Help Me Pull The Plug

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 21:29:50 -0500, Gary Coffman vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

hmmmm...good luck!

When I do anything sparky near petrol, I lay wet cloths all over the place between my work and any petrolly bits at the very least. This is a bit difficult when actually welding the tank.

Syphon out. Fill with water. Why risk it for a half hour's work?

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Reply to
Old Nick
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I hate to belabor the point, but if you can't safely apply a torch to a gas tank I question if you can safely operate power equipment.

There are lots of safe ways, and a small heat job far from the mouth of the tank has an inherently low danger. Dry Ice sounds good, I often use a CO2 tank for the same purpose. My father often welded diesel tanks full to overflowing; often a fire (fireman standing by) but never an explosion. Water works but is a bitch to clean out afterward. If the diesel tank were empty, I would consider just adding a cup of 30W oil and go at it for such a low heat job. A small amount of oil added to gasoline so supresses the flash that the mix can be poured on open flame without the disasterous flashback you get trying to pour gasoline on an open fire.

Reply to
Nick Hull

If you weld anything on to it you probably will be ablke to remove it with finger pressure.

Reply to
Nick Hull

Don't think I'd try drilling it out if there is fuel in there - as when the drill bit breaks through, the fuel will be coming down the flutes of the bit and down onto the drillmotor - sparking- etc.... Ken.

Reply to
Anonymous

1) remove tank from vehicle. 2) invert, drain out fuel residue. 3) fill with water, drill out plug.

Done.

Jim

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Reply to
jim rozen

Sterl>

He said that the tank is welded into the frame.

Pete.

Reply to
Peter Reilley

What is this, a *quilting* newsgroup??

Cut welds with hacksaw, remove tank. Proceed as per spec.

Jim

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Reply to
jim rozen

I once saw a plumber remove a similar plug that had been in place at least 25 years. He used a sharp chisel and 4-lb hammer, the chisel digging into the plug at an angle so he could apply tangential shock with the hammer blows. After about 6 hits he could unscrew the plug the rest of the way with channel locks.

Reply to
Don Foreman

How do you fill with water if it is upside down? How do you keep the water in unless you are drilling from the bottom, then the water will come out on to your drill & zap you.

Reply to
Nick Hull

OK I'll revise the steps.

1) remove tank from vehicle.

2) invert, drain out fuel residue.

3) re-orient tank so fill port is up.

4) fill with water

5) cap fill port with h2o-impermeable cover

6) invert tank, drill out plug.

Re-tap the threads, re-install plug or fitting.

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Reply to
jim rozen

On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 13:18:39 -0500, "Peter Reilley" brought forth from the murky depths:

Spend the 15 minutes and use the Sawzall. Reweld when done.

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 05:19:52 -0500, Nick Hull vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

You have a fireman standing by for diesel...this is _p e t r o l_ according to to the OP.

.........read the OP...........

The guy is rebuilding a whole machine! USE WATER! CLEAN IT OUT AFTERWARD! Why is everybody trying to offer dangerous advice to save

Reply to
Old Nick

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 22:00:00 -0600, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

Lovely......

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Reply to
Old Nick

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 22:00:00 -0600, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

You know, the thing is you would _probably_ get away with this.

People do in boats and seaway, in cars and highway, etc etc.

............but in this case the solutions are so easy, and the consequences are so dire............

..............sounds like life actually.

HEY! The neighbour knows how to LIVE! Strap them to the tank, man!

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Reply to
Old Nick

It'll be fine. Remember the fire triangle. You have to have fuel, oxygen, and heat all come together at the same time in the same location. The plug is under liquid gasoline, so oxygen is missing from the fire triangle. Some of the gas will boil, raising the vapor pressure in the tank. But it will be below ignition temperature when it finds the vent. You will have a flamable mixture just outside the vent, make sure you don't throw any sparks that way. (You might want to run a hose from the vent to some point downwind of your activities.)

Gary

Reply to
Gary Coffman

Wonderful theory. Remind me to stand back a long way while you try it. I will use my video camera (the long distance telephoto lens is pretty good). This is one of those things that sound great in theory before the fact, afterwards no one can explain what happened. ;-(

Pete.

Reply to
Peter Reilley

Not a problem. I've done it hundreds of times. The only time I get leery is when I'm asked to weld on an *empty* tank. Won't do it. Wouldn't be prudent. *That's* a situation just asking for an explosion.

Consider that every late model vehicle with a fuel pump in the tank has sparks in there any time the pump is running. They don't go bang. The reason is the fire triangle isn't satisfied.

Gary

Reply to
Gary Coffman

Agreed. Empty tanks are frightening, but a full(at least above point of heat) tank is really not an issue. Stay away from the vapors and you are ok. Keep the A/F ratio way above or below 14:1 and you will have difficulty getting it to ignite(even if you try).

Considering you are pulling the tank(or at least the plug) fill it with ANYTHING that makes you feel better. Water would be fine. To get it out later you will need to some gas w/ some alcohol added. Gas would be fine. A few gallons of diesel might be the best choice.

Weld something on to it and turn it out. As other have said, the heat from welding will probably almost allow you to turn it out be hand.

JW

Reply to
Jeridiah

I had an old Volvo that would blow fuel pump fuses at erratic intervals. Finally pulled the pump out of the tank to find somebody had left an old float from the level sensor floating in the tank. Every once in a while, it would float over and short out the fuel pump and blow the fuse. No oxygen, no boom, but I can't say I was happy to find it.

Still, bringing any flame around a gas tank requires very careful thought as to what might go wrong and how to avoid problems. In any event, you probably wouldn't even hear the boom :-)

Personally, I'd try to avoid that and maybe try to unround the socket with a dremel and carbide tool a little so a larger tool could be a hammer fit. Would be slow, but less risky.

Also, see if you can get one of those hammer type impact tools. When rounding things, bits tend to cam out. When you wollop these things with a hammer, they'll get tighter and you get some vibration to help break it free. I've gotten bolts and screws out with one of those that were totally hopeless otherwise.

Paul

Reply to
Paul Amaranth

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 20:52:28 -0500, Gary Coffman vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!: _You_ may be fine with this. _You_ may be clever enough to avoid immolation.

I recommmend against recommending it publicly.

All the theories about triangles are great. If one leg is altered the result ids disaster.

The safer mewthods are so eesy. Y bother?

Peepul make mistakes.

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Reply to
Old Nick

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