Fuel

[rhtrudder]

We buy bulk 98 fuel , usually 600lts , pumped into a 1200 lt  fuel tank that l use compressed air to fill bikes , mowers and my plane, just found out the supplier doesn’t use a dedicated petrol tank on the truck but supposedly drains any previous diesel out and then fills with my 98 , wondering how much diesel would end up in my fuel , been using this fuel for 10 years so l guess it’s okay 

 

 

[jackc]

Generally, the fuel compartments in tankers drain totally......they used to in the 37,000 litre tankers I drove years ago. I used to fill depots and servos, gravity feed.

 

Cheers,

 

Jack.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Years ago, this guy wrote how in the magazine he used compressed air to refuel his plane. Well there was lots of shock/horror about how dangerous this was. He should have used nitrogen they all said. I reckon CO2 from a soda machine would do the job too.

 

 

[Yenn]

Nitrogen and CO2 both cost money, compressed air is not absolutely free, but as near as.

 

The shock horror was because air is always compressed in internal combustion engines and people see a link there.

 

The danger from using compressed air to move fuel from a tank is minimal, unless there is an ignition source in the tank.

 

I would guess that there must have been an accidental fuel explosion at some time, but I have never heard of one. Maybe someone can enlighten us with evidence. It takes very little pressure to move fuel, as proved by using a syphon.

 

 

[facthunter]

it's brought down B 747's in flight. Near empty tanks need inert gas to be safe. Nev.

 

 

[onetrack]

Compressed air contains a lot of moisture, I think perhaps that might have been the concern, not the fact that air is dangerous in empty fuel tanks.

 

Millions of petrol vehicles drive around daily with half-full to near-empty petrol tanks, and they don't blow up - even though there's electrical wiring in petrol tanks, associated with senders, and in recent times, electric pumps, inside the tank.

 

You only need 3 to 5psi to move fuel from the ground up into tanks above the level of the container or tank.

 

4WD suppliers sell a jerrycan attachment to lift fuel into 4WD's from jerrycans, using compressed air (search for "Tanami pump"). 

 

There's never been any fires from that arrangement that I've ever heard of, or known about. You're more likely to have a fire start due to static from synthetic textiles in clothing.

 

But fires do start from spillage caused by overflowing tanks. That's where the real risk is. You must always ensure that there's no sources of ignition with 20M of any refuelling operation. That means checking ANY potential ignition source.

 

I've personally seen the Mobil fuel depot in Norseman, W.A., burn completely to the ground (in 1975) when a caravanner decided to refuel his petrol-powered car at a bowser in the depot, with his caravan attached.

 

Unfortunately, he forgot that his gas fridge was still running in his caravan, when he refuelled. He overfilled the car's tank, the spill ran under the 'van, the fumes rose or blew into the 'van - and WHOOMPH! - the whole lot went up.

 

They couldn't get the fire out in the car and 'van with the small ready-to-hand extinguishers, and the fire spread to the entire depot. I could see the smoke from 60kms away, and that made me check it out.

 

My local Golden Fleece agent use to use a little single cylinder Petter-diesel-powered portable fuel pump, to pump petrol from the bulk tanks on the tray of his truck to my above-ground (4500 litre) petrol tank.

 

But the oil companies stopped using this technique, because they had a few fires when the overhead tank overflowed, and the petrol splashed back down onto the Petter pumps exhaust system, and ignited.

 

So they changed the system to ensure that all overhead petrol pumping was only to be done by truck PTO-powered pumps.

 

 

[Downunder]

We buy bulk 98 fuel , usually 600lts , pumped into a 1200 lt  fuel tank that l use compressed air to fill bikes , mowers and my plane, just found out the supplier doesn’t use a dedicated petrol tank on the truck but supposedly drains any previous diesel out and then fills with my 98 , wondering how much diesel would end up in my fuel , been using this fuel for 10 years so l guess it’s okay 

 

It's all ok until it's not ok. 

 

Does the driver/filler change? 

 

Who does it when he's sick? 

 

Alot of variables in the supply of your fuel and the first time you realise there is a problem it maybe in flight. 

 

There is another thread here about diesel in fuel getting into and diluting the engine oil. 

 

 

[facthunter]

Diesel is cheaper than 98 so it might be tempting. Watch for white smoke on start up. I'm only 1/2 kidding . Mogas is never a controlled product. Nev