fuelling from Auxilliary tank

[MLee]

Is there a law that states that you can not transfer fuel from your bed auxiliary tank to your main tank via pump and hose?
Talked to guy yesterday that talked to a guy that was in a rest stop and was transferring fuel to his main tank and was given a citation by the law. Was told he could not do this. He was in a rest area. I think he was in Utah at the time. He also said that the road service people want to TOW your vehicle to get gas/fuel from a service station rather than bring fuel to you. Is this just a rumor?

 

[CKelley1]

rumor. i think what might have happened was he had red fuel in the auxiliary tank and got caught transferring it to his main tank. there has been several post's covering the legal way to connect the auxiliary tank to the main tank, he was not even doing that. his setup was for what he was doing he just needed to use taxed fuel

 

[GAmes]

What would be the difference in transferring fuel with an electric pump controlled from the dash and manually transferring fuel from outside the truck? That said, if there is a law against it I wouldn't be surprised. There was a rumor, propagated by Transfer Flow for quite some time, that it is illegal to use gravity to transfer fuel from an aux tank to the main tank. They made a lot of money from that misinformation, but finally removed it from their website.

 

[MLee]

The party I inquired for did not say red or regular fuel. There is alot of trucks around with this set up. He has a tank that he wants to install with this set up, fuel hose and pump, the reason for the question. I advised to do it right and use it as an auxiliary tank for extra fuel and connect it direct and add fuel as needed, because of the return line from the engine.
He related to a guy that did a direct connection to the fill hose from the aux tank to the main tank and uses the aux to fill the truck directly, not using the side fill port for the main tank. What effect would this kind of hook up have on the return line if the tank is full all the time?
Thanks for all you responses.

 

[GAmes]

I have my aux tank connected to the large vent hose that parallels the fill hose with a ball valve hard mounted to the aux tank. When my fuel gauge gets down to about 1/4 I open the valve. Sometimes it fills to about a 1/2 and stays there while I'm driving, sometimes it fills and I have to stop and close the valve. The only problem I have encountered is if I don't close the valve I can't refuel the main tank, the auto shut off keeps tripping. I just have to remember to close the valve prior to stopping at the pump. Closing it at the entrance to the station and driving a few yards is sufficient to empty the vent hose of fuel. I've been running this setup for over 700k miles.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

I've had a bulk tank in the bed of my trucks for about 15 years. All of them have had electric pumps and hoses. I've never filled one of my trucks from a pump at a service station. I always fill my bulk and then transfer it to my truck and car thru a dual filter setup. I've filled this way from coast to coast and boarder to boarder and have never been questioned or even looked at funny.

There are hundreds of trucks in my trade that are set up this same way that travel this country every day. These companies follow every DOT/vehicle law to the max and would never run this way if it was illegal. There's got to be something else going on here. Maybe just a cop who really doesn't know the laws. I don't know.

 

[MLee]

thats guys appreciate you comments. As said before maybe off road fuel. That would be expensive.

 

[Dl5treez]

Just adding, pumping from your own slip tank to your truck with a fuel hose and pump externally---through the truck's filler door--is and should be perfectly viable and legal.

Plumbing your slip tank directly into your truck's fuel system can be a no-no unless your auxiliary tank is certified to be used as such.

 

[S.Morris]

I pump from my aux to the vent line in the filler neck also. I pump through a FS1212 and a FF5320 before entry to main truck tank. I have a 12V shut off solenoid in line that powers on and off with the transfer pump. I also have a valve at bottom of aux plumbed to same place as aux pump in case it fails. I transfer all the fuel I burn this way and do rarely actually put fuel in truck tank at the pumps.
The return to truck tank from CP does not care if tank is full or not.....

 

[MLee]

The tank he's going to use is a factory produced Item tool box/fuel tank and can be riged for either application I guess. He would like to hook it up for continuous flow. Thats the reason for the question on the return line. The main tank would be full all the time, it looks like to me that there would be restriction for returning fuel. He does need a valve in-line in case of a problem. And as noted filters added, to safe.

 

[GAmes]

.........it looks like to me that there would be restriction for returning fuel.

I would be more concerned about fuel running out the vent hose. If you blocked it, then the fuel cap seal would have to be perfect.

I had an in-line filter in mine until I had to carry 50 gallons of unusable fuel from IN to WA because the filter had clogged in 5 degree weather. Once I removed it I never got around to installing another. That was about 9 years ago.

 

[Newt]

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200315501_200315501

 

[Grizzly]

Very interesting thread as I just purchased a used Transfer Flow 60 gal aux tank, tool box combo. I plan on purchasing a pump to transfer diesel directly to my truck's 35 gal tank. Gasoline and diesel are cheaper in Albuquerque than any other major city. Might as well take advantage of that.

george

 

[MLee]

If we could get a LEO'S opinion on this maybe we could put this subject to rest. If a call is made to a current LEO office it might generate interest to be more on the look out for offenders IF its against the law. There seams to be no problem with the construction trade. I don't know.
I have checked everything I can and came up with use safety in what ever you do. Take all precautions,grounding the tanks, etc and make sure power and valves are off when traveling. Good luck in your decision.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I have received the following statement from Transfer Flow:

Transfer Flow's views on the legality of gravity fed systems have been on our website and in our catalog for many years.

The current US DOT regulations regarding gravity fed systems is ambiguous to say the least. We've been trying to get the US DOT to clarify regulation 49 CFR 393.65(d) for quite some time. In fact, we contacted them again, as well as the EPA, regarding this issue after reading the post you sent us. 49 CFR 393.65(d) reads:
(d) Gravity or syphon feed prohibited. A fuel system must not supply fuel by gravity or syphon feed directly to the carburetor or injector.

We read the above statement as gravity feed systems not being legal ("Gravity or syphon feed prohibited."). I believe it's the second sentence of the regulation, "A fuel system must not supply fuel by gravity or syphon feed directly to the carburetor or injector", that is confusing and might lead people to think that gravity feeding from one tank to another is okay because fuel is not being gravity fed into the carburetor or injector. I'm not sure that is even possible to do!

We have revised our statement about the legality, and safety concerns, of gravity fed systems which is now on our website (see the text below). It can be found at http://www.transferflow.com/regulations.

 

[GAmes]

The current US DOT regulations regarding gravity fed systems is ambiguous to say the least.

49 CFR 393.65(d) reads:
(d) Gravity or syphon feed prohibited. A fuel system must not supply fuel by gravity or syphon feed directly to the carburetor or injector.

If you don't take paragraph (d) out of context it is not ambiguous at all. "Gravity or syphon feed prohibited" is the title of the paragraph.

Paragraph (c) reads "(c) Fuel tank installation. Each fuel tank must be securely attached to the motor vehicle in a workmanlike manner."

Paragraph (e) reads "(e) Selection control valve location. If a fuel system includes a selection control valve which is operable by the driver to regulate the flow of fuel from two or more fuel tanks, the valve must be installed so that either—
(1) The driver may operate it while watching the roadway and without leaving his/her driving position; or
(2) The driver must stop the vehicle and leave his/her seat in order to operate the valve. "

Seems pretty simple to me. Transfer flow has been using the reg out of context for years. The ball valve in my system meets requirement (2). After several Level 1 inspections, I have no doubt that a gravity feed is legal. One inspection, in MT, included a red fuel check. I invited the DOT officer to dip my aux tank because it is easier to access than trying to get fuel from the filler neck of the stock tank.