Free craigslist fuel preparation

So, fuel experts out there, here is the order of operations so far on 250+ gallons of free fuel oil off of craigslist (10+ years old),

-pumped (unfliltered) out of original tank leaving the bottom 5-10 gallons of sludge/water(?) (opened the petcock until dark fuel oil was coming out before pumping) into transfer tank
-pumped out of transfer tank with water block/filter into 250 gal storage tank

if I then pump out of the storage tank with a clean, fresh filter/water separator into the truck (or jerry can) and treat with Pri-D ( http://priproducts.com/ ) and possibly Sea Foam = ok to use?

What was the "original" tank supplying ?

fuel oil (#2 diesel)

How long has it been sitting since you got it?
I would still plan on keeping extra fuel filters in the truck with you.

Will it work, yes. How well ? Depends how long it's been sitting around. Mix it with some "pump fresh" and you should be OK. I always keep extra filters in the vehicle. Cheap insurance.

What color is this "dark fuel oil"?

Kind of reddish brown. while I was pumping it through the clear hose, it looked like Sam Addams beer, maybe not quite as opaque or dark. thoughts? I can't imagine it would be any worse than WMO that people use, especially with filtering twice and using additive. Or am I wrong?

likely you will have to treat it with a biocide to kill algae but a good filter system is a must before you put in to your tank

st8drumz said:

it looked like Sam Addams beer...

Click to expand...

Mmmm....
Oooo Uuhh, what snowtrac said...

Yessss, 250 gallons of free . . . oh wait, it just LOOKS like beer. Like I said above, if ya mix it with some new stuff, even 50/50 ya still lower yer fuel cost. The new will have plenty of algicide for what yer doing. I have used "old" heating oil many times. Just be aware that "the man" still sees it as untaxed fuel. Like when I have never used distillates from another source to run an engine. Dang revenuers. Roll coal !

It sounds like pretty good waste diesel fuel. It just so happens that gasoline is an excellent biocide, and it forces water out of solution, so if you added fresh gasoline at only 5%, preferably to the bottom of your storage tank, before adding the waste, or old, diesel fuel, then the gasoline, being lighter, would work its way up through your old diesel fuel; and, if you left it to sit for at least 2 weeks, then you are likely to find more dark stuff at the bottom of the tank, which you can drain off, then just run it through a water trapping filter, not water blocking.

There is a difference between water trapping filters, not water blocking filters.

Water trapping filters actually trap the water, and other sediments, at the bottom of the filter, and there is a drain on that filter, so that the water and other sediments can be drained off.

Whereas, Water blocking filters rely upon a water absorbing substance, like silica gel, which does a great job of extracting water from diesel fuel, only until the water absorbing substance is saturated. After that, no more blocking. And, water blocking filters do nothing to remove sediments.