Long Term Diesel Storage?

[lynnmor]

Home heating oil is the same a diesel. I have a 275 gallon tank in the basement vented to the outdoors. I burn wood most of the time and use about 45 gallons of heating oil per year and that gets replaced about every three years since there is a 150 gallon minimum. My shop has a 275 gallon tank that is outdoors and that needs a full tank each year. After many years there has been no issue with the oil.

 

[D2Cat]

From my experience, I have had many machines start up after sitting for over 10 + years no problem

At the end of the day if the tank has proper vent allowing fumes to escape and keeping the moisture out, it will last

I would not recommend putting any kind of chemicals while its in your storage tank

I agree. I had a dozer that has set for YEARS and the fuel smelled like varnish. After a little tinkering the engine fired up and ran fine. Storage life could be a function of where/how and climate the fuel is stored.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

A tank inside is a LOT different than one at side of barn that gets hot, cold ,humdidity,etc.

 

[DustyRusty]

All tanks eventually get moisture in them, and how the moisture is dealt with counts. Ask anyone who has had a 275-gallon tank in their cellar for 20 years if they have ever had to deal with a leak at the bottom of the tank. In some states, anyone living near a public water facility (lake or river) must replace their steel tanks with new polypropylene tanks with an outer steel casing. If I were looking for fuel oil storage that is the only type of tank that I would consider. Most steel tanks leak eventually, and that is why homeowners who have underground tanks are encouraged to remove them and replace them with new containment-type tanks.

 

[TECH101]

A tank inside is a LOT different than one at side of barn that gets hot, cold ,humdidity,etc.

Most fuel tanks on equipment are located outside like this roller

 

[fried1765]

All tanks eventually get moisture in them, and how the moisture is dealt with counts. Ask anyone who has had a 275-gallon tank in their cellar for 20 years if they have ever had to deal with a leak at the bottom of the tank. In some states, anyone living near a public water facility (lake or river) must replace their steel tanks with new polypropylene tanks with an outer steel casing. If I were looking for fuel oil storage that is the only type of tank that I would consider. Most steel tanks leak eventually, and that is why homeowners who have underground tanks are encouraged to remove them and replace them with new containment-type tanks.

I buried a 1,000 underground heating oil tank, and used it for 20 years. Then the county required that I put in an engineered "sniffer well"
They had a Summer kid come around for a few years to use the "sniffer', but that program eventually disappeared.
Natural gas became available, and I switched.
I became concerned that the county was going to eventually require a many $$$ certified tank removal, so I removed the tank, used a Skil saw to cut it up in pieces, and crushed those with my BH.
Took the crushed mess to a construction debris recycling facility, mixed in with a lot of other debris.
Oh,......did I mention,.....when I bought that 1,000 gal. tank,...... I bought a fibreglass tank?
Figured that some day I actually might need to dispose of it!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: Most fuel tanks on equipment are located outside like this roller

not relevant.

OP wants to store 150g of fuel in a 300g tank for a year which is waaaaaay different than a roller, that probably gets used every day(M..F ) and refilled often.