Off Road Toad Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 What is the best and safest method of making safe a fuel tank thats had petrol in it? I need to make some mods to it that involve the use of grinders and a welder and i don't want to die at my tender young age Steve Maybe i should just take it to Nige's house and get him to do it while i stand back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Filling and draining with water is the usual way, but you can fill with an inert gas (C02, Argoshield, etc). Leve it out in the sun for a day - the tank will heat up and vapours will vent out. Get Nige to do it, but film it for us to see Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco_al Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 the other way is to fill it with sand apparently.... i vote for the HFH attack approach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smego Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 filling it with water is the normal way quick safe and easy, sand makes a stick mess and is hard to get out as some grains remain then get itno your engine once back on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I'd 2/3 fill with water, then weld, then empty, assuming you are welding the top of it. Did this recently, and was fine. Use a magnet on a stick to get the small particles of steel that are bound to fall in, out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Throw a match in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Fill with water and empty a couple of times. Fill again to just below the weld line. Squirt CO2 or Halon into the top of the tank and then seal the outlet to keep the air out. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02jcole Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Flush the tank with water and then connect it to the exhaust of a diesel engine and run the engine for about 15 minutes. A friend of mine swears by this method. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobotMan Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Flush the tank with water and then connect it to the exhaust of a diesel engine and run the engine for about 15 minutes. A friend of mine swears by this method. James Standard practice on oil tankers. Filling with water or sand might not be too easy for 300000 tonnes. Not to mention sinking! We did of course monitor the O2 content very closely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road Toad Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 Thanks all for your thoughts on this! After an incident involving petrol,paint,water and my wifes vegetables i'm a little cautious nowadays I have decided probably rather wisely to completely remove the fuel tank from the truck (which will involve fighting the magic rusty bolts) flush it with water several times in a safe place then set fire to it I may film this for the benefit of others and also to aid identification of my fried carcass afterwards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy2986 Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Oh please get Nige to do it and film it for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 what did you do to your wifes vegetable patch? if its anything like a series tank you might aswell remove it unless youre actually welding on it. you still might as well remove it cos its 6 bolts. just fill it all the wasy to the top with water. if theres all water, theres no fumes yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
q-rover Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Thanks all for your thoughts on this! After an incident involving petrol,paint,water and my wifes vegetables i'm a little cautious nowadays I have decided probably rather wisely to completely remove the fuel tank from the truck (which will involve fighting the magic rusty bolts) flush it with water several times in a safe place then set fire to it I may film this for the benefit of others and also to aid identification of my fried carcass afterwards Well, I was joking, but sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 sell the video to you've been framed, and put the money in the forum coffers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
q-rover Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Actually it´s an empty tank that is more dangerous than a full petrol tank. Had this demonstrated on a fire fighting course. The fireman had a full jerry can of petrol and an empty one he just swilled a bit of petrol round. He then got his firey lighting wand and opened the full jerry can. Everyone took a few steps back and got ready to run, then he put his firestick to it and a little flame just jumped around the moth of the jerrycan. He then opened the empty one and asked for a volunteer to put his firestick near it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzar Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Ok, this is a seriously dangerous topic. Petrol tanks go boom, no, sorry, BOOM! The steel absorbs petrol and releases it as petrol vapour - which (unless inside a zenith carb) is highly explosive when mixed with oxygen/air. Highly explosive = dead welder. A neighbour of mine was killed by a lawn mower petrol tank, he was sharpening the blade with a grinder, the empty tank had the lid off, and he was in a small shed. The coffin was closed at the funeral. So, to avoid this risk 1) buy a new one, they aren't THAT expensive. or my approach (scots-irish blood (amongst other things)) 2) ensure there is no oxygen in the tank. Carbon dioxide is the easiest way of doing this - a flexi pipe attached to a running engine exhaust is the best, petrol or diesel, so long as the petrol isn't running rich, you should be ok. Should be, but it CAN go wrong. Which means the funeral home doesn't have to pay the crematorium. Any other inert non reactive gas is also good, argoshield etc, or 3) use a propitiatory tank sealant. For goodness sake be careful when doing this. Please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 My 2 pence: A running diesel engine at idle does not remove enough O2 from the atmosphere to take an explosive mixture below it's lower flammable limit. You'll either need a diesel running at full load (gen set maybe?) or a petrol engine. Oil tankers use either flue gas from steam plant, or a portable burner setup designed to run very close to stoich. And then they have lots of testing kit to show the quantity of vapour left in the tanks. Even so - there won't be any welding taking place on the deck of a tanker! Personally - I fill with water and empty several times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobotMan Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Oil tankers use either flue gas from steam plant, or a portable burner setup designed to run very close to stoich. And then they have lots of testing kit to show the quantity of vapour left in the tanks. Even so - there won't be any welding taking place on the deck of a tanker! I've seen welding on the deck of a tanker. Was I a touch nervous, carrying 300000 tonnes of crude? Too bloody right! But it was a desperate measure for emergency repairs and was done in torrential rain in the North Sea. Not at all normal practice. Valid point about the method of generation and of course monitoring. Over rich is equally explosion resistant. Totally impractical to trust on a tank with a hole in mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 He has even asked me to weld it Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will4x4 Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Reading this i would tell Steve to jog on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yella 90 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 ive always used the exhaust gas method with no sonic booms as of yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo_C Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 On a lighter note, I remember going to see a mate in a BMW dealers, someone there has lowered a car down on a brand new oil drainer, it had literally only been used once and only had about 10 or so litres of old oil in it. The guy had snapped the neck of it nice and cleanly around the top. He was promptly told to drain out and weld it back one. He then dutifully drained it out, cleaned the paint off and sat down to weld it back up, now I haven't mentioned where he chose to do it yet, in his wisdom he took it into the special tool room, this was a pristine room just off the workshop with white walls and boards with the special tools hung up on them for what seems like every BMW ever made. I guess you can see where this is going by now, you see he had forgotten that as part of the service he had changed the fuel filter and to make it easier to bleed back up he had poured the fuel from the old filter into the new one. The thing was some missed the new filter. When he struck the first ark there was a thump and an awful lot of swearing coming from the little room. The thing had gone pop and the force of the explosion had thrown the last of the oil out of the top of the drainer with enough force that it went straight through the guys cloths and into every corner of the once white room. He was very very lucky and after several showers it took him most of the next weekend to clean the tool room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcock Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Thanks for the advice. Had to replace the petrol tank on my camper this week as my old had pin holed. found a reasonable second hand one locally but decided to clean it up and paint it first the wire cup brush may not make as many sparks as a grinder but still to many for safety so I connected it to my diesel vans exhaust with a 2" hose and ran it at about 2000 revs untill I had finished. I'm still in one piece thankfully , I did consider welding the old tank but I don't think my life insurance covers acts of stupidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONKEYCOPPER Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I would use steam to remove any trace of vapours, Thats how i was always taught, Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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