Texas 119 gallon max gasoline carry without permit

[texasjohn]

Wiz Bang, good info... welcome to TBN... good to have your experience here!

since I first posted, I've seen several transfer tanks that were marked as 118 gallons...so seems like the manufacturers are aware of the rules (as well they should be)

I plan to be pumping from a transfer tank bolted in the back of my pickup into an overhead steel tank on a supporting platform. I know that the pickup tires insulate the tank from ground. Should I rely on the metal nozzle in contact with the inlet of my metal tank sitting on the ground and the wire inside the hose connected to the transfer tank to be sufficient grounding? Or should I create a separate wire with battery clamps on it and connect that, too, between the transfer tank and overhead tank prior to offloading fuel? Piltoon says this is standard aviation practice. Jinman agrees grounding is a good idea.

Is it a different answer/risk for diesel vs gasoline?

Is there a different answer/risk for a steel vs aluminum transfer tank?

Reason for above questions is that I have separate setups for diesel and gasoline. Also, have both steel and aluminum transfer tanks.

Interestingly, the aluminum tank (purchased used) has a label on it that it is for transport of diesel OR gasoline.

All my steel tanks say they are ONLY for diesel. .... anybody know SPECIFICALLY what makes the difference between a transfer tank for gasoline vs diesel?

 

[Wis Bang]

Make sure the hose has a bonding wire, I was talking about the 3" & 4" gasoline hoses used on tankers...

I'd run a ground, bare copper wire, clamped onto the source, pump, and receiver [unless the pump is in the source] for the gas. Diesel isn't as succecptable to statlc [diesel flashpoint is 141 degrees F] while gasoline is around -35 to -45 degrees which is why you can start your car @ -20...

Get the transfer hose deep into the receiver so it gets covered w/ liquid quickly. Flammable products like Petroleum Solvents & Alcohols get 'top' loaded into tankers w/ a aluminum 'spiller', a multi jointed pipe arm made to extend close to the bottom of the tanker when inserted into the manway. These units are bonded to ground too and we used to see blue static sparks dancing on the product just from the friction of the product moving in at a couple gal a minute. You will regret that experience if the two tanks are not grounded to each other and to the earth.

Emergency response pump outs on the side of the highway use a ground rod , or a guardrail steel post, runing the ground from the loaded tank to the pump [mounted on the power unit] to the receiving tank to earth even when the hoses had bond wires...you can't be too careful w/ a flammable liquid.

 

[texasjohn]

Good info..... will use ground wire with gasoline for sure... don't want to see blue flickers

Flashpoint info.... makes the point!

 

[Wis Bang]

Flashpoint info.... makes the point!

I took a 'Firescience' class at the local community college on Flammables. It was mostly vol firefighters & a few transport people. It was taught by the head of Emergency Response for the state [ex USA Bomb Tech] and the entire first class was a refresher in molecular chemistry to explain how the atomic activity of a flammable liquid created the ideal conditions at the flashpoint to have ignition, the 'right amount beteen the LEL & UEL [upper and lower explosive level]. Think if it in terms of adjusting a carburator...

LEL = too rich - much more vapors than oxygen.
UEL = too lean - much more oxygen than vapors

everthing in between = perfect conditions for ignition [stoch].

The temperature where the liquid maintains the fire [auto ignition] is usually higher though gasoline's Auto Ign Temp is still below zero....

 

[lavacarancher]

OK, folks. So far Wis Bang has provided a reasonable explanation of rules for transporting fuel but I don't know if it applies in Texas. Can some one say definitively what the rules are for transporting fuel(gasoline and diesel)?
1. Where can I find the government (Texas) regulations for transporting up to 275 gallons of gasoline and 275 gallons of diesel fuel over about 100 miles to my ranch for storage and use as needed. Fuel will be for personal use.
2. Three years ago there were 3 distributors in my county who would deliver fuel and put it in my 300 gal overhead storage tanks. Now there are none.
3. Fuel will be transported in the back of my one ton PU in 275 gallon IBC totes. Private truck, not for hire, personal use.

Thanks in advance for the info.

 

[Soundguy]

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_043004.pdf

1-800-HMR-4922 is the national hazmat info line, give them a call. Texas DOT regs will not be less than federal regs. Most state dot mirror fed reg minimums.

 

[Deere Dude]

Just throw a tarp over it.

 

[Lelandwelds]

I've been reading this thread for a while and I had to join up and comment. The 119 gal limit comes from the Feds! I am a safety director in the trucking industry industry. My first trucking job was for a fuel hauler & I have close to 20 years in the Tank Transport Industry.

Most states hae adopted the Federal Haz Mat regulations [CFR40 172.102] 'in toto' meaning the entire scope of the regulations.

119 gal is the threshold of a BULK package. Bulk packages [tankers & IBC's] are designed and constructed to DOT 'specifications'. That means the materials, construction, venting, safety devices, etc. MUST meet specifications. So does a 55 gal drum but it is not a BULK package, look at the bottom and you will see the specification markings. for example the opentop metal drum used in Haz Waste cleanups is a DOT 17H. The packaging for Haz Mats is designed acording to POP [performance oriented packaging] and will have UN of DOT markings.

It is usually legal to transport up to 1000 LBS of Haz Mat without warning placards on the outside of the vehicle UNLESS you get over the 119 gal. Gasoline is around 6.3 LBS/gal so 119 gal is under the 1000 pounds.

So that's where the arbitrary 119 gal limit comes from.

Transporting ANY amount of Haz Mat, in commerce, requires a CDL w/ Haz Mat endorsement unless it falls under 'Materials of Trade' like the oxy-acetlene torch on a repairman's truck, etc is exempt. So would an individual hauling under 119 gal of gas for his own use.

Remember to ground the drums while you pump them out! Transfer hoses have a bonding wire that contacts the metal end fittings so the delivery hose is always has a ground path to control static. Anyone pumping gas needs a wire from the source to the receiving container. Also keep your discharge hose as far inside the receiving container as possible so it gets covered quickly by the transfering liquid as the splash from the product falling into the container can generate static. Gasoline tankers are 'bottom-loaded' to control static and vapor vented back to the source as fire protection.

The above quote is factual, logical, and non hysterical. Too bad some others were less so. Gasoline, propane, battery acid, radiological materials, xrays, sharp instruments, power tools, ladders, window glass, PTO, motor vehicles, second stories, sunlight, modern medicines, and ten thousand other things I won't make anyone read through are perfectly safe when used responsibly.

Getting shrill about reduntant ground wires, running with scissors or swimming after eating isn't productive. Diesel and gasoline are essential to our interests. Please promote facts and encourage reasonable safety practices. Some in the broader world need little excuse to severely curtail things they don't participate in or see value in.

In practice, the container weight is included in the limits. It can be argued but be ready for it.