Storing off road fuel

RollTideRam · Mar 13, 2006

I plan to keep stocked up on diesel for my new tractor(when I get it) by buying 50 gallons of off road diesel at a time. This will be more convenient and cheaper, since I will be mowing with a diesel this year.
I can get steel or plastic 55 gallon drums at work and have a rack that is 4' high to set the drum on and gravity fill the tractor. What drum will work better? In steel I can get open or closed head, but only closed head in plastic. I figured a couple of ball valves, one for the 1" bung to vent and one for the 2" to fill. Maybe some pipe nipples and elbow. What kind of hose and or gaskets should I use? JC

Bird · Mar 13, 2006

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What drum will work better? )</font>

I used a poly or plastic drum myself after I got a lot of water and crud in a steel drum. Of course it may not have been the steel drum's fault; may have been that way when my brother brought it to me or may have gotten some rain in it. At any rate, I never had a problem with the plastic. I just had mine sitting on a small pallet and used a $25 hand pump to fuel the tractor. Then I could just lift pallet and all with the forks on the front end loader to set it in and out of the pickup when I needed to refill it in town.

Highbeam · Mar 14, 2006

I just acquired two "new" steel drums from the JD dealer that had been filled with new hydro fluid for free. The bung caps were on and the barrels stored under cover. No water and only a bit of hydro fluid in the bottom.

My plan is to fill them both about half full so that I can roll them around on a hand truck to the tractor for filling. At 6 lbs per gallon, 50 gallons is 300 lbs and might be a bit akward. Plus, laying two barrels on their sides will keep them from rolling around in the 4 foot space between the wheel wells.

We save 35 to 50 cents per gallon by buying off road diesel vs. on road plus the convenience of not dealing with jerry cans is a big one.

I'm not a big fan of gravity flow since some vandal could drain it all out pretty easy or in a fire that hose will burn off and then the diesel will feed the fire. Also, I am not able to just pull the tractor up to the tank so a long hose or maybe filling the jerry cans from the barrel will be needed. I plan to use a clear vinyl hose with the braided reinforcement from HD that is supposed to tolerate fuel. At the tractor end of the fill hose will be a ball valve to prevent the hose from draining out on the ground between pumpings. There ought to be some sort of hose end that will hook onto the fill neck of the tractor. It's going to hard to know when the tank is full until it overflows.

Ob1kubota · Mar 18, 2006

Hi JC where do you buy your off road diesel at? Roll Tide! Thanks MJ

RollTideRam · Mar 18, 2006

I have not bought it yet. Tractor will be here in two weeks. The price of diesel keeps changing, but the quick stop at Joppa, Hwy 67 & 69 has been the cheapest most of the time. I know a few other places that sell it though. JC

Highbeam · Mar 18, 2006

Turns out that even 25 gallons of fuel in a 55 gallon drum is dang heavy to move without tractor assistance.

I picked up a hand rotary pump today at Harbor freight today. $11.99 and cast iron with everything but a hose to clamp on to the spout. Can't beat that with a stick. I am about driven crazy trying to figure out how it works though and may break down and take it apart.

Watch out for those high speed nozzles at the fuel depot. They fill with quite a thrust compared to the retail stations.

PineRidge · Mar 21, 2006

Around these parts when a homeowner that used diesel to heat his house converts to Natural gas they need to get rid of their oil tank. We picked up two 275 gallon tanks for free that we passed to our TBN buddies. If you want to store that much fuel look around you may find the same kind of deal in your area.

Ob1kubota · Mar 23, 2006

Does anybody know how the tax credits work for off-road fuel. Does anybody understand how the new Bio-fuel can be written off against gross adjusted income?
Ob1 is not an accountant. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

LeadPoison · Mar 23, 2006

Sure... just take the inverse proportion of the gross depreciation loss minus the standard interest decuction. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Are you kidding me? I have no clue! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Ob1kubota · Mar 23, 2006

Lead I like your terminolgy but somehow these contractors that haul it around in the back of their ton duallys are cleaning up and we going broke at the pump. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif