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

BtoVin83 said:
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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Very well said. Oil is very hard to burn. Only vapor does, which takes time to release. as long as lots of regular air is in there, it's hard to burn.
 
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The deheader can opener shouldn't be to hard for you to do . You can add a length of pipe to the peircing handle for
more leverage. It's just a matter of pumping it to cut the top.
 
Susan, i have welded on fuel tanks /Gas a few times with no ill affect. I use to hook a hose up from my exhaust pipe to the tank and run the engine for about 1/2 hour. Usually 50 to 100 gal. tanks. Always tested with a lighted oily rag on a stick from around the side of a building. Never had even a flash. Yes carbon monoxide will displace the fumes. Probably not the smartest thing to do but seemed at the time to be a necessity.


Disclaimer:
I'm Old now and don't do that anymore. :)
 
Oil is very hard to burn. When I was a kid, I cut out the internal of a large glass vacuum thermos, then put kerosene in it, put a little wick in the middle hold by a curve metal string to make a lamp. It looks very nice. The glass and kerosene is very clear, it's as if a flame just hanging above a table. We didn't have tv, plastic toys, electricity. So that was one of the things I did to entertain myself.

There wasn't any explosion or fire.

Ebay:

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images.app.goo.gl
 
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That ebay link may not be a lamp, but just the glass, not what I tried to describe, but time has expired for me to edit the post.
 
I remember reading a few different threads on this subject on the“ welding-web website. “
Almost every one of those professional welders who would have a large fuel tank to cut up.... used the exhaust method as mentioned by Old-Mud. I remember because it surprised me. Some of these tanks were 1000 (or bigger ) gallon steel storage fuel tanks. They all said the same. Exhaust pipe in the tank. Bigger tank.....longer they would leave the pipe in the tank.

fwiw... exhaust pipe fills the tank with CO2....low oxygen mean no chance of explosion. My take on this is an old lawnmower....older gasoline small hp engine is better than a late model vehicle. Late model vehicles just burn very lean. Maybe I’m wrong on that......but I’d think using an inefficient gasoline engine is better.
 
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Tim9 said:
I remember reading a few different threads on this subject on the“ welding-web website. “
Almost every one of those professional welders who would have a large fuel tank to cut up.... used the exhaust method as mentioned by Old-Mud. I remember because it surprised me. Some of these tanks were 1000 (or bigger ) gallon steel storage fuel tanks. They all said the same. Exhaust pipe in the tank. Bigger tank.....longer they would leave the pipe in the tank.

fwiw... exhaust pipe fills the tank with CO2....low oxygen mean no chance of explosion. My take on this is an old lawnmower....older gasoline small hp engine is better than a late model vehicle. Late model vehicles just burn very lean. Maybe I’m wrong on that......but I’d think using an inefficient gasoline engine is better.
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No an older inefficient engine would create more carbon monoxide, not carbon dioxide. Carbon monoxide is very dangerous binding with red blood cells more readily than oxygen and can result in death. Carbon monoxide is also flammable.

Carbon dioxide is a result of efficient burning.
 
Honestly I don’t know the absolute oxygen level of the exhaust. And yes you are correct. Older engines had more carbon monoxide. But the bottom line is you want to have a low level of oxygen and I was just assuming that more efficient newer engines might also have higher oxygen levels. I honestly don’t have specific data.
 
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