R
RamRod Sword of Baal
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Robert Morein said:My understanding is, eventually the stuff goes bad.
That's the problem.
How long before this happens?
Assume I use a biocide (cheap) and whatever else I should throw in there.
I am by no means an expert on the subject of storage of diesel, but I did
ring an oil company here is Australia re this subject and was told I could
expect that diesel fuel would last 9 months in a seal drum.
I have a 30 KVA diesel unit for standby generation, and I put 120 litres (24
imperial gallons) of fuel into 2 x 60 litre (12 imperial Gallon) drums some
10 months ago and recently pumped one of these drums into my Isuzu truck
(motor home) and it has been running OK, I have to pump out the second one
shortly, them I will refill the drums with fresh fuel shortly.
I have around 5 imperial gallons in the tank of the diesel, which is far
from sealed, and that has also been in there for the last 10 months, and the
diesel generator starts without a problem. I started it yesterday actually.
I live in the tropical part of Australia. Max temperature expected is around
100 f and minimum around 50 f. Mind you in exceptional weather we can exceed
these temperatures. We have high humidity in the wet season, which lasts a
few months.
At the moment I have to get the power from the generator to the house via
extension cables, as I am waiting to have an electrician wire the standby
power in via a transfer switch to the house, when this is done I can run the
house for a few hours on the diesel, to ensure that there is no problem. I
hope to do this every month once I have sufficient load for it.
I have plans to shortly sell of my truck (motor home), so I am not sure how
I will rotate my fuel then, as it is a bit expensive to just give it away. I
have a total of 4 of these 60 litre drums, and will make sure they are all
full when a tropical cyclone is in the area, which is when we can expect
extended power problems. It will be interesting to see just what fuel
consumption I get out of my diesel when I can load it up.
I carry some fuel as a buffer in case of problems, and intend to fill up
extra drums if a problem looms. Once I find just how much fuel the diesel
uses per day I can better judge how much I should hold here.
It is a 4 cylinder Hatz diesel (around 30 KVA at 1500 RPM), and generates
415 volts, the air condition will help with a load with around 20 amps per
phase (summer), once the hot weather gets here, with maybe a little more in
the cold weather, when heating is required.
Of course the hot plate (range) and oven both electric will increase this
load, but they are intermittent usage.
BTW I looked up some biocide for diesel fuel and there was some mention of
it being carcinogenic.Not sure where I saw it now, but it was on the net, so
I decide to give it a miss.