Water in a Diesel tank.

iron man

Evening. Is there any handy way of separating 500 litres if diesel from about 250 litres of water. I inherited a farm and the tank was about half full but unfortunately the executors failed to check it and the cap blew off allowing 18 months of rain to get in....

patsy_mccabe

Best thing to do is separate the diesel and water and then dump the diesel. Do not put the diesel into a tractor, whatever you do. Diesel will float on water as it is lighter so easy enough to separate.

The Continental Op

Can't you start by syphoning either the water off the bottom or just letting it out from the bottom outlet or syphon the majority of the diesel off the top of the water?

massey woman

The water will be at the bottom of he tank
just drain from the bung
have something to catch it esp when the diesel and water meet
no big deal

minerleague

massey woman wrote: »

The water will be at the bottom of he tank
just drain from the bung
have something to catch it esp when the diesel and water meet
no big deal

Think you can get something to put into tank ( diesel left after above ) to absorb remaining water. ( Be grand then in a mf35 or the like)

9935452

This might be some help

https://www.mrfunnel.com/Mr._Funnel/Home.html

White Clover

I'd caution the OP to thread carefully here. I'd do as Patsy says.
Its about €250 worth of diesel in the tank that could cost multiple times that in repairs not to mind the hassle of it.
Drain it off and store it in a couple of barrells for burning bushes etc.

_Brian

White Clover wrote: »

I'd caution the OP to thread carefully here. I'd do as Patsy says.
Its about €250 worth of diesel in the tank that could cost multiple times that in repairs not to mind the hassle of it.
Drain it off and store it in a couple of barrells for burning bushes etc.

Sound advice

iron man

Thanks for the advice. I thought there might be a company that you can hire to do this..

cjpm

iron man wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I thought there might be a company that you can hire to do this..

If there is a company you can hire, you can guarantee it willl cost more than the price of the diesel in the tank

49801

This guy knows his stuff and is sound.

https://tanksolutionsireland.ie/

zetecescort

Do the council recycling centres take diesel or is it just waste oil?

Pkiernan

White Clover wrote: »

I'd caution the OP to thread carefully here. I'd do as Patsy says.
Its about €250 worth of diesel in the tank that could cost multiple times that in repairs not to mind the hassle of it.
Drain it off and store it in a couple of barrells for burning bushes etc.

Its not good to be setting fire to diesel.
This isn't the 1970's.

The right thing to do is to get the tank emptied and the fuel disposed of responsibly.

patsy_mccabe

Pkiernan wrote: »

Its not good to be setting fire to diesel.
This isn't the 1970's.

The right thing to do is to get the tank emptied and the fuel disposed of responsibly.

Why is it not good to set fire to diesel? What do you think happens in a diesel engine?
I have some old diesel stored here from an old rusty diesel tank. Its great for freeing up old rusty parts, burning bushes etc. I tried to use the last of it while it was in the tank and it broke my heart. Tractor was cutting out for about 2 weeks. I became an expert at bleeding it.

blue5000

Try find someone locally who is using burnt oil to heat a garage or shed. After separating the water from it. As massey woman and Patsy have already said you'll have endless hassle putting that in a tractor.

Some of the older oil burning boilers for central heating might be able for it, but not where there is an Aga cooker.

hopeso

Maybe do a bit of clearing around the tank to make sure it's visible from the road, and there's access for a Hi-ace.......... :D

jmreire

At one point in my career, I was charge of diesel fuel supplies , thousands of litres of it, in several locations. Every size tank from small 2'000 litre household tanks, to 30, 40 50 and 60'000 ltrs tanks. Even if the tanks were leakproof, you will always get condensation in them, its unavoidable. So all of the tanks were located on a slanted base, with a drain tap on the lower end, and the outward pipe on the higher end, and well filtered. We drained the water daily, and I never had a problem with diesel in the fuel. We always let the fuel stand for 24 hours after filling it, to allow the water to seperate before filling the vehicles. And here in Ireland, I stick to the one fuel station, which has a very high turnover of fuel.

minerleague

This is water not rust or dirt so dont see why you would be bleeding after. Only have older tractors here but all have glass bowls on bottom of fuel filters to drain off water. Only problem is with modern diesel with biodiesel instead of sulphur is a gunge forming ( wont know until you draw off some diesel. ) As mother used to say " tis well for ye that ye can throw away so much"