can a diesel tank explode?

xxyyzz said:
The compression makes the air hot, the diessel is also compressed and is thus hot, no compression, no hot.
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The diesel is pressurised as a liquid. Since that means negligible change in volume, very little work is done. For all practical purposes, compressing liquids does not heat them.

It's the hot that counts.
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Absolutely. hence glow plugs, for example.
 
ouch!

thought as much - threads can and do explode

posters - please take care when handling volatile topics.

flashpoint can easily be reached, especially when excessive agitation is present and the gas content is excessive.
 
cumbrian said:
thought as much - threads can and do explode

posters - please take care when handling volatile topics.

flashpoint can easily be reached, especially when excessive agitation is present and the gas content is excessive.
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I am going to add a little fuel to the fire. What if the tank was filled with "custard powder"?

One poster suggested doing something like this and calling Customs.

What is the explosion risk?
 
TQA said:
I am going to add a little fuel to the fire. What if the tank was filled with "custard powder"?

One poster suggested doing something like this and calling Customs.

What is the explosion risk?
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Never mind hte explosion, you'd certainly end up in custardy.
 
Well I've just opened and read this thread.
Another fine example of how this microcosm of the general population know sod all about everything, and then when someone who does know (Nigel - Refueler) explains don't believe him anyway.

I too have (gas) welded diesel tanks on Transit motorhomes without problems.
However I was arc-welding a grass-track racer one evening when the motorbike fuel tank it was fitted with caught fire. I don't know if an arc occured in the tank or the vapour just ignited from the site of the weld, but it made Standard Fireworks Roman Candles look very feeble.
 
Lakesailor said:
Well I've just opened and read this thread.
Another fine example of how this microcosm of the general population know sod all about everything, and then when someone who does know (Nigel - Refueler) explains don't believe him anyway.

I too have (gas) welded diesel tanks on Transit motorhomes without problems.
However I was arc-welding a grass-track racer one evening when the motorbike fuel tank it was fitted with caught fire. I don't know if an arc occured in the tank or the vapour just ignited from the site of the weld, but it made Standard Fireworks Roman Candles look very feeble.
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I don't believe you.
 
Coming late to this debate, I am firstly alarmed at the "pour some diesel in a pan and set fire to it to prove that it does not explode" approach. The same would apply to most flammable substances.
The important point is that diesel deposits "residues" which are of higher molecular weight than diesel oil per se, onto the walls of the tank. How they react with oxygen and a spark is your guess not mine.
For safety reasons I would agree with a mechanical method to cut the tank, not a grinder which creates heat and sparks.
At the end of the day if you go ahead and blow the back off the boat, what are you going to tell your insurers? ( and the wife?)
 
sarabande said:
We use two different types of diesel on the farm; winter grade and summer grade.

Are the flash point temperatures very different Refueler please ?
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They both must stay within the range specified for Industrial Gasoil ... I don't have the specs right in front of me at moment as I'm travelling ... but the range is same for both. Only when you get extreme range diesels do they start to change items such as flash..... ie those for arctic use etc.
But basic answer would be not usually.

What can change it to lower temp flash and still within spec. range is the common addition of Kerosine or RT to increase the winter properties. Some people add gasoline for same effect. The CFPP ( Cold Filter Plugging Pt ) and Cloud Pt's are the two main differences between the two grades. This is actioned by addition of special solvent chemicals or plain Kero / RT depending on CFPP range needed. UK summer grade is base gasoil at about -7C CFPP ... winter is -15C ... or can be -21 C in certain areas / requirements.
 
pappaecho said:
Coming late to this debate, I am firstly alarmed at the "pour some diesel in a pan and set fire to it to prove that it does not explode" approach. The same would apply to most flammable substances.
The important point is that diesel deposits "residues" which are of higher molecular weight than diesel oil per se, onto the walls of the tank. How they react with oxygen and a spark is your guess not mine.
For safety reasons I would agree with a mechanical method to cut the tank, not a grinder which creates heat and sparks.
At the end of the day if you go ahead and blow the back off the boat, what are you going to tell your insurers? ( and the wife?)
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What is it with people ? Not only myself but others have given the answer that satisfies safety and also the job in hand.

Fill the tank with plain water and over flow it ... to make sure any fuel on top is pushed out. Empty the tank and then cut with any method you wish to use ...

Personally I would use a grinder as that is what I have handy in my workshop. I would never use an air driven tool - as I value my hearing !! But if someone wants to hire / procure / use a nibbler ... a saw ... whatever - then why not. I'm not so sure about a 'gas-axe' ... Oxy-acetylene jobbie as the heat and general area working in may not be best place !! Might have strange effects on a GRP boat surrounding it !!
 
why, its simple....

i have to post this to avoid blackmail by a forumite who knows the end result....

after such vibrant and helpful posts i'm ashamed to say that the tank, er, well, just lifted out. i'm **** at measuring. and was sort of looking forward to blowing myself up.

watch out for my next dumb question post (DQP)

keith
 
Refueler said:
Perkins Cold Start for years worked on principle of "popping" a small dribble of diesel on a glow plug ... the small flame would be sucked down the intake and assist the firing of diesel injected in cylinders.

So that woulod apparently indicate diesel DOES explode ...... no - wrong. The glowplug needs 15 - 25 sec's to heat up and get that dribble of diesel hot enough to IGNITE ... not explode. The pop is the tiny amount of spirit vapour that is present in all diesels. The flame gets the engine going - because it is additional to : Compression that increases temp. substantially, atomised diesel that increases air surface area contact of the fuel ... add all together and it fires.

Another poster has correctly mentioned diesel mist - but that applies to most dry and liquid articles. Wood pulp, sawdust, cotton, fabrics, oils, grain, coal, .... even household dust .... they ALL can explode given right circumstances. Sawmills and wood processing plants have strict rules about this.
Engines designed to run on coal slurry from ground coal ....

So get it right please.

Back to Diesel - every day we test diesel and other fuesl for Flash Point. The temp at which a product will on addition of a flame will flash over without continued combustion. Diesel is certainly WELL above ambient environmental temp. Only way to get it fire would be : agitation, atomising to mist form, heating, compression..... and these would then need a fire medium introduced.
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Sorry Nige, it wasnt the flame that did the biz it was the "gas" produced when the gas oil was heated by the red hot glow plug. Our shipping pumps in Angola were dual fuel , fire em up on gasoil then turn them on to produced gas. The principle is the same using Easy Start. In fact if you wanted to test this principle, get a diesel engine hot, have a gas blow lamp ready, UNLIT, switch the engine off, make the engine stop operative then poke the blow lamp nozzle in to the intake and restart the engine. It will start and run roughly on the gas. Dont run it for more than a few secs, the pump needs fuel to lube it.
This is also the reason why some oil field engines have stranglers fitted (Detroit Diesels have them for a different reason) its to stop them running away if a gas leak occurs in the close vicinity.
Stu
 
I mentioned this thread to my son a couple of weeks ago. He tells me he has brazed diesel tanks without even draining them of fuel. A step too far for me and I'm not recommending it, but it does answer the original question.
 
can a diesel tank explode

No, you will (would have been safe), however small particles of almost anything can explode.

Ihave attended 100s of car fire in 30 years of fire service, I have never seen a car explode (as it does on TV) these would be petrol and diesel, yes pipes would melt and fuel would run down the road alight! a good trick in parts of east London was to put a few empty gas cylinder iside the car!!

Reminds me of a program call HOW many years ago following a fatal dust explosion at a flower mill. They asked how flower could explode??
Myself and a friend tried to replicate it with a bag of flower and a couple of straws we nearly blew our heads off, returned home with no eyebrows.
I like the vacuum idea though
 
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