Used oil tank to diesel tank

[campman63]

I have a 500 gallon used oil tank on skids that i want to clean out and store diesel in what do i need to do to clean tank out . thanks

 

[MikeInEburg]

Depends a bit on how long it has been since it last held oil. If it were me, I'd slosh around five gallons of gasoline in it and drain - use the gas for fire starter or something other than in an engine. Then put a filter on the hose/pump and call it good.
Mike

 

[campman63]

Mike, its been about 6 months since oil was pump out thanks

 

[MikeInEburg]

If it was used for heating oil, that is virtually the same stuff as diesel (folks please - let's not start a "they're the same"/"No they're not" debate). You just want to kill off/clean out any organic matter that may have grown in the past 6 months.
Where in GA are you? My son is 2nd year at Ga Tech (and loving Atlanta).

Mike

 

[campman63]

Mike , i live halfway between atlanta and augusta down i-20 great country down here. and thanks for the reply .going to start on tank next week have some free diesel coming myway.randy

 

[LBrown59]

I have a 500 gallon used oil tank on skids that i want to clean out and store diesel in what do i need to do to clean tank out . thanks

Why kind or type of oil was in the tank?

 

[campman63]

motor oil and hydraulic fluid

 

[Wis Bang]

motor oil and hydraulic fluid

Then you shouldn't have any microbes growing like a fuel oil tank w/ a water layer at the bottom would have developed. If there is no 'heel' of the old oil in the tank you should be fine to just set it up for the diesel. Maybe flush a few gal of diesel through to make sure there is no particulate debris...

Just after college I worked for a fuel hauler. When we needed to work on a bunker oil trailer [#4 to #6] we would run a few loads of #2 to a heating oil customer w/ the largest storage tank and then drain it well and pull the valves for repair without having the thick bunker oozing out for days.

When bottom loading gas on diesel we had to slow load [700 GPM] instead of the normal 1200GPM [static caution] but that was the only restriction...Prior to the need to dye off road fuel there were only [4] connections at the loading rack; #2 oil, Low test, Middle test & High test...diesel was a matter of a tax computation.

We used to supply a Union 76 truckstop off the ARCO/GULF pipeline [Shell & Texaco were on the other side of town onthe Buckeye pipeline] and Super Diesel was 1000gal #1 [kero] and 6000gal #2...when we brought a load of high test we had to add 5gal extra additive to ARCO's gas to bring it to Union's standards. Winter related [pour point] additives happened at the refinery on a seasonal basis b/4 the stuff was pushed up the pipeline.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Like the others said. Drain it of oil, wash it out, and fill with diesel. Even if there were 2 gallons of oil in there a few hundred gallons of diesel would dilute it. Just make sure you put a filter on the tank to catch any crud.


Chris

 

[SimS]

Randy;

Where are you off of I-20? I'm in Morgan County, exit 105. I agree, it's nice country and nice people.

SimS