Air Operated Barrel Pump -- Heating Oil tanks?

[YogiBear79]

I have one of these air operated barrel pumps from Harbor Freight:

12 GPM Air Operated Barrel Pump

I have two external home heating oil tanks connected together. Would this pump diesel out of these tanks? Friend of mine thinks it wont work cause they aren't air tight like a 55gal drum would be

 

[RonMar]

I have one of these air operated barrel pumps from Harbor Freight:

12 GPM Air Operated Barrel Pump

I have two external home heating oil tanks connected together. Would this pump diesel out of these tanks? Friend of mine thinks it wont work cause they aren't air tight like a 55gal drum would be

Your friend is correct, that pump works by pressurizing the air in the top of the barrel, which pushes the fuel down, and ultimatly up thru the pipe as that is the only point of exit for the pressure. I suppose those pumps work OK, and they have regulators(now, didn't used to...) and safeties on them, but a 55 gallon drum is NOT a pressure vessel, and an error in applying air pressure from a compressor at 120 or so PSI, could result in a bulge or rupture. A home heating oil tank with much larger surfaces would be much more succeptible to this type of damage...

 

[YogiBear79]

Thanks for the information! Ultimately it would be benificial to be able to pump from these tanks. I don't go through enough fuel to warrant hundreds of dollars on a pump set up. Any reccomondations on what I could do? Else, I will just continue with the 5 gal cans to the gas station!

 

[SPYDERLK]

Thanks for the information! Ultimately it would be benificial to be able to pump from these tanks. I don't go through enough fuel to warrant hundreds of dollars on a pump set up. Any reccomondations on what I could do? Else, I will just continue with the 5 gal cans to the gas station!

TSC sells a hand crank pump with anti siphon feature, hose, and dip tube for 275 tank, I think for about $100. -- It is made by Great Plains Industries. - - It pumps about a pint per revolution. I use it to fill my tractors thru an auto shutoff nozzle, bought seperately. Quite convenient and trouble free. Even the wife has no trouble pumping a few gallons at a time. :thumbsup:
larry

 

[moored4]

Ok guys you can start :laughing: :laughing::laughing: now cause I am getting ready to sound like a woman!

If you had this pump out, not in a container, standing alone, and applied air to it does it hiss air or does it sound like it is pumping
<here goes> (kathump, kathump, kathump,) as if a cylinder is cycling!
If it is hissing then it needs an air tight container to PUSH or DISPLACE the material out and is not actually a pump. If it is pumping then it should work and the container will need to be vented to atmosphere.
You could all so put it in a 5gal open top pail of water and trying pumping that. If it works on that then it will pump your two tanks!

Ok! Guy's you can get up off the floor now and give me a break now!!

 

[Snaker]

I used a homemade 55 gal drum for several years when my usage didn't justify home delivery to the big gravity tank anymore. A buddy made a siphon pipe that reached down just off the bottom, went through a bung with welded pipe reducer fittings and made a rounded hook at the top. A fuel hose was clamped to the end and had a short piece of steel tube with a bend at the other end to set in the equipments tank. I didn't have any kind of shutoff valve on it. I popped the quick-connect to stop the flow and vent (I wouldn't think you would want to leave the tank pressurized when not in use) and I had to really pay attention because it took about 5 seconds to get the flow stopped. It had to be air tight to work.The other bung had pipe reducer fittings to a male quick-connect air fitting.

I used a portable air tank and had to work the air tanks shutoff valve very carefully to control the air flow. I was always going to setup a air regulator but never got to it. That setup requires very little PSI to work but volume can vary alot. When the barrel was full, flow would start quickly. If barrel was closer to empty, I would have to run the air tank down to about half of its pressure to start the flow.

For the size of tanks you are dealing with, it might get very old to be pumping in enough air to start the flow each time as the fuel level goes down.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Ok guys you can start :laughing: :laughing::laughing: now cause I am getting ready to sound like a woman!

If you had this pump out, not in a container, standing alone, and applied air to it does it hiss air or does it sound like it is pumping
<here goes> (kathump, kathump, kathump,) as if a cylinder is cycling!
If it is hissing then it needs an air tight container to PUSH or DISPLACE the material out and is not actually a pump. If it is pumping then it should work and the container will need to be vented to atmosphere.
You could all so put it in a 5gal open top pail of water and trying pumping that. If it works on that then it will pump your two tanks!

Ok! Guy's you can get up off the floor now and give me a break now!!

Hey!, when you think about it a compressor works pretty close to this way - a stroke at a time. I agree with you however ... technically. ----- OP, I hope youll go the way of a real pump and vented tank. Blowing fluid up and out of a vessel not designed for pressure is pretty touchy. And worse with the oval flat sided 275 tanks. Just 1psi will push those flat sides outward with about 1000 pounds of force in an attempt to make the vessel spherical. --- An overage of just a few psi ...
larry