On 12/21/2011 11:17 AM, Bruce L. Bergman (munged human readable) wrote:
On Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:02:54 -0600, "Pete
wrote:


The Daring Dufas wrote:

On 12/20/2011 8:50 PM, Pete C. wrote:

Steve Barker wrote:

On 12/20/2011 6:17 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
Diesel is essentialy the same as #2 home heating oil. Different color, no
road taxes. Cheaper than diesel, also. 275 gallon tank doesn't attract any
attention, everyone thinks it's fuel oil. Suppliers deliver to your tank,
also. Since your generator doesn't go down the road, it doesn't need to pay
the road taxes.

Just don't let the Cops catch you with Red Dye Offroad Diesel /#2
Heating Oil in your car or truck's fuel tank when they pull you over
on the highway - you'll be in a big steaming heap of trouble. They
put the dye in it for a reason.

however, diesel fuel does not keep well. I wouldn't want to have that
much on hand if the generator was the only reason i had it.

Diesel fuel keeps very well as long as you take basic precautions such
as adding a biocide and water absorbers. Some of our DCs have 20,000 gal
of diesel in storage with no issues. There is of course some turnover of
the fuel due to weekly exercising of the generators, but it's nowhere
near 20,000 gal.

Our underground military defense complexes have gained a lot of
experience over the years of dealing with large amounts of long
term diesel storage. I am tempted to do a search to see if there
might be unclassified information published about how the below
ground facilities handle diesel storage. When you wrote "DC" is
that for Defense Complex or what? I'd have to search back through
your posts to see if you defined it. ^_^

TDD

DC = Data Center

The Telephone switchrooms with permanent generators and on-site fuel
tanks hire a company to come around once a year to add a huge dose of
Bio-Bor then drop in a pickup tube and pump all the fuel out, through
a filter to clean out any biological beasties that may have gotten
into the stored fuel, and into the tank truck. And once they are
done, they run it through the filter a second time while putting it
back.

It's not beyond the RCM'er to get a micron fuel filter, a gear pump,
some hoses and 55-gallon drums, and rig their own system. Slower, but
you aren't in a rush.

And Diesel isn't all that volatile, so you mostly just have to be
careful not to spill it.

Oh, and good luck getting Home Heating Oil delivered in California...
It can be done, though as Dyed Diesel, but you'll raise a lot of
eyebrows and pay a stiff premium for deliveries of small quantities
like that - especially in cities that have stiff regulations on how
much fuel you can have on hand, and a really stiff process on
permanent storage tanks. You need a properly permitted and insured
tank for that.

The only "route delivery" systems that would offer reasonable prices
are for Propane. With diesel it's best to get a Transfer Tank in your
truck or on a trailer, and go get your diesel fuel yourself.

Oh, and Propane doesn't have the deterioration problems either, so as
a regional thing that might be a better choice for a small to
mid-sized generator system. Not so good for Nebraska where it gets
down into the -30's and Propane won't vaporize on it's own without
external heat applied.

-- Bruce--

Since I live in The Southeast, I've never had much experience with very
cold weather. I was wondering if the propane tanks were buried in the
ground, would that keep them warm enough to vaporize the fuel?

TDD