Cost of 250 gallon tank & pump/meter system.

[LBrown59]

Here are the prices quoted to me by my Exxon dealer just a few of months ago.
1*He also had a 300 gallon minimum delivery amount.
2* too lazy to hand crank 15 gallons into the tractor or 36 gallons into the truck.
3*So now, all I do is run the two drums to whoever has the cheapest diesel on any particular day and fill them up.
4*When I get home I use the drum lifter and FEL to unload them out of the truck and put them on the drum dollies and then I can move them around anywhere I need.
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1*That may be so but I'd be willing to bet he's topping off peoples tanks and drums all around you with anywhere from 20 gallons and up. Certainly at way less then 300 gallons.
Is this just a service station or truck stop or is he a fuel distributor / supplier?
2*Are you talking about on road or off road here?
3*Do you mean on road or off road diesel?
4*Why go through all that when you can unload the drums with the pump you have then set the empty drums out of the truck by hand.
I was going to do the tractor forks dolly drill till it dawned on me to tee in a hose on the line between the drum and the pump and let it unload the diesel off the truck.
A pump can unload the drums with far less hassle than you or I can !

 

[Dargo]

The cheapest way to store fuel is definitely in 55 gallon drums. How elaborate (or expensive) it gets after that is up to you.

I'd have to say that is "relative". Since it takes about 40 gallons to fill one tractor and about 35 gallons to fill the other, a 55 gallon drum setup would be completely worthless to me. A 55 gallon drum may be the least expensive method if you use very little fuel. Then, I'd have to question the "why bother" over just filling, say, two or three 5 gallon cans.

 

[patrick_g]

I'd have to say that is "relative". Since it takes about 40 gallons to fill one tractor and about 35 gallons to fill the other, a 55 gallon drum setup would be completely worthless to me. A 55 gallon drum may be the least expensive method if you use very little fuel. Then, I'd have to question the "why bother" over just filling, say, two or three 5 gallon cans.

...a basic failure to communicate...

I don't think anyone was touting a single drum as the BEST solution just that at about $2-8/drum (for however many you need) you are getting cheap storage volume. I paid $75 for a 300 gal overhead tank on a stand at an auction. I could have bought 750 gal of storage (15 each 50 gal drums at $5 each) for $75 (I usually pay less than that.) Most of us can lift an empty into the pickup.

I used to use 50 gal drums for water at a remote property. I put the empties in the truck bed and filled them at the supplier. I siphoned the water into empty drums on the ground and only had to unload empty drums. With tractors and such to help, you wouldn't have to siphon.

Everything is tradeoffs. Drums are economical and can be handled manually (empty) or full with FEL. I use an overhead tank and gravity. Someone else prefers electric pumps. Lots of good ways to store fuel. Still it is tough to beat used steel or plastic drums for economical storage. I have seen drums welded together endwise to make a larger volume in a single tank. Drums can be had in good condition (used once) for as low as $2-3 each and I never pay more than $5 except for certain desirable plastic ($6.)

Hard to beat 4-10 cents per gal of storage.

Pat

 

[EastTexFrank]

LBrown59,

He is a distributor and you're right, he will deliver a "part load" but won't guarantee a delivery time or date. It depends on him getting another order for a part load and making both or more deliveries at once. I use on-road diesel at the house and off-road diesel at the farm. Strangely enough, the WalMart 15 miles away usually retails on road diesel for less than the distributer 6 miles away. I thought about using the pump to offload the diesel from the truck but it would have meant keeping a third empty drum around to begin the transfer. It was a question of storage space really. My wife says I have the place cluttered up enough already and there was no sense in looking for more trouble with the boss.

Dargo,

I agree that if you are a big time user then 55 gallon drums may not be the most convenient way to go but they may still be the least expensive form of storage. I think most people on the board don't use enough diesel fast enough to justify a 300 gallon tank. I know that I used four 5 gallon cans for years to fill the 6 gallon tank of my B2400. I got the 30 gallon fuel caddy with double acting hand pump (it sucks and blows) when I hurt my back and couldn't lift and hold the cans high enough to fill it. That system worked well for years too, until I got the L4740 with a 14 gallon tank. Originally I got 2 drums to do as LBrown59 suggested, fill one drum and transfer it from the bed of the truck to an empty one on the ground but, with the price of diesel on the rise, I thought it made more sense to fill both drums. I think I paid just over $3/gal for the diesel I'm using now and it should last me most of this year if I don't use it to top off the truck too often.

Another reason I wanted more diesel capacity is that I only keep a limited amount of fresh gas on hand to run the little generator during power outages. However, I do have a power inverter that I can hook up to either tractor or the truck that will run a fridge or a freezer or supply limited power in an emergency and with a potential 150 gallons on hand, I can keep them running for quite a while.

 

[EastTexFrank]

I couldn't get the edit button to work but I had to mention that the house and the farm are about 6 miles apart. At the farm we use off-road diesel in a 300 gallon, gravity feed tank for the farm tractors. I use on-road diesel in drums at the house for the 2 tractors there because I don't currently have an ag exemtion for that location.

 

[jrl@nf.sympatico.ca]

I have been getting quotes for a one hundred and fifty gallon tank with pump(hand) for between $900.00 and $1200.00 which I think is outrageous. It seems as though here in Nova Scotia about everyone is trying to retire from a single sale. Anyone know where I can get a tank for a reasonable price.

 

[LBrown59]

I have been getting quotes for a one hundred and fifty gallon tank with pump(hand) for between $900.00 and $1200.00 which I think is outrageous. It seems as though here in Nova Scotia about everyone is trying to retire from a single sale. Anyone know where I can get a tank for a reasonable price.

$900 to $1200 sure is outrageous.
I've got about $300 in this rig.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/lb59/100_2303.jpg
I don't think I'd worry to much about tank size.
This outfit will work with any size container or any number of containers.
Here is a close up look at the $99 pump I got on sale for $69 at northern tool.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/lb59/100_2296.jpg
Why do you have about 150 gallon in mind?
Forget the tank and focus on the pump it will take care of most any tank situation.

 

[patrick_g]

Anyone know where I can get a tank for a reasonable price.

Used plastic or metal drums can be had here in Oklahoma ranging from free to $6-7 US. So for 150 gal (three drums) it would cost less than $20.

If you didn't want to plumb the tanks together you could easily transfer the pump from drum to drum. Separate drums allows for easier handling anyway.

If you built a stand and used your FEL or other means to lift the full tank into place you wouldn't even need the pump as you could gravity the fuel from the drum, through a filter, to the hose and nozzle and into the machine's tank.

If you want to spend more and get fancy, take a good look at some of the well illustrated posts here of systems with electric pumps that will support fuel transfer from tank to tank and tank to machine.

Harbor Freight has a device (drum lifting clamp) that handles up to 1000lbs and costs $19.99 + shipping ($7-8) which makes lifting a full drum so very easy with a FEL, chain hoist, or whatever. A full drum of fuel weights about 400 lbs or less (depending on the fuel.) All gasoliine and diesel is lighter than water and water at 8 1/2 lb/gal in a 55 gal drum would weigh about 500 lbs so the HF drum lifter is not even stressed.

Pat

 

[LBrown59]

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/lb59/100_2296.jpg

This pump will transfer fuel from any container into any other container no matter what the capacity of the container is.
The white barb fitting on the left is for the hose to fill your tractor or anything else.
The first brass barb fitting on the right is for pumping from the set ups container into any thing you want to put the fuel in.
The second brass barb fitting on the right is for pumping from any other container into your tractor, the setups container or any other containers.
This pump runs anywhere from $69 to $100 at Northern Tool depending on if it's on sale or not.
I bought mine on sale for $69.
You can't beat 69 to 100 dollars as most transfer pumps run 200 to 300 dollars.
For $69 I couldn't pass this pimp up as I've seen plain old hand pumps priced from 40 to 55 dollars.

 

[LBrown59]

1* At the farm we use off-road diesel in a 300 gallon, gravity feed tank for the farm tractors.
2*I use on-road diesel in drums at the house for the 2 tractors there because I don't currently have an ag exemtion for that location.

2*I don't understand the ag exemption thing.
Why can't you use off road at both locations after all the house is off road use same as it is at the farm isn't it? ?
If you buy off road you can use it anywhere you want to as long as it's not used on the road.
The house isn't on the road is it?
I just don't see where an ag exemption has anything to do with the issue.
Are farmers with ag exemptions the only ones allowed to use off road fuel there ?
What about contractors and excavation companies are they barred from using the off road stuff?
I'm either confuesed or don't have all the facts and details about the ag exemption deal.
Also what's to stop you from taking a can of fuel from the farm to the house and dumping it into one of those tractors.?