RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

HEMTT rebuild programs are making alot of 2800 Gallon tanks, and the are getting replaced with new 2800 gallon tanks, as part of the refurb.

 

[NEIOWA]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

Now working on replaceing it with a "new" truck a 1990 F900 Marmon Harrringtion 6x6. Tank is a 2500 SS baffled fuel tank from a HEMTT. Anyone have any idea what DOD has quite a few of these tanks available thru the surplus system? Truck rebuilds??? Larger tanks???

Our "new" truck is a Navy Coastal Warfare Sqdron @ Norfolk Va (door decal). I'm betting an interesting life towing unique small craft in/out of C5 and launching them. Only has 18000mi.

 

[NEIOWA]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

HEMTT rebuild programs are making alot of 2800 Gallon tanks, and the are getting replaced with new 2800 gallon tanks, as part of the refurb.

I assume must be something along those lines. Knew Oshkosh was rebuilding cargo HEMTT but have not seem anything about tanker. Always thought 2500gal was a bit on the small size for the chassis.

Tanks are very low profile baffled 304SS, large easy open fill hatch, 2x 4" bottom fill/drain. Excellent for the beer budget FD just need to cut in/weld 3x dumps.

 

[jasonjc]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: modifying fuel pods

Those seem to be better than the pods and I see them up at action all the time