Unloading 15 Gallons of Diesel

[Highbeam]

One 55 gallon drum would work better then two half full drums if I didn't have to move it around by hand. I find a full 55 gallon drum too heavy. Also, the drum is not accessible in my shed without pulling 50 feet of fuel hose and then only filling 55 gallons of fuel might not make the fuel truck guy enough money to waste his time. I can buy fuel in any quantity from my fuel depot so no harm is done with only buying 25.

Long term, when I move out to my larger property, I will have no reason to mess around with half full barrels. I will either go for a heating oil tank or use my FEL and a barrel hoist hook thingy to lift the full barrels out of my pickup and set them on the fuel slab. I just love using cheap off road fuel.

 

[3RRL]

Highbeam,
I use a 30 gal container strapped to a cut-down dolly so I can get it in the back of my Blazer and roll it out for the same reason. Iit's too heavy for me to muscle around and it wouldn't fit anyway. (Uhum...when I was a kid I probably could've used those filled 55 gal drums for dumbells) Ha ha...NOT...

 

[Highbeam]

A 30 gallon drum would suit me fine except I fill the barrels on their sides so maybe the 30 gallon drum would spill out the bung after 25 gallons. Half full 55 gallon drums are only half full. Plus they were free and only used once by JD for oil.

I pumped out the 25 gallons earlier this afternoon in the heat and now have it back in the pickup for another load tomorrow.

I can move the 25 gallons around just fine but after dragging it along on a hand truck for about 100 feet my legs start to burn. It would take a pretty manly man to handle full barrels of diesel.

 

[SteveInMD]

Actually, it takes some practice but it's really not too hard to handle a full drum. Basically (starting with the drum standing up) you tip it up on an edge and roll it along with your hands at the top of the upper edge. Tripping it up on edge can be done by pushing away from you using mostly your legs. The other method involves reaching across the drum and pulling it up on edge by throwing just enough body weight into it. Once you have it up it will roll with very little effort, just keep it balanced. If you need to put in on a pallet for loading or unloading from a truck, just tip it up roll it to the pallet, then tip it down on the pallet, then scooch it to the center.

I used to move drums of all kinds of stuff at work. Diesel is actually pretty light at only 7 pounds per gallon. A drum of lead paint chips can be 800 - 900 pounds, which in my day, I could roll be hand, although it takes two people to tip it up. We actually had a 145 pound girl working with us that could roll a drum of diesel.