Above ground diesel tank-- how do I refresh it back into service?

[plowhog]

I have an above ground diesel tank. About 300 gallons. There has been a small quantity of fuel in it for many years. I believe I need to purge the old fuel and replace it before using?

There is one fuel line (underground) to a diesel heater in the residence. The heater also has not been used for many years. I know it needs priming before even trying to start.

There is also an old Tokheim manual fuel pump on the top of the tank. I believe it is a model 786 (or similar.) A google search shows this is a very old unit with limited parts availability. I haven't tried using the pump but would be surprised if it works?

I'd like to start using this for off-road diesel to fuel my tractor and equipment. But I believe I should clean it out, or at least purge the old fuel. Any suggestions or recommendations about how to freshen up this tank so I can reliably use fuel from it? (I would probably filter the fuel into my tractor using a Mr. Funnel.)

 

[Raspy]

The biggest concern might be water in the tank that has allowed it to develop algae. If the fuel looks good and no water or algae is present, it should be just fine to use, especially in a diesel heater.

I burned quite a bit of very old fuel in my old Mercedes and it was just fine. All I did was run it through a home built water separator and cloth screen before pouring it into the car. The water separator was a 5 gallon bucket with a double TEE shirt over the top to catch debris. Water gathered in the bottom of the bucket and the fuel was taken out from a fitting on the side, down low. At that point it looked clean and the fuel filter could handle the rest.

You can also "polish" it by pumping it through a good diesel filter (spin-on from NAPA, for instance) and back into the tank.

If it's full of black algae you might just put it into five gallon jugs and deliver it to an oil recycling/auto parts store.

If that is the problem, once it's empty, I wonder if you could pressure wash the interior through the fill point at the top and catch the junk in buckets at the bottom. Then let it dry and you're good to go.