Is a Poly Drum legal for fuel?

Bird · Aug 15, 2004

I used a 55 gallon blue poly barrel that originally came with an industrial detergent in it. A neighbor had two 55 gallon poly barrels that we used in the hay fields; one black and one white (don't know what was in them originally). And I didn't fill mine myself; got it filled at the wholesale fuel distributor (Exxon) and I suspect if there'd been any prohibition against using it, they would have said so.

pekabu · Aug 16, 2004

Hey Darren, what NJ law would you have been in violation of? Just curious.

Inspector507 · May 13, 2005

Just bringing this up because I found some info out today. The largest distributor around here told me that they do not do any retail sales, no "small load" pickups. They only service commercial accounts. He knew of no one around here that sold off-road fuel that I could go pick up. They also told me that a poly drum is not "legal" to transport diesel and they would refuse to fill it. According to the International Fire Code and the Ohio Fire Code, all transport containers need to be labeled as "DOT approved" containers. Although, from what I can find, one document says they only cover larger than 60 gallon containers. And another one says they regulate containers over 110 gallons.
The distributor also said any 55 gallon metal drum would be filled with or without approval labels.
So........I may just get the poly one and get it filled at the local gas station and call it a day /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Bob_Skurka · May 13, 2005

Not only are they supposed to be DOT approved, they are color coded. Yellow for Diesel, Blue for Kero, Red for Gas.

Being that you are hauling it for your personal use, in a personal vehicle I doubt you'd have any problem. If you were hauling it for a commercial operation, if you were caught by the DOT inspectors you would at very least get ticketed.

GV40U · May 15, 2005

When I purchased my Oregon place (August, 2004) the previous owner threw in a couple of heavy duty 30 gal food grade plastic barrels and a 12 volt fuel pump. After I used the remaining diesel I headed for the station where he bought off-road diesel. I was told that plastic barrels were no longer acceptable but I could use the 5 gallon yellow plastic cans that were sold, labeled and approved for diesel. Otherwise, I would have to get a properly labeled steel container. He said a 55 gallon steel barrel would probably be OK but it had to have "Combustible" and "Diesel" labels. Further, it was strictly illegal to haul gasoline in any container not approved and marked as "Flammable"

The station manger said that fuel container regulations were enforced by the state and local Fire Marshalls and the station had recently been cited for filling non-approved containers.

Keep in mind, this happened in Oregon where there are no self- service fuel stations so these rules may not apply or be enforced in your state. If you fill your own container (as I did in Washington) and most of you can, the rules for fuel containers may more flexible or not strictly enforced.

I resolved this by finding a used 50 gallon steel transfer tank that I cleaned up, labeled correctly and bolted to a pallet so I could lift it in and out of my pickup with my pallet forks.

slowrev · May 16, 2005

The poly drum is not legal for hauling fuel, but would they come out and fill one up that is stationary ?

Ben

oliver28472 · May 16, 2005

Most of the posts about this say that the distributors have a minimum amount you have to purchase, maybe 100 gallons. I just took one of my 30 gallon poly drums and filled it myself at our local distributor with off road diesel for $1.89/gallon plus 7% sales tax. I forget whether the drum was labeled Roundup or Bucaneer.

slowrev · May 16, 2005

Yeah, that is what I do too, but use a 30 gal for gasoline, then have to file to get my road taxes back. I have a strap harness I made to lift it out of the truck with my FEL.
They used to sell offroad gas here in KY many years back, but quit because fo people using it for road use. I expect pump it yourself offroad diesel to go the same route in the near future considering all of the diesel pickups and cars we have now.

Ben

MadDog · May 16, 2005

I've been using a 30 gal. poly drum mounted in a pallet frame to pick up off road from my local heating oil distributor for about 9 months. They didn't question it and nobody else has either. I'm not clear on what all the fuss would be about, since diesel isn't explosive like gasoline. Of course, if you were in a wreck and the drum ruptured there'd be a mess to clean up, but not any worse than my truck's 44 gal gas tank. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif