diesel weight

radioman · Apr 14, 2011

I did a quick search here on TBN and havent found any threads on this. or maybe I am looking in right place?

Anyways, I am planning on getting 50-55 gallons of biodiesel or off road since the prices is killing me now. I was hoping to get enough from now till fall to curtail the higher prices coming this summer. I picked up a 55 gallon white plastic barrel for 25 bucks a week ago. Now, just so I know what I am getting into- I googled the diesel weight and it comes out to 7.15lbs per gallon. If I got 55 gallons worth of diesel it's gonna come out to 393.25lbs for the barrel!!!

I always gotten 5 gallons of onroad before when I needed it, but now with high prices, I am hoping to get ahead by the time fall comes around in terms of saving money. My question is, is moving nearly 400lbs of diesel a real pain? I am planning on moving it with my FEL but wonder if anyone has a tricks with a slippery plastic barrel?

Jay4200 · Apr 14, 2011

radioman said:
I always gotten 5 gallons of onroad before when I needed it, but now with high prices, I am hoping to get ahead by the time fall comes around in terms of saving money. My question is, is moving nearly 400lbs of diesel a real pain? I am planning on moving it with my FEL but wonder if anyone has a tricks with a slippery plastic barrel?

Liberal use of ratchet straps.

JayC

Raspy · Apr 14, 2011

I think you are better off storing it in 5 gallon jugs. Lots of them.

Then you can move them around easily and transfer it to your vehicles easily. If you do use the big white drum, make sure it's rated for transportation or trucking, or whatever. They have to be very thick and able to take bouncing around. It also must be UV inhibited if it sees much sun, or else it will just break like glass later on and your precious fuel will be on the ground.

It's pretty easy to take the empty drum to the gas station in your truck and fill it up. Then slide it to the rear of the bed and hook the lip of your loader under it. Then a chain around it to the bucket hooks (you do have bucket hooks don't you?:laughing

and you're off to put it wherever you want with it sitting partially in the bucket. A drum dolly works well for moving it around and filling smaller containers, like the five gallon jugs that should have been used in the first place. :laughing: Or you can pump it out with a drum pump.

I've found that the 30 gallon drums work well too and are a lot easier to handle.

radioman · Apr 14, 2011

Raspy said:
I think you are better off storing it in 5 gallon jugs. Lots of them.

Then you can move them around easily and transfer it to your vehicles easily. If you do use the big white drum, make sure it's rated for transportation or trucking, or whatever. They have to be very thick and able to take bouncing around. It also must be UV inhibited if it sees much sun, or else it will just break like glass later on and your precious fuel will be on the ground.

It's pretty easy to take the empty drum to the gas station in your truck and fill it up. Then slide it to the rear of the bed and hook the lip of your loader under it. Then a chain around it to the bucket hooks (you do have bucket hooks don't you?:laughing and you're off to put it wherever you want with it sitting partially in the bucket. A drum dolly works well for moving it around and filling smaller containers, like the five gallon jugs that should have been used in the first place. :laughing: Or you can pump it out with a drum pump.

I've found that the 30 gallon drums work well too and are a lot easier to handle.

first- I have NO pickup truck. just a 16 ft trailer. I havent registered it for the year yet. That's on my to do list too.

second, yup I got bucket hooks

third, I have no idea if it rated for trucking/transportation and if it has uv inhibitors. it used to hold soap for a car wash. I can still smell it a little in barrel when bung is removed, I washed it out and no soap bubbles were found.

Raspy · Apr 14, 2011

I had some five gallon DOT plastic white containers that I left outside for a few months. Next time I handled them they literally broke.

Reg · Apr 14, 2011

I have handled wine grape juice (which is HEAVY) in 55 gallon drums.
They're easy, just tip and roll along on the bottom edge.
1/2 empty they might get a bit weird on you though (-:

You should be able to roll that bottom edge straight onto you FEL bucket, secure it with a ratchet strap and be all set.

That was what I did with RimGuard too, I brought those drums home in a horse trailer.
The main reason for putting those in the FEL bucket was to raise it for more siphon head when filling the tires.

Jerry/MT · Apr 17, 2011

radioman said:
I did a quick search here on TBN and havent found any threads on this. or maybe I am looking in right place?
Anyways, I am planning on getting 50-55 gallons of biodiesel or off road since the prices is killing me now. I was hoping to get enough from now till fall to curtail the higher prices coming this summer. I picked up a 55 gallon white plastic barrel for 25 bucks a week ago. Now, just so I know what I am getting into- I googled the diesel weight and it comes out to 7.15lbs per gallon. If I got 55 gallons worth of diesel it's gonna come out to 393.25lbs for the barrel!!!

I always gotten 5 gallons of onroad before when I needed it, but now with high prices, I am hoping to get ahead by the time fall comes around in terms of saving money. My question is, is moving nearly 400lbs of diesel a real pain? I am planning on moving it with my FEL but wonder if anyone has a tricks with a slippery plastic barrel?

I bought a 55 gallon steel drum for $20 and I fill that wth diesel for our ranch. I also have one for ranch gas. I bought a drum lifter from HF(~$20) and I use that with a chain on the FEL to take it out of the pick up after I refill it. I don't like the idea of storing fuel in plastic unless it's fuel compatible and plastic drums are a little harder to handle except maybe with lift straps but I never tried that. if you have it a on a pallet and have pallet forks on the FEL I suppose that would work also. I think diesel is less than 7 lbs/gallon (~6.7 lbs/gallon@60F) but I won't argue. Including the weight of the barrel it's close enough to 400 lbs to not argue about,

Diamondpilot · Apr 17, 2011

I used 55 gallon drums for years. I simply put all 3 in my truck and filled them. When home I slid them off into my FEL one at a time and set them down. Just used a 2" ratchet strap to secure. Once on the ground I moved them with some effort. I now have a 300 gallon gravity unit.

Make sure if you are getting fuel you can one use bio diesel. I will not anymore. And two, can you pump it and store it.

Chris