Removing traces of red from a diesel tank

[bdog]

I am setting up a 1000 gallon diesel tank at my place for clear diesel. The tank was previously used for red farm diesel. We will use it for tractors and equipment but the primary use will be filling up our diesel pickups, dump truck and semi. I have to drive 20 miles one way to fill up my semi and it is at least ten to fill the pickups.

The tank has been drained as much as possible but I am worried about whatever may be left tinting the 1000 gallons of clear I plan to put in it. Any ideas?

 

[Deere Dude]

I would put 100 gallons or so of regular diesel and slosh it around and use it in your tractor. When empty just fill again with 50 gallons, slosh and repeat.

Then fill full with on road diesel and it should be good to go. That being said I don't know how sensitive LEOs checker is, but that is what I would do.

 

[powerscol]

I have two 5 gallon cans I use for my tractor, and one day I filled them with fresh road diesel for my truck (they were empty and dry) I still get traces of dye in my truck filter 4 years later. I just tell them I ran out and used it (red) in an emergency. So far no issue as it is very faint on the filter.

The above suggestion is good. I wonder if there is something better to wash the tank out with, possibly with a pressure wand if there is access (commercial de-greaser).

Doing the above would be a good start. I doubt it would be traceable if they pulled a sample to look at. Can you call your DOT and ask what level would be acceptable. They may also know of something that might get rid of the dye stain in the tank.

On edit - I did find this Removal of dye from red diesel

 

[kthompson]

I would ask the company you buy fuel from. Certainly they had others who made the tank switch as you are. But do you have a "gas" tank also. If yes, consider using the current gas for the on road diesel and use the current off road diesel tank for the gas till the gas which I think may cut the dye better than diesel.

BE SURE YOU KEEP GOOD RECORDS YOU ARE BUYING THE ON ROAD DIESEL JUST IN CASE you need in court.

 

[thatguy]

that dye is meant to stick around, so im wondering if you need something like ammonia in the tank then pumped out, then several tanks of clear something run through it..

As a side note - you will probably want to replace any hoses and filters they will also contain some of the dye..

b

 

[bcp]

I wonder if you could add some green dye of the same type.



Bruce

 

[thatguy]

thinking outside the box, errr tank.. I wonder if your fuel distributor would swap you a 'clean' tank for your dyed tank.. Im sure someone would need a tank for dyed fuel around you


Brian

 

[Scooby074]

I dont know whats available in your area, but Id try to find a contractor who has a portable steam "pressure washer" (or rent one) and get them to clean it with something caustic (or whatever they suggest). Steam can do wonders. Id also change all filters and have the contractor flush everything (like hoses) he could get to. Good point to keep all fuel records in case you need them (even record dates of filling your trucks in a logbook, it couldnt hurt), at least until youre sure that your filters are coming out clean..

 

[bdog]

The problem is the tank has no large openings. It has a couple threaded 2" ports on top and a 1" drain on bottom. No real way to spray around the inside. To flush it thoroughly would take a lot of gallons as the tank is about ten feet long and 3' in diameter. Sloshing it around would be tricky as well. Sometimes we burn 100 gallons a day in the semi but things we have that could use red might burn 20 gallons a day when in use. It would take a while to run through any significant quantity of tinted fuel.

I am going to ask my supplier what their thoughts are. All fuel comes clear and the supplier adds the dye. Maybe I could take the tank to them and they could pump it plum full of clear and then pump it back out and add the dye and sell it as red. I don't know.

 

[Garandman]

I would put 100 gallons or so of regular diesel and slosh it around and use it in your tractor. When empty just fill again with 50 gallons, slosh and repeat..

According to my chemist friend, three rinses of 50 gallons would be better than two with more.

But not for 10x3, it seems.

 

[Scooby074]

If you happen to call a contractor to do this, they might (should) have a tank washer nozzle. They are pretty common. They could get in your 2" port and wash the entire inside using less water than youd think, all well leaving the tank mounted stationary...

 

[pmsmechanic]

Here in Alberta you wouldn't even need to worry about it. The dye needs to be in the fuel in certain concentrations. The police take a sample of your fuel and if there is dye in it the sample gets sent away for analysis. If it's lower than the recommended concentrations then the charges are dropped because obviously you aren't using dyed fuel regularly. Nobody here get's excited if you need a bit of fuel to get to town so that you can fill up and you use a bit of dyed fuel.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I think keeping records of purchase of on road fuel in your trucks should be sufficient along with an explanation of why there might be some red dye in your on road vehicles. It is going to be practically impossible with normal washing equipment to clean the dyed diesel from that tank. Unless your distributor can swap out your tank, the written records and receipt of on road diesel is your best bet.

If you want to clean the tank, I think a good high temperature (450F)steaming might be the best thing to do and would leave you with the least amount of contaminated water to deal with. I have no idea where you could rent a high pressure/high temperature steamer as most steam pressure washers only produce hot water. This is probably a job for a professional cleaner.

 

[DEWFPO]

When we used to wash out old fuel tanks that were being removed and hauled away, we triple rinsed the tanks with water and that was sufficient for all the regulating agencies at the time (mid '90's).

DEWFPO

 

[crazyal]

Around here there are several places that clean out tanks. They specialize in tanks like your talking about as well as aluminum semi tanks. Might want to check around at a local diesel mechanic to see if there's anyone around you that cleans tanks.