Cleaning out large fuel tank

It would be to your benefit to put the filters before the pump. Anything you can do to keep wear down on the pump components is great. As far as your downloading system, I'm not sure I follow you in your design approach. Are you wanting to run it through the same filters? Not sure how you would do that, you don't want to backflow through the filters.
I use two seperate filter setups for downloading and dispensing myself. A little more cost involved but it makes me a lot more comfortable.

My initial thoughts are to not worry about filtering the fuel when it goes into the tank. The pickup from the barrel would be after the filters and before the pump so it bypasses the filters. The diesel "assumed" clean from the fuel distribution company I buy it from, so I'm not currently concerned about it before it gets dispensed into tractors and generators.

Should I pre-filter and pre-dewater the fuel when loading it into the tank? I guess it makes sense to limit the potential amount of garbage in the tank, but doubles my parts cost to get started for (again assumed) not much gain.

Definitely worth pre- filtering. You never really know where the fuel has come from, how many nasty tanks it has been transferred into and out of, and when the last time any of their filters were changed, much less the water content of the tanks that they use is. You can never filter too much really. But if you are using the same pump to move the fuel and it is coming in through the same hose it should be fine. I think I understand your setup now.

I threw together a quick Visio drawing of what I had in mind. The triangles are brass 1/4 turn ball valves. All the pipe with the exception of the dispenser hose is 1" galvanized and the dispenser hose is whatever the standard size is. The second filter setup is after you suggested adding them.

That looks like it should work just fine. You could eliminate one pair of filters if you just attached the first pair between the intake line and pump and just disconnect the input line from the tank and drop it in the barrel. Know what I mean? This is easier if you use all flexible hose and only a small amount of hard line.

Be careful what ever you do/use on a tank. Local man burned to death salvaging supposed empty crude oil tank which must have contained gasoline fumes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's terrible.

That is indeed terrible. But, I know exactly what this tank was used for and what was in it for the past 10+ years. It held around 100 gallons of gasoline at any given time. And until I sufficiently fill it enough with diesel to drive the gas vapors out, it gets my utmost respect.

in the long run you will wish you just scrapped it and got a clean tank

Crawdaddy said:

I threw together a quick Visio drawing of what I had in mind. The triangles are brass 1/4 turn ball valves. All the pipe with the exception of the dispenser hose is 1" galvanized and the dispenser hose is whatever the standard size is. The second filter setup is after you suggested adding them.

Click to expand...

Crawdaddy,

From the diagram, it looks like you have the valves downstream from the water block & filter for each tank. If you don't already have this done, in addition to the valves you already have planned, you should also consider installing shutoff valves right off each tank in order to service the filters and also to provide a stop valve in case filter housings get broken or otherwise damaged where fuel leakage would be uncontrollable.

Good luck with the setup & be safe!

Kevin

1800 Diesel said:

Crawdaddy,

From the diagram, it looks like you have the valves downstream from the water block & filter for each tank. If you don't already have this done, in addition to the valves you already have planned, you should also consider installing shutoff valves right off each tank in order to service the filters and also to provide a stop valve in case filter housings get broken or otherwise damaged where fuel leakage would be uncontrollable.

Good luck with the setup & be safe!

Kevin

Click to expand...

I forgot to put it in the diagram, but there is a ball valve already on the tank that will be the valve before the filters. I'll also most likely put one on the barrel pickup just for extra insurance and to reduce spillage, since the barrel hose will not be a fixed item..

Crawdaddy, what size hose are you using? 3/4", 1", 1.5"?

Crawdaddy said:

I forgot to put it in the diagram, but there is a ball valve already on the tank that will be the valve before the filters. I'll also most likely put one on the barrel pickup just for extra insurance and to reduce spillage, since the barrel hose will not be a fixed item..

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan.

My fuel tank filter setup

I only have a 250 gal elevated tank (which empties quick when filling up the 2 M931 tanks ), but still use a 12v pump to push the fuel through the filters. I also use the same pump and filters to pump from drums to the tank. By the time the fuel reaches the truck, it has been filtered 4 times. To me, the major advantage of an elevated tank is that I can have a water accumulation pipe on the bottom to drain water and scale every few months. Another advantage is that you can inspect the entire tank for corrosion or leaks. Otherwise, I'd rather have a larger tank on the ground. Here are some photos of my setup.

I do like Jeepsinker's idea of having the pump after the filters and may change the setup when I next change filters. I also use the particulate filter before the water block filter, since the water block filter cartridge is so expensive.

I buy my diesel at gas stations in drums in the back of my truck or trailer (bulk rates in my area only save a nickel/gallon at best). My drum suction line has a PVC pickup pipe with a ball valve and a slant cut opening so it can set on the bottom and pick up minimal solids and water. To fill the tank, the tank drain valve is closed and the drum suction valve is opened, and the discharge line nozzle is placed in the tank fill port on the top of the tank. I keep both the tank drain and drum suction valves closed unless I am actively pumping fuel.

I also had problems with insects and dust accumulating in the fill nozzle, so used a short PVC pipe and cap to cover the nozzle.

I like how you were able to slide your trucks and trailers into the plumbing photo..

I've come into some transmission filter bases off some 900 series trucks. They have a 1 1/8-16 filter thread. So I'm trying to find a final diesel fuel filter that will work on these filter bases. All I've found so far are oil filters, and they seem to have 10+ micron filtering capability. Does anyone know of a filter part number that will fit these bases and work as a final filter for my diesel setup?

Can't help you there. I know free is free, but you have to find another filter base.

Agreed, 1 1/8" - 16 is used on oil filters only, unless your working on some huge industrial diesel unit.

Bummer. I guess I'll have to go with the original Wix 24001 filter base I was looking at. Indeed, sometimes cheap doesn't work out. Those filter bases seem expensive though...

However, I've changed my plans for the water separator. I can get a Goldenrod 495 water separator for about the same price as the Wix unit and they seem to be more popular.

If you go get the goldenrod fuel filter/ water separator from tractor supply it already filters down to 10 microns, which is good enough to go straight to your fuel tank with unless you are pumping WMO through it. Most commercial filling stations only filter down to 30 microns before the pump. Of course cleaner is better.