Oil & Fuel Diesel Storage

[chim]

I have a blue 55 gallon plastic drum in the one shed with a 12V Harbor Freight pump and a cord to plug into the tractor.

I go for fuel using 5 gallon jugs and dump them into the drum when I get home. It may seem like a goofy arrangement, but it eliminates balancing on the front tractor tire juggling a 5 gallon can. I can still do it if I have to, but when it's wet or snowy I'd rather not.

 

[keljan11]

I致e been using a 100 gal steel tidy tank on a 6 ft stand for years. (Think we paid $50 15 years ago). Works fantastic, our fuel distributor fills it when we call, as we still use an oil furnace, so theyæ±*e here often enough. If your hauler won稚 fill an exposed tank, just build a small wood cover around it. 3 sheets of plywood, a few 2x4ç—´, and your done. Built one for our heating oil tank in about 3 hrs. Not pretty but distributors are happy. They don稚 seem to be concerned about my tank for the tractor fuel.

 

[Diggin It]

Only issue with plastic is you need to avoid direct sunlight which will destroy white plastic quickly. Colored barrels will last longer but still need to keep them out of direct light in order to keep them flexible for longer time.

I'm not sure that's consistent. I've had several milk/white/translucent ones. I used them on downspouts to collect rain water. They all sat out in full Sun all year, and had water that froze in Winter. Some have crazed to the point of leaking, others haven't. I'm not sure why that is, maybe their age, maybe what they originally contained, maybe who made them. But I had also drilled holes in those for hoses to use for watering. Two of them are still in use many years later with no crazing.

When I got the tractor and wanted to store fuel, I first used a blue one. I found that was annoying to use a dip stick to check the level, so I went and got another 'new' to me white one so I could see the level. I keep that one inside the shed out of direct Sunlight. It's on a small pallet so I can put it on my trailer, and to keep it off direct ground contact. I am a bit concerned about aging and potentially cracking from the vibration while on the trailer and the potentially really, really bad day I'd have if it happened while filled.

.

 

[BrokenTrack]

My father has a nice tractor fuel set-up.

On the inside of his garage, he has (2) 275 gallon oil tanks for his boiler to heat his house and domestic hot water. But on the outside of the house he has one for tractor. He then plumbed the three together so that when they fill the two inside tanks, it also fills the outside tank.

He never runs out of fuel for his tractor because my Mom always wants to be warm, and she is the one paying the heating bill. :thumbsup:

 

[chim]

.............................................I found that was annoying to use a dip stick to check the level, so I went and got another 'new' to me white one so I could see the level..................................................

Unless I'm still in my jammies, I ALWAYS have a Streamlight Microstream in my left pocket. To check the level in the blue barrel it's a simple matter of twisting the 2" bung plug out of the barrel, looking in, and shining the light at the barrel from the outside.

 

[Troysie]

This is my reserve tank, it holds 25 gallons which seems to be the volume that best fits my needs, has a 12 volt pump and is stored outside.

Troy

 

[fidowanttobe]

X2 ! Only my choice is the Stylus. Excellent quality flashlight, I've had it for years.

Unless I'm still in my jammies, I ALWAYS have a Streamlight Microstream in my left pocket. To check the level in the blue barrel it's a simple matter of twisting the 2" bung plug out of the barrel, looking in, and shining the light at the barrel from the outside.

 

[Fallon]

I upgraded from my white semi-translucent 55 gallon drum to a 300 gallon tank on a stand. It worked decently strapped to a pallet. But I needed more capacity. I still keep the drum as backup & get it filled with the other tank.

Gravity long the big tank on the stand is nicer than yanking on the lever on the manual pump I have on the drum. Being a plastic tank the top flexes more than I'd like. I try to hold the pump head stable with one hand & work the lever with the other.

I'm sure sun degradation would be an issue, especially being semi-translucent, but i keep it inside the barn.

The pallet & pallet forks meant it was reasonably easy to load & unload into the truck for fuel runs. I now have a 36 gallon aluminum transfer tank & 12v pump now that I'm doing tractoring as a side gig. Safer & legal to use for field usage, although I don't feel it was unsafe for the occasional short fuel runs.