Oil & Fuel Fuel storage?

[PBunning]

I am very close to buying a diesel ZTR for residential use right now. One of the advantages I have read about on this site, is the use of off-road diesel from my heating oil supplier to save on fuel costs. I am curious as to how people get deliveries of the fuel, and how they store it and transfer the fuel to their tractors, etc.??

I have oil heat for my home, but can't see how I could tap these tanks for the couple of gallons at a clip needed to do my lawn. Do people really use the huge multiple hundred gallon tanks to store their fuel? I have seen smaller 20-50 gallon tanks with transfer pumps that I could easily store in or behind my shed. As this will only be used for my home, I can't really see using more than 20 gallons per month.

Any hints, tips, etc for a newbie?

Thanks

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Henro]

I bought four of those yellow 5-gallon (6 gallon ??) plastic fuel containers and I get them filled all at once with off road diesel full as a place that sells off-road fuel.

20 gallons last a while. About 32 hours of seat time I think, in my case.

Still, if I had home heating oil, I think I would figure a way to tap into the line going to the furnace... seems like that would make things simple and easy if it were possible.

 

[SteveH_CT]

I laughed when you questioned the capacity on those yellow diesel cans. I don't know if my fuel gauge is off, or if I have more than 5 gallons in those tanks. I ran the tractor down to about 1/4 tank when I first got it - as I was filling it (from the "5 gal") I just let er rip and figured it would bring me to about 3/4 full - well don't you know diesel started spewing all over the place. I had way overfilled it, with a good 1/2 gallon left to go in the can. That didn't add up since I am supposed to have a 10 gallon tank on the tractor. So I'm much more careful now - it took a long time to get the fuel out of everywhere it spilled. Oh - lesson learned #2, never fill up in the garage! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

You're right about seat time - I've used most of the first two tanks I filled, with the tractor at roughly 3/4 of a tank - about 24 hours or so, and I should get another 5 or 6 very easily out of this tank. These smaller tractors really seem to sip fuel.

 

[shvl73]

If you could siphon it from the outside filler, that would be good but, most filler necks have too many elbows to easily get a siphon hose through them. Be careful about tapping in to the tank if it's in the basement, a leak could be disasterous. If a leak is detected by the oil company & it doesn't need to be much, they will report it to the EPA. That's when things go from awful to you don't want to think about it.

 

[TBAR]

I don't get near the seat time you do so diesel fuel last me quite a while. I was given two 55 gal barrels of off road diesel two years ago and have only used one. I am very concerned about the fuel going bad and have treated it several times with a biocide and a water separator. I also keep the barrels tightly sealed. So far it is still a nice bright red color, has a strong diesel smell, and does not foam in the filter bowl when I pump it. I have pumped the fuel from one barrel to another to check for water at the bottom and have only found traces of it.

I will continue to monitor it as I know it won't stay good forever.


TBAR

 

[zuiko]

Just make sure they will deliver to whatever container you choose before buying something. They might require a UL listed container. Old fuel tanks are pretty easy to come by for almost free but most of them are 265 gallons. Then to pump it out you could get a 110 or 12 volt pump, filter, and separater. Figure about $200 for everything.

I have oil heat too and thought about tapping into that but I don't want to take the chance of indoor spills. Not so much because of the EPA but because indoor diesel spills reek, last a long time, and are hard to get rid of.

 

[uhmgawa]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Still, if I had home heating oil, I think I would figure a way to tap into the line going to the furnace... seems like that would make things simple and easy if it were possible. )</font>

I consume about 1000 gallons of #2 heating oil per year. I buy
in bulk when the price is at a yearly low in the summer. So it is
an attractive option to use as fuel. Aside from the endless debate
of whether #2 heating oil is really the same as diesel fuel, I'd be at
least a bit concerned about the level of impurities working their
way into the distribution process of heating oil. An oil burner is
fairly tolerant of impurities, and yearly routine maintenance calls
for changing the line filter and burner nozzle/screen which are
essentially the only items affected by impurities. And they go into
the trash can. Witnessing the condition of either of these will
make you think twice about putting this stuff untreated into your
machine.

I think at least I would make sure the oil I was drawing from the
tank was through a separate fuel filter and I'd treat the fuel with
a water displacing additive. Interior tanks are going to have far less
condensation compared to outdoor tanks. Most oil tanks have a
multitude of top openings, and likely only two will be used for
fill and vent purposes. So you should be able to unplug an unused
(hopefully 2") bung and install a pump.

You will still need to deal with the issue of bio-degradation. 6 months
is a common rule of thumb for the shelf life of untreated diesel.

 

[Lazy]

Hi
You might want to look at this site before using home heating oil in your tractor.

http://www.amghummer.com/Diesel/DieselFuel/about_diesel_fuel.htm

Charlie.

 

[755inNY]

Paul,

Check with fuel dealers in your area before doing anything. The laws are much more strictly enforced now then they used to be. Some dealers are gun shy and do not want to bother with the liability. My neighbor went through this. He has a 500 gallon tank with pump and a JD4600 he does jobs with. He had difficulty finding a distributor to deliver off-road diesel and when he did, the price was not much cheaper than at the retail pump. It was a real hassle.

Depending on how much you buy, there may be little difference between off road diesel and buying it at the pump. It all depends on your area. If you can find someone who will sell off road diesel in small quantities, you might be better off getting a (4) 5 gallon cans filled once a month.


Jeff

 

[zuiko]

I've seen that and I think the part about Kerosene being interchanged is inaccurate. If you order #2 and they give you a receipt for #2 there better be #2 in the tank. Anything other than that and it's fraud.

For people who happen to have their tanks outside and aboveground (which I have never seen for heat BTW) they can order #1 or kero mix. I've had suppliers ask which one I want for that reason. They aren't going to just assume everyone has their tanks outside when almost no one does.

That said I would certainly filter it, add something like PS, and run it through a water separator.