Good, Bad and the Ugly of bulk fuel storage Help me make my mind

[CBari]

I recently had a 1000 gal bulk tank given to me that is in excellent shape I was pondering about buy some bulk road fuel and storing it. I would go through it by May most likely. My thought was there is no way fuel is going to stay this cheap for long. I do this routinely with farm fuel for my tractors but they are not quite as particular about their fuel as the hpcr cummins are. If I was to do this what filtration would you use on the tank and would you do any additives. I understand that I am basically speculating on the price of fuel but I don't want to save $500 on fuel only to spend $2000 or more on fuel system.

If you have done this let me know about your experience positive or negative.

Also realistically how long can I store it?

 

[TFucili]

I am wary of above ground storage. Moisture accumulates faster, but the bigger danger is algae growth. I'd add some biocide for sure.

 

[Bill Stockard]

Be aware of the total storage capacity, not how much you have stored, limits on above ground storage of diesel fuel per the EPA's Oil Spill Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) regulations.

Bill

 

[Bob V]

What kind of pump will you be running? Myself I don't think I would bother. Years ago you could save some money compared to reatail, but now there is not that much difference. Lot of hassle and probably SLOWWW fill up unless you spend $$$$$ for a good pump and change filters often

 

[CBari]

I have some fill rite 20gpm pumps. My thought on savings is that right now I can buy for 2.30 gallon in two to three months I see it being 3.00 again.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Be aware of the total storage capacity, not how much you have stored, limits on above ground storage of diesel fuel per the EPA's Oil Spill Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) regulations.

Bill

CB

Bill is right in this. We have a 6000gal above ground tank we needed to have a lined containment pit and some other things that the EPA required for this amount of fuel, I didn't know what that amount was until Bill gave it to us on his post. Other than that we use ours strictly for RED DYE for the use in our tractors and shop Gen-set and so my FIL can use all of this money spent as a write off for his Cattle Business.

I have to say that I REALLY like the convenience of filling up out back, but if something were to happen (spill) the cost would be quite high. One of the other posters said that they can get fuel delivered 1 or 2 cents cheaper, I'm not going to say no but I don't find it that way, as I do the ordering and inventory of fuel on hand. With the added charge for a pump off delivery tuck to come and pump off 4000 gal of fuel into the tank the price savings is Negligible, Like I said its very convenient to pull around back of the shop and pump away. Living where we do could have something to do with price but at our Sons place down the mountain he is experiencing the same thing seems as if everybody has to make a buck and its not just the major oil company, the dealer at the local tank farm, the delivery truck all have to make a buck from going out back to fill up and if you don't buy a certain amount the cost goes up,

It use to be that there had to be a bunch of fuel spilled to cause a problem, not so anymore its a big problem with spills and WHO cleans them up and what is done with all the materials used in the clean up it costs big time to have professionals do it, because YOU are not able to preform the clean up yourself.

For the reason of your post. Filters Filters & Filters. and then Water separators ARE A MUST. we have them on both the Diesel tank and the DEF tote its truly amazing how much dirt gets around these tanks.

 

[CBari]

Big what filters do you like and down to what level. I am well aware of the EPA storage regs as I have been doing the red-dyed farm fuel for years and they have recently changed there reg or enforcement of the regs. Most of the farmers around here if they are storing larger than 1000gal have gone to double walled tanks. If they are storing in a 1000gal or less it sits on a trailer then it is considered a mobile tank and fits a different set of regs. The DOT watch around here pretty close for off road fuel being used on the road so using dyed fuel is out the. They local fuel distributors don't charge extra for the delivery as long as they are delivering 500gal or more and their price is usually with in a few pennies of the pump price. I would speculate that they can do that around here for the shear volume of diesel that is burned around here due to the large row crop farming that occurs. Many farm operations here get tanker loads weekly during the planting, watering and harvest seasons.

The convenience is a big factor also when we start rodeoing in a couple of weeks I will go through over 100gals a weekend and being able to fill up at home would be nice.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Penny's Father gave me an open check and said get us a system. I went with products that I had seen when I worked at Chevron. Fill-rite (artic) 12v pump at 18 gpm that is mounted on top of the skid mounted tank. We went with the 12v for the reason that we are off grid and I really didn't want to fire up the Gen-set every time we wanted to pump the fuel. On both the fuel tanks (Diesel sits outside the shop) and the DEF tank (that sits inside the shop) the pumps are top mounted on the tanks. The DEF is covered to keep it from going bad ( we were told sunlight makes it go bad)

On Our Tractors there is a 12v aux plug that I put a * CANT SCREW THIS UP PLUG ON!!* Same on the other end that is connected to the pumps, just plug in the corresponding pump and have at it. If I were to do it again I would have went a Hand Crank Pump on the DEF we don't use that much of it and although its nice to have an automatic pump, what's the big deal in turning a handle to keep warm in the winter for the few gallons of DEF that is added.

Filters I went with Fill-rites (this time) one is a 30 mic at 20Gpm the other is a 10mic at 20Gpm with some gauges to tell when they are getting close to being changed. The DEF I went with a single 7 mic filter. The tractors themselves have on a Cat 2mic filter (Thank You Filter Yoda ) plus the normal filter/water sep that came on them from the factory. My Pard that's a Wrench at the Case IH dealer said that I'm way over filtered but what can it hurt?

Water separator on the Diesel only was handled by Racor, I'm kind of surprised that we don't get more moisture than we do with the tank sitting outside. I did build a covering over it don't know if maybe that helps or not?

So far both the systems (our place and Sons) have had no problems, I think that maybe the price was a little high but everything was NEW, I didn't have to piece things together and I know want size the tanks actually are with the tank charts that came with it, EPA even gets down to the % amount that can be put in the tank noting over 75% although I have put in 90% and knew that we were going to use the equipment a lot, and it was clean when we got it and it stays clean.

The only complaint has been from Penny she's the one that uses the Diesel Tractor around here the most. She said the pump is a little slow. I tell Her to shut the tractor cab door, then its warm!! I pump just about all the fuel for Her ANYWAY!!

 

[CBari]

Thanks Big for the details on the filter set-up that's what I wanted to hear.