Has anyone heard of poly tanks for diesel? we are picking up 2000L of fuel and the guy is putting it in two poly tanks with the cages around. How can I be sure that there won't be a reaction and a fuel leak? Do the containers have to have markings of some sort?
My 2005 John Deere tractor has a poly fuel tank. Only problem I ever has was a squirrel chewed a hole it once and it had to be replaced. I would feel safer with poly than a metal tank. No rust or corrosion to get mixed in with the fuel. No slag or biproducts from welding the seams. I've stored diesel in 5 gallon plastic cans for months with no apparent reaction to the plastic.
Keep the tanks out of sunlight. We've used the 250g tanks for septic systems at our hunting camp for 6 yrs so far without a problem. The extra one we had left out in the elements cracked and was useless in 1 1/2 yrs.
We have been using a poly tank in a trailer for years, with no problems what so ever. Several manufacturers here make portable poly tanks in various sizes with pumps on them for transporting diesel. A lot of agricultural and earthmoving equipment is fitted with poly fuel tanks and a lot of small carry containers, both gasoline and diesel are made from poly as well. I'm not sure about old poly tanks, but the newer ones, both fuel and water, have no reaction to the sunlight at all. There are literally hundreds of thousands of poly water tanks installed in our hot dry climate, with no reaction and our poly diesel tank has been outside in the the sunlight for ten years or more, with no reaction to the sunlight. Rn'R.
Here they call them "cubes" About 4'x4'x4' good for holding all types of oils and fuel! they hold 1000 litres some oil companies even supply them if you buy bulk oils!
I've used the 55 gal drum style poly containers for yrs. no problem. The only reason I switched is because I had a 250 gal. metal tank{new} laying around.
Ive seen farm tractors develop bacteria problems with the black poly fuel tanks. The tanks get a slime growing in them and it plugs filters quickly and the engine will stall due to lack of fuel, let them set so the fuel can slowly seep thru the filters, and you can run again until you run out of fuel again. Other than that, they are probably cheaper than steel transfer tanks, they don't rust, or spark. Everyone one of us probably has several of them for mix gas, lawnmower fuel, or kero for the redi heater. No problems there, just a smaller size.
Our new emergency light plant and Genie knuckleboom lift have poly fuel tanks. No issues after 2-years of use. Keeping them out of the sunlight is good advice as the tanks will get brittle over time and could crack. Also, keeping them out of the direct sunlight reduces the thermal cycles that cause the tank to breath excessively and draw in moisture. Keep them in a shady spot for best fuel quality and to minimize the cetane loss.
I don't think the 1000 litre palletized cubes are pure Polyethylene . Proper Polyethylene fuel tanks will last 25 years + , but Ive seen those cubes get a crazed spider web like appearance and they become brittle within a few years .
My Dodge truck has a poly fuel tank and they have been using them for 30 years or so. I still use my old '83 once in a while and perhaps the tank will outlive the rest of the truck,she's getting pretty rusty .Ron G
We use the 250 gal poly tanks at work and got 10 years out of them we just recently changed them out and I beleive the reason one cracked it got brittle from too many years of direct sun light. With the new tanks we got orders to keep them covered with a tarp. Emil
The only trouble we have had over here is with thieves bashing holes in the bottoms of them to nick a couple of gallons before leaving the rest to go everywhere. No so good on combines which can take over £500 (nearly $800) to fill up especially when you have to then buy a new tank too.