[jhein]

I'm about to pull the trigger on a fuel tank and pump system. I've never had a setup like that before and wondering what the ups and downs of it are from anyone who has experience.

I'm looking at a single wall 520 gal 12 gauge skid tank with a 110V AC pump, auto shutoff nozzle, fill level gauge, pump meter, venting, etc.

I can get 92 octane non-ethanol gas delivered for 4.80/gal as of today.

With our usage, 520 gal will last about 5-6 months, give or take.

[salem1912]

I recently moved a 1000 gallons of heating oil from my sisterinlaws in ground tank to my daughters house with this set up. Worked great just like a gas pump. Tank was a total 8foot deep. Not a permitted set-up but for moving fuel.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[jhein]

This is what I'm talking about:

[GT182]

Nice, but we can't have anything like that in our neighborhood.

[Sirrotica]

Don't wait too long to buy your fuel, they're predicting tight fuel supplies over the summer, and as we all know when the supply tightens, the price goes up.

Last summer when premium was over $5 around here, my 2005 GTO sat most of the summer. As the price eased towards the end of summer I started driving it more. Right now premium 93 unleaded E-10 is about $4.10 a gallon where I live in Ohio.

The nice thing about storing E-0 is the shelf life is much longer, easily over 2 years in my experience.

Looks like a nice tank and pump setup you're purchasing, I had thought about going to a skid tank here too, and stocking premium E-0. I have 4 acres with a remodeled farm house, rural farm setting, so there would be zero problems having a tank on my property. There are 2 tanks here now that I inherited, but I believe they both likely have water in them, too rusty to use now.

I had thought about aluminum saddle tanks from a semi, as that gets rid of the corrosion problem. Sometimes they can be bought pretty cheap on Marketplace.

Having owned a service station back in the late 70s early 80s, and worked in a bunch of them, as well as driving a fuel tanker I'd definitely get some of the paste you can put on the end of your dipstick you use to gauge how much fuel is left in the tank. They're are volumetric tables for most tanks that tell you how much in inches equal out to gallons. When you stick your tank you put the paste on the end of the stick, and if there is any water in the bottom the paste turns from green to a bright violet.

Check with local statutes to find out if how often they want you to stick the tanks. The liability is on you to protect the environment from leaks and spills. You also might want to inquire about your insurance to see if they cover bulk tanks, or require a rider for them. Cleaning up fuel spills get really expensive, really quickly. You probably also need a journal of when you stick tanks, along with recording the inches left when recorded. You might also check to see if there is any retainment enclosure required where you are, some parts of the country require a containment enclosure for the tank to sit in, in case of a rupture or leak. Somme places it depends on the volume of fuel you're storing, if a dyke is required.

This is what they look like:



Obviously the tank sits in this secondary containment vessel in case of a spill.

Sometime local laws make having on site fuel too costly, depends on where you live. I would guess Oregon is pretty strict on liquid fuel storage, but maybe they aren't.

I'm not an expert on this, just been around it much of my life. Things have changed with rules, and enforcement, quite a bit over the last 50-60 years. Just do your due diligence to not run afoul of the EPA, and other environmental agencies is all I'm saying. There's more to it than just buying the tank, and using it for personal use.

['ol Pinion head]

You must live a considerable distance from any stations with the 92 octane pure gasoline. I couldn't justify that expense, do have 8 race jugs & have filled them all up before.

One thing that I'd be concerned with is how the skid tank is vented. We had a wildfire come down my S property line end of March. The area around my shop is fairly wooded. was even nicely landscaped along the majority of the S edge of the shop... not any more. While the fire did not get into my shop, did have some damage outside (couple scorched R panels near one corner) & to one partscar on a gravel area. The partcar was little more than a rolling chassis w a stripped drivetrain, but there was a loss there. For decades at the farm, we had two overhead tanks, 250 -300 gals each. Both were originally for farm diesel. One eventually was repurposed for gasoline. Not sure I'd feel safe with having such an overhead gas tank out back, even if I had a couple hundred yards of concrete poured as a huge apron around the shop. The crazy thing about heavy winds & wildfires is embers can fly quite a ways, you don't get to pick where those embers start another fire.

[jhein]

These kind of tanks are fairly common here in rural areas. An enclosure/cover is not required but I'm gonna build a lean-to off the side of my shop for it. I'll have to find out about testing for water contamination. It does have a vent system.

I have a station with non-ethanol gas just a few miles away but I don't like taking the TA there. it's gas station/convenience store and a lot of sketchy people creeping around there. The last time I was there, the guy behind me and his son were admiring the car and we talked a bit while I was filling up. His truck was done before me so he decided to backup to leave. By then I was finishing up too so I wasn't watching what was happening but he backed into the car behind him. I have no idea how he didn't know there was a car behind him. Anyway, a fight nearly ensued and I just got the hell out of there.

Also, the non-ethanol they sell is at 5.59/gal. 92 octane E10 here is 4.59/gal. So if I can get 92 oct non-ethanol for 4.80 delivered that's not too bad. The bulk prices are based on volume and change daily.

[Stuart]

Is a tank elevated on a stand an option? That way it can be gravity feed, no pump required. That's the sort of fuel tank I'm used to seeing on farms in my area.

[Elarson]

The cover (with open sides!) is a great idea to keep sun off the tank. The "light ends" of the gas want to evaporate out the vent; which changes the composition of the gas over time. The extra heat of sunlight accelerates that.

Eric

[jhein]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Is a tank elevated on a stand an option? That way it can be gravity feed, no pump required. That's the sort of fuel tank I'm used to seeing on farms in my area.

I considered a gravity feed tank. Those are common too. I like it on the ground better. More stable. Easier to work on. The gravity feed system is considerably less expensive though.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by Elarson

The cover (with open sides!) is a great idea to keep sun off the tank. The "light ends" of the gas want to evaporate out the vent; which changes the composition of the gas over time. The extra heat of sunlight accelerates that.

Eric

Yes! the lean-to will be mainly for shade and rain protection. It will be open and very well ventilated.

[Sirrotica]

Most of the newer vent systems have a valve similar to a foot valve in a water well. It will only open to atmosphere when inside pressure reaches a certain point. The same way when it needs to equalize to outside atmosphere, there is a certain pressure threshold that it opens at.

Old systems just had open vent tubes from tank to atmosphere, EPA mandated the valves on the vent tubes. When filling most tanks now, the vent is connected to the tanker, as the tanker fills the tank the vapor, and fumes transfer back to the tanker. The next time the tanker is filled the fumes go back to the refinery/loading rack, through a second vent hose. As I said, much has changed in the last 50-60 years.