Fuel salvage

[Hutch]

I have boughten a rotary drum pump, and a couple of 55g barrels, one of which turned out to have some off-road diesel and water/crud in it.  I know this 'cause I stuck the drum pump into the aforementioned drum, and decanted ~ a quart into a glass jar for analysis.  Eeeew.

I then proceeded to test some ooooooold dyed K1 I had put back in 15g HDPE barrels awhile back.  Water in those, too.  Damnit.  At least the K1 looked fairly non-cloudy, unlike the diesel.  Several questions suggest themselves.

Can any of this fuel be salvaged?  I am more keen to save the K1, 'cause a) it's more expensive, b) I'm only burning it in a kerosene heater, so a little contamination is not likely to cause an expensive problem.  I'm ready to write off the off-road diesel.

If the answer is yes, can someone suggest a way to rig up a fuel filter / water separator that would be easy for a thumb-fingered dolt to do, and have some fair chance of success, without a lot of cost?

On the unsalvaged fuel, can anyone recommend a place to take it?  I suppose I could leave it in the drum, and then pour used oil and other unwanted petrol products in it until full, and then deal with it, but deal with it I must.

 

[Jamisjockey]

Burn it off?

[Hutch]

Uhhhh, I don't really figure to burn off 10 or 15 gallons of diesel in my neighborhood. Maybe the FD could use if for something?

[wmenorr67]

Mix it together and use it for weed killer.

[Hutch]

Uhhhhh.... not gonna pour this out on the ground.  I will try to find some .gov or other entity to take it off my hands.  Any ideas on a fuel separator juju box?

[zxcvbob]

Do you know anybody who makes their own biodiesel?  They could add your crapdiesel to the batch (either add it to the feedstock or add to the finished batch before they wash it). They might even pay you for it -- but they won't pay you much.

[never_retreat]

The essayist way would be to put it into a smaller container and let the crap settle out. Carefully siphon of the good stuff and chuck the rest.
Preferably something clear like and old water cooler bottle.

[geronimotwo]

pour off the clear kero and use it.  put the rest in one container and allow it to settle.  siphon out the water from the bottom until a little kero/diesel comes with it, then repeat until majority is reclaimed. the little bit that's left can be recycled, or used as weed killer if that is allowed in your area.

the same can be done for the diesel if it is fairly clean after settling.  tipping the drum slightly allows the water to go to one corner making it easier to separate

also, tractor supply sells a fairly inexpensive fuel/water separating filter, if there is enough cloudy diesel to worry about. i would siphon off the worst of the water before using it.


http://www.tractorsupply.com/dutton-lainson-reg-goldenrod-reg-496-water-block-absorbing-fuel-filter-0189529

[Hutch]

Geronimo, that's what I'm looking for!  Btw, after pumpiing a few gallons of dyed K1 to the other K1 bucket, and letting things sit a bit, I pumped another sample into the glass jar.  Joy!  No water detected, and the K1 is not cloudy.  Calling this a win for the good guys...

Now to call around and see who'll take the diesel...

[gunsmith]

yea if you can find someone who brews their own biodisel they would love it, I have a friend in Oakland, CA who brews it in his backyard- he drives a late sixties diesel mercedes and he puts all kinds of junk in it...but he is a top notch mechanic so he does it all himself.

he got the car free, told me it cost him under 20 cents a mile too