Steel Drum spiket? valve? spout?

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Help! My hubby is going to store our gas in 55gal steel drums, (acording to Chevron, safest way if grounded) I am having trouble finding a spiket, valve, or pour spout to go in them... any ideas on where I can find one would surley be appreciated.. Thanks

-- Allene (allene7@yahoo.com), September 26, 1999

Answers

Your nearest tractor supply store will have pumps that screw into the top of the drum. A tube goes to the bottom and you just pump what you need. Both hand pumped and 12V. electric pumps are available.

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), September 26, 1999.

You might consider tapping a regular garden hose bid into the side of the drum as close to the bottom as possible. Fit a length of hose to it as long as the drum is tall. clip the other end of the hose to a spot at the top end of the drum. When you need gas, just unclip the loose end of the hose from the top and pour letting gravity do the work for you. Since liquid seeks its own level you don't really need a pump. Might be best to place the drum on cinder blocks or some such thing to keep it off the ground.

-- Bill Solorzano (notaclue@webtv.net), September 26, 1999.

While Bill's idea will certainly work it requires tapping each drum. Also the drum must be elevated for this to work. The advantage of a pump (and they are not that expensive) is that it easily screws into the fill hole which is already tapped. It is easily transfered from drum to drum. The drum does not have to be elevated (you ever try and move a full drum?)

Just my opinion. Out here in the country we have 250gal tanks on towers with a system very similar to Bill's idea. A fuel truck comes by and fills it when I call. (diesel)

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), September 26, 1999.


Just another quick note on 55Gal drums.

There may be a temptation to turn that drum into a barbq grill or other form of stove or heating device after you've used the gasoline.

To do this you will have to cut the drum. DON'T DO IT!!!! The drum will in all likelyhood blow up in your face.

No matter how carefully you clean it out there will be an explosive concentration of gas vapors inside.

This is not to say that it can't be done, but without the proper equiptment and environment your just going to kill youself.

This is also true of diesel fuel and kerosene and probably even motor oil.

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), September 26, 1999.


Should all the pumps be sold out before you get yours, you can extract the gasoline from the barrel with the opposite function. That is pressure. By making up a bung with a hose affixed just below the metal surface of the bung, you can pressurize the drum with a sport pump, bicycle pump, bellows pump, 12v pump etc. You must have a discharge hose affixed from the other hole(or vice a versa),in the drum, submerged in the gas . This allows easy monitoring of the required volumes to be extracted, without actually opening the drum and it's a cheap alternative. Works for many kinds of liquids, such as water.

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), September 26, 1999.


Hello Allene,

As mentioned above, any farm supply store will probably have what you need. Here are a few sites you might also want to check out. I'm glad to hear you mention grounding. Most people don't think of it when filling their cars but if you'll be transfering fuel from one container to another you must make sure they are both grounded. This will keep a static charge from being generated. Remember, If the sparks cometh, thou shalt goeth, BIG time! Also, I would recomend against any electricaly powered pumps unless specificaly designed for such a purpose. One more thing,(honest!) fuel weighs approx. six (6) pounds per gallon. A 55 gallon drum is going to weigh approx. 330 pounds! Something to think about when deciding where to store them.

http://www.harborfreight.com (tools and supply) http://northern-online.com (tools and supply) http://protectoseal.com (flamable liquid safty devices) http://api.org (American Petroleum Institute) http://briggsandstratton.com (Good info. on care and feeding) http://209.52.183.182/juice_page.htm (Generators, fuel, safety issues)

This should get you started.

If someone knows how to make these addresses active, please , by all means do so. Thanks.

John F.

-- John F. (millenniumadrenaline@hotmail.com), September 27, 1999.


How does one ground a plastic gasoline container while siphoning form a steel 55 gal. drum

-- gary griffiths (ggriffi@ibm.net), September 27, 1999.

Thanks for all the great comment, they were very helpful.... John F. If you cut and paste this
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Then replace the XXXXX with your website address you will have a link! Thanks again!

-- Allene (allene7@yahoo.com), September 27, 1999.

Thanks for all the great comment, they were very helpful.... John F. If you cut and paste this
XXXXX
Then replace the XXXXX with your website address you will have a link! Thanks again! Opps guess that didn't work right...lol sorry I know how to do it, just not how to show you...lol

-- Allene (allene7@yahoo.com), September 27, 1999.

What you want is at Northern Tool & equipment co. They have a pump kit that screws into the top of a 55 gal drum. (www.northern-online.com) I feel that it is much safer to keep the drums upright as the bung connections on some drums arn't that tight. A small amount of Gasoline can polute a lot of ground water & who wants to be responsible for that?

-- simon (simon5@mail.com), September 27, 1999.


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