How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ?

   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ? #1  

Charlesaf3

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Aug 17, 2006
Messages
1,984
Location
Richmond VA & Irvington VA
Tractor
Kubota B3030, Kubota M59 TLB
I talked to my heating oil distributor today, and they confirmed that what I'm burning for heat is standard diesel. Per my dealer this is fine to put in my tractor.

This would be moderately cheaper, and much easier than going downtown to fill up 5 gallon jugs of diesel.

So my question is, how do I get the fuel from my tank in my basement to the tractor? Heating oil guy offered me a used tank for free, but I don't really want a fuel tank rusting in front of my house. And I figure that using the stuff that's delivered for the furnace will keep the diesel fresh. I'll probably put some power service in there as well - can't imagine it'll bother the furnace.

Does anyone have any recomendations on a cheap, useful pump? Or a source for fuel pumps?

I figure the pump will have to be in the basement, with a hose going through the concrete wall... Maybe some sort of fitting there...

Anyone have any ideas? And who would I get to install such a thing? Oil distributor isn't interested in doing it... If its a simple procedure, I can do it myself - making the hole and screwing things onto the tank wouldn't be that hard.
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ? #2  
Harbor Freight sells a pump that operates from compressed air. It works well for me. I dont have to pump the fuel very high since my tank is above ground, but I think it would be adequate for a lift of at least 10'. I can do an experiment to check if you are interested.
Larry
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ? #3  
Depending on the age of your home oil tank, there may be sludge in there so you may want to consider that. You want to filter it for sure.

I have a 100 gallion tank on my pickup for red fuel. I always treat my fuel especially since my one tractor is an 83' and the low sulfer fuels don't have enough lubricity for it. I regularly dump treated fuel into my home tank to empty it prior to filling that truck tank. That way, I can easily figure the treatment for 100 gal. Use an engine rated fuel treatment, not one for the furnace.

As a matter of fact, my fuel supplier is less than a mile away from me. Last winter with the higher costs, I saved 5 cents a gallion over home delivery by picking it up myself. Money was tight for us so it was easier to purchase just 100 gallons as opposed to filling my two home tanks by delivery.

I also keep a couple of five gallion jugs of fuel on hand in case I need some and don't want to fill the big tank at the moment. I find those to rather unweildy to handle though.

You can also purchase smaller tanks or tank toolbox combo's if you have a pickup. If you went with an electric pump, they are not cheap but they do give good service. Check out Northern Hydraulics or Tractor Supply.
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ? #4  
Mornin Charles,
Have you given ant thought to a 55 gal drum in your garage or barn with a hand crank pump ? We have two 55 gal drums in my neighbors barn where I keep my deisel tractor and it is very convient. We dump some stabilizer in when we get them filled.
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ? #5  
Depends on how much fuel you burn. Good fuel pumps are not cheap. Plus the other expense of wiring and plumbing it.

If your heating oil tank has a threaded plug on top you can get black iron pipe fittings to adapt from that threaded hole to a pump. I would think you would want the pump & filter system inside and mounted at the tank. Then you would need an electric switch outside to turn on the pump, plus a line or hose running outside for the fuel nozzle. The most important thing would be to select a pump with enough lift to pump the fuel out of the basement.

You could have a neat little fill up station, just depends what you want to spend.
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ? #6  
Unless you are burning 100's of gallons of fuel a year, it's probably a waste of time and $. If the tank is in the basement, you are going to pump the fuel into a 5 gallon can, walk it thru the house and fill the tractor from the can? That wouldn't fly in my house, 1 drip in the house and I'd be a dead man.

If you are using a large volume, go with a dedicated tank in the garage.

For me the $.50/gallon savings isn't worth it. I have 2 diesel tractors and burn about 120 gallons/year.
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
scott_vt said:
Mornin Charles,
Have you given ant thought to a 55 gal drum in your garage or barn with a hand crank pump ? We have two 55 gal drums in my neighbors barn where I keep my deisel tractor and it is very convient. We dump some stabilizer in when we get them filled.

Good idea on the filters - a must do.

I love the drum idea. But no barn :( and no garage :mad: Its on the project list. Maybe I should focus on that... Though I love the "neatness" of having a filling station at the side of my house.

How are things in VT now - leaves off the trees? We're getting a nice storm down in Mass right now, the 55 mph gusts will probably strip a lot of the remaining leaves. I love VT - thought of moving there, but mud season would kill me. And y'all have a couple of more months of winter than we do down here by the sea.
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
dirtworksequip said:
Depends on how much fuel you burn. Good fuel pumps are not cheap. Plus the other expense of wiring and plumbing it.

If your heating oil tank has a threaded plug on top you can get black iron pipe fittings to adapt from that threaded hole to a pump. I would think you would want the pump & filter system inside and mounted at the tank. Then you would need an electric switch outside to turn on the pump, plus a line or hose running outside for the fuel nozzle. The most important thing would be to select a pump with enough lift to pump the fuel out of the basement.

You could have a neat little fill up station, just depends what you want to spend.

Yeah, that's more or less how I thought of doing it. Only difference is I wouldn't put the switch outside (probably). I don't mind walking into the basement to turn on the pump.

I do have a couple of unused threaded plugs on top.

Any ideas on how to get the hose through the wall? I'd thought of running a hose to iron pipe going through the wall, and then a hose on the outside of the wall. The issue is leaving the fuel in the outside hose... Is there a quick coupling for fuel I wonder? Though would it even matter if I had the proper antigel in there?
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
JJT said:
Unless you are burning 100's of gallons of fuel a year, it's probably a waste of time and $. If the tank is in the basement, you are going to pump the fuel into a 5 gallon can, walk it thru the house and fill the tractor from the can? That wouldn't fly in my house, 1 drip in the house and I'd be a dead man.

If you are using a large volume, go with a dedicated tank in the garage.

For me the $.50/gallon savings isn't worth it. I have 2 diesel tractors and burn about 120 gallons/year.

No, no filling diesel cans in the basement! :eek: I'd run the hose outside if I were going to do it. Its probably not cost effective, but avoiding the pain of running into town to get diesel in jugs is worth it. I probably will be burning a couple of hundred gallons a year for the next few years while I do a lot of heavy landscaping. After that usage will go down considerably.
 
   / How to Use Home Heating Oil in Tractor ?
  • Thread Starter
#10  
SPYDERLK said:
Harbor Freight sells a pump that operates from compressed air. It works well for me. I dont have to pump the fuel very high since my tank is above ground, but I think it would be adequate for a lift of at least 10'. I can do an experiment to check if you are interested.
Larry

Yeah, I'd love to know the lift. I was actually thinking of setting up an air tank in the basement next to the fuel, with an outside connect. I need the fuel to go up around 8 feet, and then out 20. Doesn't matter if the gpm are low - my tank isn't that big, and the 18 gpm pumps I've seen would have me "greasing" the tractor in diesel half the time.
 
 
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