Fuel Oil Transfer Suggestions

[John in OH]

Looking for suggestions or clever ideas …..

Times they are achangin’! Progress at the old farm has resulted in the installation of a natural gas service line to the 171 year old farm house! That means the old fuel oil furnace heating system is being replaced with a new NG furnace and whole-house AC.

It also means that the existing two, 250 gal. fuel oil tanks (installed in 1958) in the basement can be removed. I’ll be glad to see them go as storing nearly 500 gal. of fuel oil under the living room never seemed like a good idea.



The existing fuel oil furnace is only 15 years old and is still in very good condition. It and one or both of the fuel oil tanks will be relocated to, and installed in, the farm’s old workshop.

Unfortunately, the tanks are now about ¾ full ( about 375 gal.) My plan is to isolate the two tanks from one another so that I can drain one tank at a time. The fuel from tank #1 will be transferred to a 300 gal. (currently nearly empty) outdoor tractor fuel oil storage tank that sits at grade. Once tank #1 is empty, it will be removed from the basement and moved to the workshop. After tank #1 is reinstalled in the workshop, the fuel in tank #2 can be transferred into tank #1. Elevation change from the basement tanks to the tractor tank will be about 10-12 ft. and horizontal distance will be about 150-200 ft.

So, what is the best way to transfer the fuel oil from tank to tank? (75 trips with a 5 gal. bucket is not a preferred solution!) I don’t really want to spend a lot of money on a new fuel oil transfer pump ($150 for a 12v) for a one-time job. Also, will a typical garden hose resist fuel oil long enough to survive this project?

 

[the gypsy]

It would help if we knew what kind of tools you have at your disposal. A tractor or fork lift or maybe even 55 gal tanks?

Saying goes like this, "There are 100 ways to skin a cat", not that I suggest you hurt any animal but this is the best way to express your options.

 

[John in OH]

It would help if we knew what kind of tools you have at your disposal. A tractor or fork lift or maybe even 55 gal tanks?

Saying goes like this, "There are 100 ways to skin a cat", not that I suggest you hurt any animal but this is the best way to express your options.

Good point!! I have a tractor with front loader and 3-pt mount bale forks. Pickup truck, flat-bed trailer. What I DON'T have is a decent, clean drum. Too much crud etc. on the ones I have.

I know there are probably "100 ways", but I was looking for some new "ways" ideas that maybe I haven't considered.

 

[DTE]

I had to do something similar a few years ago and the guy I was buying oil from pumped it into his tanker and after I got the tank moved he pumped the same amount back into my tank and charged me a fee for his time.

 

[the gypsy]

I am thinking of the garden hose would be good. BUT my fear is, if you don`t tighten the connections properly you may have a leak. This will contaminate your land. If this is a concern, you must find another solution. You may want to put the hose connection in a 5 gal container so that if there is a leak it will collect in the 5 gal bucket, thus reducing the risk of contaminating the land.

 

[finn]

Used blue plastic 55 gallon drums turn up for $20 or less occasionally.

I found one for free last fall, and it was clean.

You still need a pump or siphon, though.

 

[rburke65]

I'm liking the idea of the oil guy pumping it out and returning it after you have relocated the tanks. Sometimes it's just better to write the check.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

a drum pump will move 50 gallons in 10 min pretty easy, and they are cheap. Not a bad option if there is no pressing need to do it all at once. a sump pump will do the job for you.
the Harbor freight 12V units would usually last long enough to do the job, but you might buy a spare and return if unused.

 

[gungatim]

I'm not suggesting you do this, but we had a similar situation using fuel oil tanks with motor oil in them at the oil change shop I worked at. we needed to empty them to move them for relocation.

what we did was stick a hose into the tank, one end in the oil, other in the transfer tank. was not able to gravity siphon, so we stuck an airline-actually the end of the tireflator-in the fill hole and sealed it with a shop rag.

we hit the lever and air pressure pushed the oil up and out. worked really well if we kept the pressure down.

reason I don't necessarily recommend it is that after a while, not watching how much air we were using, one of the tanks split at the seam (we had to empty 4 of them).

if you keep it under 10psi, you can push the fluid out pretty reasonably. motor oil was heavy and still pumped fine. I think as we got it almost empty the pressure filled up to about 35psi when it split. no explosion, just a pop. The shop rag-seal acted as a vent...

 

[willhollin]

Hire one.

 

[Randy in Maine]

Double post.

 

[Randy in Maine]

I had to do something similar a few years ago and the guy I was buying oil from pumped it into his tanker and after I got the tank moved he pumped the same amount back into my tank and charged me a fee for his time.

Correct answer. Call the guy you used to buy the #2 oil from and have him do it. Give the oil to him for free if he will also take the tanks out and recycle them after he cuts them open and cleans them out.

You might consider upgrading a new tank for your shop to a double wall unit.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I would call your oil guy first too... He might give you a cheap price that makes things so much easier than trying to DIY...

Otherwise I would look for some used cheap clean 55 gallon or even the 275 gallon totes.

 

[RM209]

I'm not suggesting you do this, but we had a similar situation using fuel oil tanks with motor oil in them at the oil change shop I worked at. we needed to empty them to move them for relocation.

what we did was stick a hose into the tank, one end in the oil, other in the transfer tank. was not able to gravity siphon, so we stuck an airline-actually the end of the tireflator-in the fill hole and sealed it with a shop rag.

we hit the lever and air pressure pushed the oil up and out. worked really well if we kept the pressure down.

reason I don't necessarily recommend it is that after a while, not watching how much air we were using, one of the tanks split at the seam (we had to empty 4 of them).

if you keep it under 10psi, you can push the fluid out pretty reasonably. motor oil was heavy and still pumped fine. I think as we got it almost empty the pressure filled up to about 35psi when it split. no explosion, just a pop. The shop rag-seal acted as a vent...

This is actually a good idea, as long as you keep the air pressure low, which is what you mentioned. Many commercial and military aircraft use the same technique to transfer fuel between tanks.

RM209

 

[06 DIESEL]

I transfer fuel all the time and this is the best pump I have found yet for the money.

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-dc-transfer-pump-63324.html

Put a garden hose on the discharge end and on the other end put a street 90, adapter, and a standard suction tube from a fuel tank, the kind that telescopes out.

I have pumped well over 4000 gallons and have yet to have an issue. Pumping fuel oil is just like pumping diesel, nothing like pumping gas though. Make sure if the pump starts to heat up you stop for a while, I think it's duty cycle is 30 on 15 off iirc.

 

[6768rogues]

Be careful using pressurized air to move the oil out of the tank. I have seen tanks split when subjected to 7 lbs. of air pressure. That is 7 lbs. per square inch, so add up all the square inches and there is a lot of total force being released.

 

[ctfjr]

I'm not suggesting you do this, but we had a similar situation using fuel oil tanks with motor oil in them at the oil change shop I worked at. we needed to empty them to move them for relocation.

what we did was stick a hose into the tank, one end in the oil, other in the transfer tank. was not able to gravity siphon, so we stuck an airline-actually the end of the tireflator-in the fill hole and sealed it with a shop rag.

we hit the lever and air pressure pushed the oil up and out. worked really well if we kept the pressure down.

reason I don't necessarily recommend it is that after a while, not watching how much air we were using, one of the tanks split at the seam (we had to empty 4 of them).


if you keep it under 10psi, you can push the fluid out pretty reasonably. motor oil was heavy and still pumped fine. I think as we got it almost empty the pressure filled up to about 35psi when it split. no explosion, just a pop. The shop rag-seal acted as a vent...

This has got to be the worst advice posted in this thread. I am only aware of NEW oil tanks being pressure tested at 5-7 psi. The poster even says he blew apart one of the tanks. Pressurizing an old tank is just really foolish.

 

[dfiler2]

Just call the guy who delivers fuel oil, they do this all the time. Whatever you do, don't pressurize the tank.

 

[gungatim]

This has got to be the worst advice posted in this thread. I am only aware of NEW oil tanks being pressure tested at 5-7 psi. The poster even says he blew apart one of the tanks. Pressurizing an old tank is just really foolish.

that's why I said I didn't recommend it, just sharing a story...and it didn't "blow" apart, just split the seam. we also did the same with washer solvent in 55 gal drums to refill the jugs we used to refill cars, but again, definitely not recommended (pretty stupid actually considering the alcohol in washer solvent, but we were young and dumb...)

 

[86turbodsl]

For a short time, i did this often for craigslist listings. I used a harbor freight "water" pump (the blue one) and a 50' garden hose. It worked fine, no leaks. You'll be fine, and the pump was only like 30 dollars.

 

[TractorJeff]

My neighbor uses one of those HF transfer pumps for used motor oil for his garage furnace. It'll work even better on fuel oil.
First I would ask my supplier to transfer it. Some won't because of contamination to their truck tanks. Some will do it as a service for tank replacement but not removal as he is losing a customer.
As far as pressurizing a barrel or tank, any more than 3 to 5 psi will get you into trouble!
A fuel sampling laboratory had a low pressure air transfer system in their bulk locker which they used for many years. It was changed out when it was found out what they were doing by the Safety Committee!

 

[johnnyradiant]

Some homeowners around here would consider it a blessing to have the tanks under the living room as opposed to under the ground. There are a lot of decommissioned underground tanks from the late 60's onward that current owners aren't even aware of until they go to sell and then get with with, on occasion over $150,000 tabs for removing the old tank, their whole yard and most of the next 2 or 3 neighbours' yards downstream.