Pump out Fuel Oil Tank

[hube2]

I need to pump fuel oil out of my tank in the basement.

I have a pump that will do it, the issue is that I cannot get the hose for the pump to snake down into the tank from the fill pipe outside. The hose must go around a couple of 90 degree bends and the hose is getting caught on where the pipes thread into the elbows.

The hose is a 5/16 inch ID hose (1/2 inch OD).

Does anyone know of a fitting I can put on the end of this hose to allow it to get past where it's getting stuck?
And also not restrict flow so that the pump will still work?

I'm imagining some type of a round ball with a fitting that pushes into hose in the same manner that the hose connects to the pump.

I've tried searching and all I can find is a fitting that goes on a pressure washer and this would not work because it would restrict the flow into the hose.

My other option is to take the bung out of the tank in the basement and pump it from there. I would rather avoid doing this and it would be my last resort.

 

[ponytug]

I would do it from the basement. With a pump at the fuel tank, you are much better positioned to move the fuel a long distance.

Any hose that is flexible enough to make it around a 2" 90 degree bend is likely to collapse under the suction of pumping the oil up and out.

Can I ask why you want to do this? I've only had to do this once, but fuel oil company came and did it for us. (And paid for the oil, IIRC...)

All the best,

Peter

 

[hube2]

Any hose that is flexible enough to make it around a 2" 90 degree bend is likely to collapse under the suction of pumping the oil up and out.

I have a pump with a hose that is designed to do this. The hose is fairly stiff but it does go around the corners. I can get it past the first bend but it hangs up on the second.

 

[JJT]

How many gallons do you need to move? I helped my brother out with a similar project but the tank was less than 1/3 full. We filled 5 gallon jugs straight off the tank's filter line, and lugged them up the stairs and out of the house to a truck with a couple of 55 gallon drums in the back. By the time I lugged my 10 gallons and returned to the basement his jugs were full. Took less than an hour. We screwed around with a pump for most of an hour before we gave up and went the manual labor route.

 

[drizler]

I assume this goes to Oil furnnace or boiler. It must have a shut off where the bung is you referred to. Can’t you simply unhook the line at the appliance and let it drain into 5 gallon cans to take where you need one at the time.? It’s a little slow but not really much slower than any flexible tube you’re going to get down past that double 90 and to bottom of the tank. Then again, you don’t need to have any sort of pump to do the job either.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I have a pump with a hose that is designed to do this. The hose is fairly stiff but it does go around the corners. I can get it past the first bend but it hangs up on the second.

Kind of a dumb question but could you do something like what we used to do pulling wire in conduit like building up the end of the hose with something like black tape or attach a piece of fish tape to the end of the hose that will go ahead of the hose and allow you to get it through the elbow? Forgive me if I have mis-understood what the problem is.

 

[LouNY]

Are you going to be removing the tank after it is empty?
If so maybe remove a couple pieces of the fill piping.
Also, I am assuming you are trying to use the fill pipe and not the vent pipe as most likely your vent piping has a whistle at the tank which would not let a line through. Or connect your suction hose to the feed line.

 

[hube2]

To answer some questions.

It's a long story.

I have 550 gallons of fuel oil in 2 tanks. This is for my baseboard heating boiler. I now have heat pumps recently installed and will never use 550 gallons. I had the tanks filled before I decided to have the heat pump installed. Based on my oil usage this year it will take me 15 years to use the fuel. The fuel will go bad long before then.

I was toying with the idea of getting the pumps, but was not really planning on it for last year. The price was right so I got it done. If I had planned for the pumps I would not have had the tanks filled last spring.

I still need the boiler as backup to the heat pumps for the really cold days. So I will not be removing the boiler or the tanks.

I am trying to get the oil out of the older of the 2 tanks. My plan is to use it in my tractor. The fuel oil in my tank is diesel, no different than what you buy at the pump except that it is dyed red.

At this point I just want to burn it up or use it, give it away if I have to. I just don't want it to go to waste.

At this point I have turned off my heat pump and plan to just run the boiler for the rest of this year to burn up as much as I can. I have also turned off the newer of the 2 tanks so I can burn up what is in the older tank first. I doubt I will ever go to the expense of having one of the tanks removed. I'm too old to care or worry about an empty tank sitting in my basement.

My actual, initial plan, what to put diesel stabilizer and biocide into the tanks and then pump the diesel out and back in to get it mixed in.

Once this is done I was going to pump it out into 5 gallon cans for my tractor. My FIL also make maple syrup and uses a fuel oil (diesel) fired evaporator. He buys off road diesel 40 gallons at a time for this and I was planning on giving it to him as well.

At this point the fuel is already paid for. I could just burn it up to heat my house, but somehow I feel that is a waste if I can put it to better use.

 

[RjCorazza]

I pumped out a basement fuel oil tank years ago using a standard diesel transfer pump and 100' of garden hose on the discharge side to 55g drums outside. I used an existing cap on the tank, measured and cut a section of PVC suction pipe for the pump intake.
It didn't take very long, and I had several years (at the time) of free diesel.

 

[CobyRupert]

Sometimes it’s a matter of rotating/twisting the hose so that, eventual,y the end also rotates to the “right” orientation when it meets a bend.

Easier said than done and circumstances very greatly.