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member 2009 Sponsor |
Nice find. No doubt there will be folks here who can help you with ideas and counsel, not the least of which is how to cut into that thing without propulsing yourself into another dimension.
Also Murphy has some DIY plans if you weld... **My reactor/processor :B100WH.com **The Colaborative Biodiesel Tutorial **B100 Heated Winter System ** Biodiesel Glycerine Soap - Make & sell soap from Biodiesel Glycerine |
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I was thinking since I dont have an apprentice any more I would teach the wife how to use the torches... See, I already have it all planned out!  Jon |
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Looks like the tank is in good shape. Have fun cutting on the thing. I cut into one for the first time not to long ago, and lived.
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Jon
-there are several ways to do it safely, If you are just cutting round holes for fittings, use a cup saw. If you are cutting bigger holes with the torch or gringer,dose the tank with exhaust fumes from your vehicle, 1 hr should be just fine. Another way is to steam the tank for 20 min, then it is safe to work on for 20 min. Tom " I don't know what I don't know until I know" 1994 GMC 6.5 Tubo 2005 Dodge ram 3500, 3 VW's 2000, 2002, 2005. |
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How effective would it be to toss small dry ice crumbs through the vavle hole?
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Ok, one more time, fill it with water roll around and drain four or five times, then fill half way with water and add five gallons of bleach and roll it around and let it sit an hour or two then roll it around some more, then either drain it and cut to your hearts content or leave the water in it and cut on it, either way nothing will happen at all.
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Jon, that is a beauty.
Some tips if you have not played with flammable gases before. Fill with water to eject and dissolve the gas, a vacuum pump to suck gas from the pores of the metal is good, refilling the tank back to atmospheric with nitrogen or CO2 is even better. Remember that for a fire to occur you need fuel air and heat. For an explosion to occur you also need containment, so cut some larger holes before you weld. If you can't get an inert gas refill with clean water before you cut the first hole. Good luck. |
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Thanks guys!
I am going to go the water route I think. Is it really necessary to fill it with water more than once? Wouldn't one filling force out ALL the heavy propane gas fumes? Especially since it will be the wife doing the first cut??  Just kidding of course... I'd be lost without her! Good call on the exhaust purge Tom, I remember a guy I used to work with braising gas tanks that way. If I recall diesel exhaust will not work though, only gas? Fabricator, is the bleach necessary? If you dont bleach it I would imagine only the first batch will stink like propane? How many gallons total is your reactor tank anyways? Your wash tank looks about the size of mine if you cut a 1/4 or 1/3 off the end. Mine is 119" long. I am thinking I will have to cut it down and either build a flange and bolt a new lid on or just weld a plate on top... Lots to think about... Jon |
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I've only cut up and welded around two dozen 500 gallon tanks, the method above will reduce any gas to an unmeasurable trace, to have ignition you also need a large enough concentration of explosive gas, remember most of what you smell in that tank is the chemical that gives gas it's smell, it drops out of the gas in small quantities and collects in the tanks.
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Fabricator,
Is your processor a complete 500 gallon tank? If you were to build it again would you go through the trouble of installing the 3 pump returns tangent to the tank? I will likely have 2 pump inputs (one above the glycerin layer) and 2 outputs, I wonder though if all the work required to make them tangential to the tank is worth my while, considering I am working with a standard oxy, acetylene torch and rudimentary skills... Would 4 legs made of 2" steel angle iron be sufficient or should I go with 3"? Thanks, Jon |
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After cleaning any tank, before cutting I add some baking soda and Vinegar. This reacts and forms C02 which is a fire extinguisher in itself. I think you would want to use a fair bit with a tank that size though.
I recently got some fuel out of a tank that was being relined. The guys doing the repair used dish soap and water and made a foam of it with C02 to fill the tanks that still had in their estimation 100L of petrol and diesel in them respectively before they cut holes in them. They said that the foam made a barrier between the fuel and the torch and the CO2 displaced any fumes that could not re-form with the soap foam on top. They said for diesel they often just used the soap and foamed it up with a pressure washer because as long as the fumes were displaced, there was no fuel to burn anyway. As these tanks were 12,000L each and these guys were literally putting their lives on the line doing this, I guess they had a good idea about it. They also told me the thing about gasses and fuels seeping into the pores of the metal is a Myth. Steel is far too dense for that to happen and if it did, you could light up a gas tank from the outside as the gas would push right through. In future, I'll see if adding the dish soap to Vinegar works. It would help hold the CO2 in place and stop it dispersing. |
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Good stuff! Thanks!
Have you ever done a batch larger then 250G? You could probably do a 350 gallon batch in a tank that size, no? I have it full of water and a couple jugs of bleach now. What a stench! I put all the valves I removed from the tank on my bench in the shop and it stunk up the whole shop!
I figured that was BS. Even if the propane could build up in the pores there would not be enough to cause any damage, especially after filling the tank full of water and letting it sit for a day or 2... Jon |
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Jon
-pay heed to fabs advise, 1 input, 1 output and a min of 3" angle iron all very good advise in my opinion. torch cutting is much riskier that cutting with a cup saw, these are readily available at Princess Auto, along with the weld on pipe flanges that you will find in the hyd. section. Tom " I don't know what I don't know until I know" 1994 GMC 6.5 Tubo 2005 Dodge ram 3500, 3 VW's 2000, 2002, 2005. |
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member 2009 Sponsor |
Do a search on Fabricator's stuff. He does some pretty amazing work. A wise man learns from his experience, a wiser man from the experience of others.
**My reactor/processor :B100WH.com **The Colaborative Biodiesel Tutorial **B100 Heated Winter System ** Biodiesel Glycerine Soap - Make & sell soap from Biodiesel Glycerine |
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I do 300 gallon batches as a rule now, the gas in the pores has been a myth perpetuated by stories on the intraweb for years now, and that's all it is, a myth, but it is almost impossible to put it to rest, what people fail to comprehend is it takes a certain concentration of gas to cause a self sustaining rapid expansion of gasses, a rinsed out tank like you are doing has nowhere even close to the amount of gas necessary, like I posted above, I've hacked up at least 24 500 gallon tanks now with no exciting moments at all. The first tank I got I removed the main valve and suspemded three of the largest model rocket engines I could buy inside without doing any rinsing whatsoever, I ignited them from a couple hundred yards away, they went off and bounced around inside spewing flame and sparks for several seconds and did nothing. |
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HAHAHAHA! Not for the faint of heart! I was going to suspend a few firecrackers in the tank with a long wick before I commenced cutting but why even bother! Fab, what size pipe are you using for your boiler feed and what kind of GPM are you flowing it with? I am thinking 1" will plenty big and I already have a B&G series 100 boiler pump that will do around 30 GPM with 8' of head. Thanks, Jon |
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It's all one inch, the pump is 125gpm, I'm not sure what the actual flow is but suspect somewhere around 100gpm for cold oil and 125 for hot oil.
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Holy Fudge! 125GPM...
 That must be your processor pump? I am going to use a separate pump for the boiler loop, thats what I was asking about. Do you have a separate pump for your boiler or is it part of the mixing loop? I am still on the hunt for a big pump for the processor... I am thinking I want the processor high enough to put a 5 gallon pail under, maybe 30". With 4" angle legs would that be a safe hight? Thanks again! Where do I send the consulting fees? Jon |
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