what to do with 5 year old diesel?

[Solo]

Brush pile fire starter.

Solo

 

[CDsdad]

Brush pile fire starter.

Solo

Yep. It'll get rid of a lot of ant beds, too.

 

[KennyV]

If you are close, I will take it off your hands
Check for water, filter it, you can even use pricey additives, you still will have almost nothing $ in it. KennyV.

 

[dirtworksequip]

You can check how much water is settled on the bottom of the underground tank. Go to a fuel distributor and ask for some WATER INDICATOR GREASE for diesel. You put the indicator grease on a stick and "stick the tank" the indicator grease will change color and show the water level in the tank. The grease I have is YELLOW and changes to RED when it contacts water. After you know the water level in the bottom of the tank use a pump that you can keep the suction tube a couple of inches off the water level.Or maybe better yet.........start pumping odd the top of the fuel level and work your way down to that 2 inch above the water level. Now I would pump it into another tank and double filter. Regular filter and one water block filter. Add whatever diesel treatment you prefer and maybe some cetane booster. Diesel fuel is way too expensive ($4.00 a gallon)to just burn up on brush unless it has other contaminents besides water. After you have double filtered take a look at it and see if it looks okay. The better you filter it the better chance you have of not ending up with trouble. I would go ahead and try one tank in my tractor and if you don't experience any problems go ahead an use the rest. If it gives you problems, then burn it in your furnace if you have an oil furnace. I guess if it were me and someone was giving me 200 gallons of fuel I would do the above steps and then add 1/2 new fuel to the old fuel. If you fuel out of a 5 gallon can. Try using 1/2 old fuel and half new fuel and see what results you get then. That will cut your fuel cost in half. If you still don't want it I'm sure someone close to you will. Thats's almost $800 worth of fuel!

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[smfcpacfp]

I differ from the rest. I would not use it except maybe as a starter for a brush pile or something. The word underground scares me. Several years ago I fueled up our John Deere 4430 farm tractor late at night out of an underground tank and basicly filled it up with water. The tank was leaking and letting water in. After a couple new injectors cleaning the fuel tanks on the tractor and several fuel filters we solved the problem. Last time we used the underground tank ever again. 200 hundred gallons is a lot of money at 4 a gallon but engine repairs can be more costly.

Pretty much all diesel is stored in underground tanks where you buy fuel. The only place that I have seen it stored above ground in large quantities, except at oil refineries, is at portable asphalt plants.

Diesel isn't like gasoline and isn't going to degrade. It might develop algae, but I agree with most of the other guys and would filter it with a fine filter, add fuel addatives to separate out the water and use it carefully, maybe mixing it with fresher fuel. Remember the original diesel was built to burn coal dust, so they are pretty accomodating. Still if the stuff looks really crappy, I would be hesitant.

 

[deere755]

Pretty much all diesel is stored in underground tanks where you buy fuel. The only place that I have seen it stored above ground in large quantities, except at oil refineries, is at portable asphalt plants.

Diesel isn't like gasoline and isn't going to degrade. It might develop algae, but I agree with most of the other guys and would filter it with a fine filter, add fuel addatives to separate out the water and use it carefully, maybe mixing it with fresher fuel. Remember the original diesel was built to burn coal dust, so they are pretty accomodating. Still if the stuff looks really crappy, I would be hesitant.

I agree most all places who sell diesel or gas store their fuel in an underground tank. The difference is his is I am assuming an old underground farm tank like we had. Probably an old steel tank not like what most filling stations have today.

 

[dangerdoc]

Yep. It'll get rid of a lot of ant beds, too.

Don't forget weed killer.

 

[horse7]

...
Whatever you do don't add a water "remover" that attempts to disperse the water, if it has any, into a fine suspension with the fuel. You want to separate the water out.

What is left unsaid is that the dispersed water will damage your fuel injectors.

 

[Lanse]

Well, mabey its because im 14, but i say bring it up and put on a 4th of july show. Dont use it all at once, 5 gallons=mushroom and flame cloud 50 feet high on youtube, even though it was gas. Id say youde have to use 7.5 gallons of diesal for 5 of gas. Now dont accually do this, because if something happens i;d be liable, but it sure would be fun!!