diesel fuel tank drilling?

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You can take a can of diesel .... throw a match at it and the match will go out on contact with the diesel

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I understand that If you take a can of petrol .... throw a match at it, the match will also go out, ............................

















but normally by the force of the explosion!
 
I drilled my mild steel tanks in situ and without emptying with no problems.
The small amount of swarfe was caught on a bit of card folded in the shape of a fan and covered in grease. The card went through the filler hole and opened up under the drill-site with the grease catching the bits.
Fortunately my tanks are the old type with waste/water sumps that can be drained occasionally. A good idea, given the amount of rust.
Drilling a SS tank might be more of a problem but as others have said, it should be possible with new bits and a slow speed drill. Don't allow the work to get hot.
 
Re: Its incredible .... in fact unbelievable ...... and Ignition temp ???

That is something I have long believed but I am not sure I can find the data to verify it. I should have tried to check it out before I spoke. I normally do that but didn't on this occasion.

You are the expert so if you can't confirm it then I am wrong and will have to delete it from my memory banks. I will however PM you to explain what I meant in a little more detail.
 
Re: Its incredible .... in fact unbelievable ...... and Ignition temp

I have just (yesterday in fact) drilled two, yes two holes in my diesel tanks to put in new extract points. they were half full of fuel 250l each tank) and no they didn't explode. I KNEW they wouldnt. swarf? most of it, in fact nearly all of it, goes to the ouside as you drill, I used a vacum cleaner to suck it away as it is easier than getting it out of the bilges. a little teeny bit goes in the tank and dropps to the bottom.

Many years ago my dad puy me to work with an employee called Ronnie the Bodger whose sole aim in life was to wander the garage doing all those fixing jobs that needed doing from mending roller shutters to helping the mechanics hoist gearboxes and engines. What an education that was. One day a road tanker tractor unit came in with holes corroded in the diesel tank and ronnie sent me to get the oxy set to weld a patch on, I fetched the set and retired to a safe distance (100 yds away behind a lorry) much to Ronnies amusement as he proceeded to weld a patch on the half full tank then quench the red hot metal, with a jug of diesel he had lieing around for cleaning purposes.

It was 35 years ago, Ron is still alive and well in his 80's

Health and Safety? we managed without it or died trying, have those idiots on the H&S exec never heard of Darwin (the bloke not the place)?

The Tankers by the way were old time expired road tankers used for ferrying around sulphuric acid in ICI and eventually it burned through the metal of the tanker and dripped onto the tractor units tank. Hence the holes in the top of the fuel tank!!
 
Does anyone watch myth busters on the Discovery channel? For those who haven't seen it the format of the show is to either prove of disprove urban stories, like jumping up and down in a lift when it's falling will save you if you are in the air when it hit's. This is false by the way.

Quite often they focus on Hollywood stunts and one of them was blowing up a car by shooting at it's petrol tank. They tried numerous times with the bullets going right through the tank but they couldn't get it to ignite so they tried shooting a hole below the fuel level and throwing a cigarette into the puddle. They couldn't even get that to light.

So by the wisdom of the myth busters I imagine that cutting a hole in a diesel tank is a safe as houses.

or for your added safety just get a friend to do it and stand well back!!
 
Re: Its incredible .... in fact unbelievable ...... and Ignition temp ???

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the only time I can see that diesel will ignite at lower temp than petrol is when diesel is compressed seriously and petrol not

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me thinks the compression may result in a significant increase in temperature of the diesel - n'est pas?
 
Umble Pie

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the trick with petrol tanks is to evacuate the vapours by adding carbon monoxide via the car engine exhaust.
you can then weld it with now probs ( honest , just had a word with St Peter )

[/ QUOTE ]This is dangerous nonsense. Sorry to be direct to the point of rudeness but your advice could kill someone. Not only is CO a flammable gas itself, cars no longer produce more than a few ppm of CO (have a quick look at your last exhaust gas analysis).

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Sorry for the complete "Cock-Up" relating to Gases.
in defence i did state "car exhaust" in the first post, just F**ked-up in getting the gases mixed up. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
i some 25 years ago, nearly blew my head off, soldering a copper flange onto a fuel tank that i had used for petrol. i was fully aware of the implications, as i thought. filled it full of water, poured some out leaving a gap of around 75m/m very wrongly assuming that all the vapour had been displaced.
fired-up the Ole gas torch & applied to the tank i of coures had my head over the tank as i was bent over it. what happened next was a noise similar to a "Doodle Bug" & a ft flame,noise heard 70 yds away.
burnt the side of my face 1/2 beard + eye brows & lashes gone. the beard possible saved my good looks.
the fuel residues had floated on top of the water & filled the void i had created when water level was reduced.
the way the thread was going i was trying to stop others doing the same.

sincere apologies from a a well intentioned Prat /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Re: Umble Pie

I'm sorry that I came across in an overbearing manner, no harm done at the end of the day and maybe everyone knows everything they didn't want to know about drilling holes in diesel tanks /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I\'m no expert .... but know a man / woman who is !!!!

I will ask my lab people about it and see what comes forth .....

No prob's
 
Re: I\'m no expert .... but know a man / woman who is !!!!

Practical bike owner experience,

Any fire requires fuel and oxygen and a catalyst to start it. For an explosion the ratio fuel to air is critical. Petrol will explode when there is between 6 and 15 percent (weight) of petrol in the air. Outside these limits no explosion. So a little petrol left over in a tank will be able to give a good bang.

So for safe welding of petrol tanks make sure that there is plenty of petrol vapour. I used to weld the cracks my BSA tank this way. Just leave half a liter of petrol in the tank, shake it well so that air is replaced, close the tank, tape off any vents. Put the welding torch to the crack and the escaping vapour will simply burn untill welding is completed.

Never had to weld a diesel tank but I assume a similar process will work there.

And I would drill a hole in a diesel tank, no problem, important is to keep out the swarf. Plus it would be wise to make sure that the diesel level is below the planned hole.

Still smiling /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ,
Theo
 
Re: I\'m no expert .... but know a man / woman who is !!!!

I've welded diesel tanks using oxy. Just have someone around with a CO2 extinguisher and a straight line of escape.
 
In the interests of Safety .... TheoSr

Please note that there are two ..... 2 explosive ranges when it comes to ALL petroleums ....

the LEL - which is the one you approximated and another which is a lot higher and is the UEL.

Please take care in advising others to shake petrol around a tank to increase vapour above LEL - you could easily pass into UEL range.

I speak as a Qualified Officer with Endorsement for In Charge of Tank Cleaning on ships / Crude Oil Washing Endorsements etc...... ( all part of my past life sins !!)
 
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