SF Bay Area - I Have A 16gal Oil Drum For You If You Can Help Me

I did the air method 2 tanks, no problem. But, your oil tank, do you know the psi rating? Propane tank is very thick, much smaller. Total force on surface is much less.
Oil doesn't evaporate as fast. If you already have a hole, then why not try with soap water? Try some strong oil soap. I have borax type soap that works super well with oil and grease. Not sure if very safe.

Think again, the slow accummulated vapor can ignite. That is why the suggestion for water fill. Water is relatively cheap. I would suggest doing that also.
 
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Using the propane tank method may save you the trouble of cutting the top off the drum. It's a fifty-fifty chance whether it is the top or the bottom that will blow off the drum when you try and pressurize it though.

Not so sure why you are resistant to fill with water and cut as has been suggested. It's hands down the safest and easiest method.
 
Susan_in_SF said:
Thanks RJ. So, when you say cold chisel, you mean just a chisel and hammer?
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A cold chisel is the common type of metal working chisel, vs a wood working or stone cutting chisel.

RobertB said:
Using the propane tank method may save you the trouble of cutting the top off the drum. It's a fifty-fifty chance whether it is the top or the bottom that will blow off the drum when you try and pressurize it though.

Not so sure why you are resistant to fill with water and cut as has been suggested. It's hands down the safest and easiest method.
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I'm guessing disposal. Getting rid of 48 gallons of contaminated water in a SF apartment is probably not the easiest thing to do.
 
Aaron_W said:
I'm guessing disposal. Getting rid of 48 gallons of contaminated water in a SF apartment is probably not the easiest thing to do.
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It would only be 16 gallons (no need to fill all 3 at the same time) and shouldn't be contaminated. Even if there were a bit of gas left in them it would quickly evaporate off of the top of the water once the top was off the drum.
 
I've followed this thread since inception.
Reading the linked "Propane Tank" method made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end (DANGER!).

No matter what rinsing procedure you use and no matter how many times you rinse the (once containing gasoline) barrels, you are still at risk of enough fuel being present to achieve an explosive fuel/air ratio (stoichiometric proportion). This is why you FILL the container with water. Minimizing the air volume minimizes the potential sources of fuel and volume of a potential explosive fuel/air mixture.
You could alternatively fill the barrel with a noble gas (like argon) to eliminate the source of oxygen however, water is more available, easier and cheaper.

I don't know how to place the dots any closer together for you.

I suspect that the drum head cutter that you show in the picture may not work because of the small drum diameter. The cutters that I'm familiar with are for 20 gallon (19.5" diameter) minimum drums. 16 gallon drums are 15" diameter.

If it were my task: I would fill the drum with water, grind (angle grinder + type 27 wheel) through the top rim of the bead (where the head is sealed to the drum cylinder) all the way around the drum. When I think I've finished grinding, the head is still "stuck" so, I drain a couple of gallons of water from the drum and I use a large ball peen hammer to beat the head into submission. The pounding has always identified areas where more grinding is required. I refill the drum with water when grinding. Ultimately, the head is removed, leaving a super sharp and dangerous barrel rim. I change the type 27 wheel for a flap disc and smooth all the sharp edges. I would not worry about disposing of the "contaminated" water. As a result of working around gasoline engines, I have washed clothes and rags that had more gasoline present than the drum. Swish some detergent in the water and dump it.

The process takes much longer than I'd like, is messy and tedious but the barrel won't explode. YMMV.
 
nnam said:
I did the air method 2 tanks, no problem. But, your oil tank, do you know the psi rating? Propane tank is very thick, much smaller. Total force on surface is much less.
Oil doesn't evaporate as fast. If you already have a hole, then why not try with soap water? Try some strong oil soap. I have borax type soap that works super well with oil and grease. Not sure if very safe.

Think again, the slow accummulated vapor can ignite. That is why the suggestion for water fill. Water is relatively cheap. I would suggest doing that also.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your feedback. This is pretty much why I haven't removed the tops yet. Need to lug the drums home after I buy a new water hose. Had a crappy "pocket" hose that exploded. Gotta get a normal hose and then will fill up the drums.
 
I used a Harbor Freight nibbler to de-head my latest 55-gallon burn barrel.
It worked well but required a cold chisel to make the entrance hole to get things started.
This barrel had latex paint residue so I felt relatively safe cutting it this way.
 
I worked in a machine shop and we weld patched gasoline tankers on the inside so as not mar the outside. We would blow down the tankers with blowers as too rich or too lean fumes will not ignite. Much safer to make it too lean. The shop welded gasoline tanks all the time with this method also. It doesn't take much pressure just volume. I needed to weld in some spigots on some jerry cans and used a leaf blower to blow out the cans, worked well but when you first strike that arc you kinda tense up. Properly blown down I have never heard of a problem but I have heard of plenty of instances of filling with water and having a bad outcome. Your experience may vary so safety first.
 
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