Any problem with bulk diesel tank in the barn/shop?

[sixdogs]

23 years ago I had a 150 gallon bulk diesel tank in the barn on rollers because I was painting it. I went to work and the bulk driver filled it there. It's still there and a 90 gallon tank on rollers next to it. Concrete floor; nice new pole barn and 42x60x 14'H.

I never saw a problem since only a few lights, not much going on and power off most of the time. Now, however, I plan to insulate the barn and put up a propane heater. Maybe keep it 55' away--but still inside the barn--- since I only want the barn at 50 degrees most of the time.

Any problems with this?

 

[Topzide]

Put up a small lean too, for shade and rain protection.

 

[bmaverick]

23 years ago I had a 150 gallon bulk diesel tank in the barn on rollers because I was painting it. I went to work and the bulk driver filled it there. It's still there and a 90 gallon tank on rollers next to it. Concrete floor; nice new pole barn and 42x60x 14'H.

I never saw a problem since only a few lights, not much going on and power off most of the time. Now, however, I plan to insulate the barn and put up a propane heater. Maybe keep it 55' away since I only want the barn at 50 degrees most of the time.

Any problems with this?

Diesel hates 3 things, HEAT, water and microbes. Avoid all 3 and you have great storage.

 

[oosik]

My diesel and gas are stored in one walled off bay of my carport. Up off the ground on pallets. It's not heated but reaches the ambient temps - both summer and winter. Never had a problem.

My ATV is stored in this bay also. Starting the ATV has never been a problem either. Been this way for 40+ years.

 

[sixdogs]

Put up a small lean too, for shade and rain protection.

My diesel and gas are stored in one walled off bay of my carport. Up off the ground on pallets. It's not heated but reaches the ambient temps - both summer and winter. Never had a problem.

My ATV is stored in this bay also. Starting the ATV has never been a problem either. Been this way for 40+ years.

Oops--I meant to leave the tanks inside the barn with a propane furnace off in the far corner of the barn. Tanks stay in barn and furnace added.

This way my fuel is clean, dry and no problems.

 

[grsthegreat]

A ceiling mounted Furnace wont cause explosion if thats what your worried about. Fumes from fuel stay low…aprox 12-18” from ground.

 

[RjCorazza]

I personally wouldn't worry about storing diesel in a heated barn. #2 diesel has a flash point of around 125 degrees F.
I store 108 gallons of diesel in my pole barn, but keep the gasoline in a small shed.

 

[sixdogs]

I personally wouldn't worry about storing diesel in a heated barn. #2 diesel has a flash point of around 125 degrees F.
I store 108 gallons of diesel in my pole barn, but keep the gasoline in a small shed.

Yeah, I keep gas out in a shed. Too big of a risk.

 

[ponytug]

@sixdogs

While diesel's flashpoint isn't that high, I would put a large diesel tank behind a firewall just to lower the chance of a small fire becoming catastrophic. It doesn't take a lot of fire resistant plywood or plasterboard to make a nice fire resistant wall and ceiling.

Most oil tanks for furnaces are enclosed for fire resistance as well.

All the best,

Peter

 

[sixdogs]

@sixdogs

While diesel's flashpoint isn't that high, I would put a large diesel tank behind a firewall just to lower the chance of a small fire becoming catastrophic. It doesn't take a lot of fire resistant plywood or plasterboard to make a nice fire resistant wall and ceiling.

Most oil tanks for furnaces are enclosed for fire resistance as well.

All the best,

Peter

That makes sense.

 

[CH4Ohio]

Residential fuel oil tanks typically just sit in a corner of the basement along an outside wall so they can be filled from the outside. Getting rare in this part of the country but still very common in the Northeast.

 

[duffer]

Got a 275 gal tote filled with diesel that I've had in my 2nd garage for 5 years. I add BioKleen to it every so often to prevent unwanted microbes, and a qt of ATF to lubricate the injectors of the tractor. I have a board on the top of the tote to prevent direct sun light from hitting it and warming it up. No other fuel is nearby.

 

[LouNY]

23 years ago I had a 150 gallon bulk diesel tank in the barn on rollers because I was painting it. I went to work and the bulk driver filled it there. It's still there and a 90 gallon tank on rollers next to it. Concrete floor; nice new pole barn and 42x60x 14'H.

I never saw a problem since only a few lights, not much going on and power off most of the time. Now, however, I plan to insulate the barn and put up a propane heater. Maybe keep it 55' away--but still inside the barn--- since I only want the barn at 50 degrees most of the time.

Any problems with this?

No problem at all. As others have mention home heating oil tanks are usually in the basement or crawl space of the home and have been for decades.
The only thing that I would try and do is to run the tank vent outside, and use a pressure / vacuum vent.
Also many outfits are getting fussy when filling tanks even one that they can visually monitor and are requiring whistles in the vents.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I'm getting off-topic, but . . .

The heating oil companies' worst nightmare is when a customer converts to another fuel and has someone remove their tank and DOESN'T remove the fill piping. Also doesn't alert the oil company or else their records don't get updated. It's negligent on the part of the person that removes the tank, but not uncommon. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Every now and then you hear about an incident where a delivery person pulls up and starts pumping fuel oil into an outside fill-pipe, but the whistle never activates. After several hundred gallons are pooling on the basement floor (and maybe even being pumped out by a sump pump) they go inside to discover that the tank is gone. Usually the HVAC person or plumber just goes bankrupt but the heating oil company and their insurance catches the bulk of the damages. Often they buy the house. I think this is the primary reason that they're getting stricter about procedures regarding deliveries -- their insurance companies are requiring them to build in safeguards to prevent these mistakes.

 

[LouNY]

I'm getting off-topic, but . . .

The heating oil companies' worst nightmare is when a customer converts to another fuel and has someone remove their tank and DOESN'T remove the fill piping. Also doesn't alert the oil company or else their records don't get updated. It's negligent on the part of the person that removes the tank, but not uncommon. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Every now and then you hear about an incident where a delivery person pulls up and starts pumping fuel oil into an outside fill-pipe, but the whistle never activates. After several hundred gallons are pooling on the basement floor (and maybe even being pumped out by a sump pump) they go inside to discover that the tank is gone. Usually the HVAC person or plumber just goes bankrupt but the heating oil company and their insurance catches the bulk of the damages. Often they buy the house. I think this is the primary reason that they're getting stricter about procedures regarding deliveries -- their insurance companies are requiring them to build in safeguards to prevent these mistakes.

The whistle sounds as soon as they start pumping fuel into the tank, it stops whistling when the tank is filled to the bottom of the whistle.

 

[CH4Ohio]

The whistle sounds as soon as they start pumping fuel into the tank, it stops whistling when the tank is filled to the bottom of the whistle.

That's right. Thanks for the correction. I guess they just listened to it whistle the whole time.

Been a long time since I watched them fill my tank at the old place.