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How to remove bad RUST and coat the inside of a Diesel fuel tank on a Case 310f Dozer

Scrub Puller

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair . . . Karl Robbers

Diesel is not volatile like petrol and will present no hazard, particularly if a jigsaw or similar is used for the cutting, an angle grinder will be no problem either.

I believe that to be an irresponsible statement . . . and I don't care if do it for a living, you'll probably do it once too often and you won't be.

Diesel tanks can blow and I am not going into details of how I know . . . I suggest moderators remove the #17 post.

Cheers and stay safe all.
 

AKSNOW

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
99
Location
Alaska
Occupation
Heavy Eqpt / NCCO Crane operator
Sorry we use the mfd,mfs mobile cart with great success. Just hook in loop or to secondary tank.
 

Karl Robbers

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
164
Location
Australia
Yair . . . Karl Robbers

Diesel is not volatile like petrol and will present no hazard, particularly if a jigsaw or similar is used for the cutting, an angle grinder will be no problem either.

I believe that to be an irresponsible statement . . . and I don't care if do it for a living, you'll probably do it once too often and you won't be.

Diesel tanks can blow and I am not going into details of how I know . . . I suggest moderators remove the #17 post.

Cheers and stay safe all.

Diesel is most definitely not volatile and takes substantial heat to reach its spontaneous ignition temperature. To quote the dictionary:

vol·a·tile (vl-tl, -tl)
adj.
1. Chemistry
a. Evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures.
b. That can be readily vaporized.

2.
a. Tending to vary often or widely, as in price: the ups and downs of volatile stocks.
b. Inconstant; fickle: a flirt's volatile affections.
c. Lighthearted; flighty: in a volatile mood.
d. Ephemeral; fleeting.
3. Tending to violence; explosive: a volatile situation with troops and rioters eager for a confrontation.
4. Flying or capable of flying; volant.
Diesel does none of these.
The only way that a diesel tank will blow as you put it is if there has been significant heat input, hence my noting of the plasma or oxy cutting processes in my post. The tank on that dozer will be 3mm at best and there will be insufficient heat input from even an angle grinder to cause an issue.
How do you think road going tankers are prepared if repairs are required? I can assure you that filling with water is not part of the process.
In fact, there was a fatal explosion near my place of work that killed 2 workers, the cause was filling a tank, (not diesel, but a waste tank that had held a multitude of contents), with water before work commenced. This concentrated whatever fumes were present and the resulting explosion killed the two men outright and grinder was found on the roof of an adjacent building around 75 yards away.
The method I outlined is the standard operating procedure at my place of work for tanks such as described. Collectively we would have welded 5-600 tanks in the last 10 years, of varying sizes from outboard motors to semi tankers so maybe, just maybe we might know our stuff.
I can assure you that i have no desire to meet my maker prematurely and take all steps to ensure this doesn't happen.
Cheers, and stay safe yourself.
 

jughead

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
284
Location
soddy-daisy tn.
Occupation
retired
i have used muriatic acid to clean rusty metal many times it does a fantastic job removing rust. i have never tried it on a fuel tank and dont know if it is safe. i do know one needs to use it out side. i left some in an open container in my shop one week end and the tools in a large area around were beginning to rust
 

Scrub Puller

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair . . . I am not going to get into a slanging match with Karl Robbers but this is as I see it. . . . . . .

This is an internet forum and people can take what they read as gospel. A respected site such as this is where they come to get advise and guidance.

Make no mistake, cutting into a tank or drum of any kind is potentially the most dangerous thing you can ever do.

Everything Karl Robbers mentions about the volatility of diesel fuel is absolutely true BUT 'incidents' still happen and I shudder to think of some poor silly b*****d about to plunge a grinder into a tank because he read somewhere on the internet that diesel "cannot blow".

With tanks in general you can't be sure that it has never held a substance more volatile than diesel . . . apparently substances such as gasoline can remain within the seams in sufficient quantities to be dangerous.

One would assume a fuel tank on a D7 would have held nothing but diesel but I have seen D7 tank blown up like a split football so Karl Robbers what happened there?

At one stage back in the 'sixtys Mobil supplied contractors with frameless thousand gallon tankers, the spring shackles and hangers were welded to doublers on the tank. They used to crack and leak and one was taken to a welding shop in a little country town it was "only diesel" and apparently they reckoned it would only take half an hour to fix . . . the owner heard the explosion about half an hour later and helped scrape one feller off the floor . . . what happened there Karl Robbers?

On a more personal level I had a mate reskinning and repairing a stick rake sitting on a brand new just emptied four gallon drum that had contained hydraulic oil. He arced it out with an electrode and reckoned he did at least one back summersault and landed ten feet away, fortunately he was padded by a potato sack on top of the drum, he reckoned it made a pretty comfy seat . . . what happened there Karl Robbers?

Things shouldn't happen but they do and I object to people making blanket statements that in a perfect world may be correct but, in the environment in which we work I know to be untrue.

I won't even begin to go into the details of degassing trawler tanks on our slipway . . . it will always be your call as to how to handle a job . . . stay safe and don't believe everything you read.

Cheers.
 

Delmer

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
8,865
Location
WI
Karl, please forgive my nontechnical usage. I'm still disagreeing with you though. I believe that you know how to cut/weld tanks safely, but you can't explain how to "absolute fail safe" cut a tank in one paragraph, anymore than I can tell you how to tell edible mushrooms from poisonous ones, in one paragraph.
 
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