Heating oil tank for storing diesel

[Kioti Lee]

I have a friend getting rid of a tank that they used to store heating oil. The tank is about half full of oil. Do you think It could be used to store diesel in?

 

[davesl708]

No reason not to if it is in good shape on the inside. Fuel oil is not far from diesel.

 

[mangus580]

Most areas Fuel Oil IS diesel - un-taxed, un-treated (for cold) and un-dyed.

I would get your hands on the fuel from it too.

 

[s219]

Heating oil and diesel are the same exact thing (give or take some coloring and/or road taxes), so of course you can use that tank!

 

[Kioti Lee]

Is there anything I should do to prep the tank?

 

[windy acers]

Is there anything I should do to prep the tank?

Drain it and flush it out.Filter the heating oil and try to use it

 

[candoarms]

In the old days, any steel tank would work for storing diesel fuel. Today's fuels are formulated to reduce emissions and now attract moisture more than ever before. The U.S. military discovered this problem many years ago, and has since switched over from hard tanks to soft tanks.....tanks that collapse when the fuel is used. These new fuel tanks are called bladders. Bladders are now inserted inside the steel tank. The collapsible bladder reduces air space in the tank, all but eliminating any condensation that takes place in steel tanks.

Steel tanks are very common on the farm, but moisture problems are difficult to keep up with. The best method to fight this problem is to keep your storage tanks full of fuel......thereby reducing the air space in the tank. Any air in the tank contains moisture (humidity), that will condense and run to the bottom of the tank. Over time any fuel tank can eventually fill with this condensed moisture.

The fuel tank you're looking at will work just fine for you, unless you plan on using it for long-term storage. Your fuel tank should never hold more fuel than you could use in a 6 month period.

Joel

 

[Ted Summey]

We have three steel tanks one for on-road diesel, one for off road diesel and one for gasoline all for farm vehicles. Condensation and rust eventually do cause problems. We have filter/seperators on the filler lines now.

 

[Baby Grand]

I'd check the oil drained from the tank for water & make sure you run it through a filter before you use it in anything that you value.
Empty the tank, clean/flush it, then check that it will hold pressure or a vacuum.
Sometimes the sludge that forms in the tank can seal pin holes caused by the aforementioned condensation.
Nothing worse than a tank that leaks, except for a tank with a layer of sludge that reliably fouls your filters every time you agitate it by filling the tank.
It's probably cheap insurance to add a filter at the bottom outlet, if it's not still there.
If there's already one attached, put in a fresh filter element and you should be very happy with a comfortable just-in-case storage capacity.

 

[Jay4200]

I have a friend getting rid of a tank that they used to store heating oil. The tank is about half full of oil. Do you think It could be used to store diesel in?

Heating oil IS diesel.