Putting diesel in Oil tank?

[Allofus123]

I have a friend who has a barrel of diesel fuel he had picked up before the hurricane as a safety net. Now that fuel is available again he wants to get it out of his garage and is willing to sell it to me very, very cheaply. I also do not want to store a barrel of diesel in my garage but am thinking about dumping it in my oil tank. I have less than a 1/4 tank at the moment and should be able to get it all in my truck between the two tanks.

Any issues putting it in the "heated" oil tank?

[Clay]

I have a friend who has a barrel of diesel fuel he had picked up before the hurricane as a safety net. Now that fuel is available again he wants to get it out of his garage and is willing to sell it to me very, very cheaply. I also do not want to store a barrel of diesel in my garage but am thinking about dumping it in my oil tank. I have less than a 1/4 tank at the moment and should be able to get it all in my truck between the two tanks.

Any issues putting it in the "heated" oil tank?

No problem doing this. But i would still store it and use it in my main tank as startup fuel.

[lancaster,pa]

If it is correct that heating diesel causes it to lose it's lubricating properties, I would be concerned about injecting 180F diesel into the engine. I would probably feel better if it were mixed with an appreciable amount of veg. Just my thinking from stuff I've read. - Patrick

[triplemoutdoors]

he wants to get it out of his garage and is willing to sell it to me very, very cheaply. I also do not want to store a barrel of diesel in my garage but
Any issues putting it in the "heated" oil tank?

Allofus,

I'm with Clay. If it is not cheaper than vegioil I would only put it in my diesel tank. Why take up tank space with a higher priced fuel. Just my thoughts...

[triplemoutdoors]

I would be concerned about injecting 180F diesel into the engine. I would probably feel better if it were mixed with an appreciable amount of veg. Just my thinking from stuff I've read. - Patrick

I would think the diesel would be 180F anyway because it will heat up in the filter and fuel rail.

[skyskijason]

Bad idea, don't do it. First, yes, diesel loses its lubricity when heated - ULSD makes that even worse. Second, diesel has a flash point as low as 125*F - that means vapors from that temp can EXPLODE. Lastly, I agree w/ the others, if its a bargain, its REALLY a bargain when ya consider mpg-diesel...

That said, if you turn off the heat on VO system - its no problem.

[Clay]

After thinking about this again, i wouldn't use it at all if i were you. Tell me where your friend is and I will dispose of the barrel of fuel for him.

Seriously, if you put the diesel in your vegi tank, there will be some vegi in there to mix with it...lubricicity is addressed.
Secondly heated diesel fuel is something you can not avoid in a PSD...where is the final heat exchanger on these trucks for the vegi...same heater is heating the diesel and well above 180 i would guess.

[Allofus123]

Well this stuff won't cost me that much more than my oil. While I get some of my oil for free a chuck of it I'm paying $1.25 a gal and then have to clean it. The diesel will end up costing me about $1.80 a gallon. The guy's wife had been bitching at him about the 55 gal barrel being in their garage and wanted it gone. We were sitting in his garage consuming a few adult beverages when his wife came out and gave him some lip about the barrel still being there. He asked her what did she want him to do, give it away? and she answered I don't give a damn just get it out of here. He looked at me and asked me if I had $100 and the deal was done. LOL

I suppose if I had a safe place to store it I'd use it in my diesel tank but I'm not comfortable storing it in my garage so unless there's an issue with it in the oil tank thats where its going.

[Elvia]

Your friends wife sounds like..... well, never mind

[Clay]

can you store it in the backyard shed or somewhere outdoors even (in the shade).

[lancaster,pa]

After thinking about this again, i wouldn't use it at all if i were you. Tell me where your friend is and I will dispose of the barrel of fuel for him.

Seriously, if you put the diesel in your vegi tank, there will be some vegi in there to mix with it...lubricicity is addressed.
Secondly heated diesel fuel is something you can not avoid in a PSD...where is the final heat exchanger on these trucks for the vegi...same heater is heating the diesel and well above 180 i would guess.

Clay,

Just asking because I would like to know more - I would expect that the temp in the rails would be well above 180F as well. Would it be reasonable to expect that diesel at 180F put into hot rails would get much hotter before being injected than diesel put into the rails at ambient temp? Don't know for sure what temp the stock heater brings diesel up to, but my understanding that it is not a lot. Would agree that veg mixed with diesel would help with lubrication. How much veg would you figure would be necessary? - Patrick

[Elvia]

You can really store it anywhere outside. In the corner of your yard, if you have a storage unit, Heck, build a plywood enclosure around it and put a plant on it. It won't go bad for years. And You'll use it up in a couple of months.

[Clay]

Clay,

Just asking because I would like to know more - I would expect that the temp in the rails would be well above 180F as well. Would it be reasonable to expect that diesel at 180F put into hot rails would get much hotter before being injected than diesel put into the rails at ambient temp? Don't know for sure what temp the stock heater brings diesel up to, but my understanding that it is not a lot. Would agree that veg mixed with diesel would help with lubrication. How much veg would you figure would be necessary? - Patrick

Thats a good question for which i don't have an answer. Heres my thinking...the rails are a certain temp right? What temp, i don't know but lets say 300* (pulled that straight outa the air) so the fuel would reach that temp. depending on what the fuels temp was before entering the rails AND how long it stays in the rails. Maybe, just maybe it stays in there long enough to reach 300* even if it is 35 degreed before it enters. ( I lean towards this theory)
But i am sure that the fuel - if preheated in the tank - will not surpass the 300* temps in the rails.

I put a quart of oil in every tank of diesel....new virgin vegi oil. Does this help? Don't know and can't be sure but i sleep better thinking it is helping lubricate.

[Allofus123]

Your friends wife sounds like..... well, never mind

LOL... I can finish that sentence.

SkyskiJackson - our system dumps diesel into the oil tank during shutdown. I would think we create some diesel "vapors" in the oil tank while this is happening no? Not challenging your comments but truely trying to understand if there is indeed a danger.

[Allofus123]

I've got to get to work so I'll check in to this thread later. Regardless if I store it for the diesel tank or not I think we should get a definitive answer on this. Maybe James or Jason can weigh in and give us DFA"s stance.

I'm already convinced that mixing it on a somewhat small scale would not create an issue since we already do that with the purge throwing diesel in the tank.... I'm more interested in higher mixtires of say 80%+ diesel to veggi.