I recently moved onto about 15 acres and am slowly filling the stable with equipment.  The big things right now are a zero-turn, SxS, and a compact 25 Hp diesel tractor, but there's some smaller equipment as well.

Right now I'm just using a bunch of 5-gal cans for fuel, but it's turning into a pain- especially for the equipment where you don't have a good tank fullness indicator while filling.  At what point does it make sense to think about a modest-size fuel tank with a pump?  What do y'all typically do for fueling equipment?

Since you need gas and diesel I don’t think a big 275 gal tank will be the best. I’d get a couple of the gas caddy’s and use them.

Get a stand-alone fuel tank with electric pump or get a few truck bed fuel tanks to set somewhere. Is what I would do atleast

Tanks start at 100 gallon. As a matter of fact, people just about give away 100 gallon overhead tanks around here bc nobody wants them. That would be ok for OP. I have seen 300 gallon split ground tanks that would allow him gas & diesel in the same tank but those are harder to find.

That being said, if OP isn't in farm country he may have trouble finding 100 gallon overhead tanks. Another option is 55 gallon oil drums. Put a barrel pump in and be happy! It will be a little more work to do it that way but the drums are semi portable (full drums can be spun through stones & grass even). A drum may still have to get it filled in town though, my co-op has a 200 gal minimum for fuel delivery so he would have to have 4 empty drums to get fuel delivered. I have a 300 gal overhead tank that I use for diesel.

I have a 1000 gallon diesel tank at my house with an electric pump. I love it. I also have a 50 gallon tank mounted on my truck with an electric pump.

From what you describe it doesn’t sound like you need a tank that big but the problem you run into with small tanks is getting someone to come fill them. I have seen people buy tanks like those that are designed to be mounted in a pickup and strap them on a pallet. Load them on your truck with the tractor to fill them and then unload and store at your property.

This.

Price jumps up a lot to do this easy, compared to cans, but it’s not terrible

Get a split transfer tank for your truck, hopefully you have a truck

https://www.jmesales.com/85-gallon-dot-aluminum-split-l-shaped-transfer-tank/

Some things to think about.

diesel with good algae preventer lasts for years

but gasoline goes bad really fast.  (6 months to a year)

No way you're going thru that much.

Also an overhead tank (or any other tank) requires spill prevention and usually some type of catchment basin to keep any spills from hitting the ground.  And getting rid of a old tank is a  serious problem

Gasoline is a bomb.  Some of you guys saying get a 55 gallon drum of gasoline and driving it home?????  Ya gotta be kidding.  In the hazmat world, you can have up to 110 gallons of diesel (might be 150, i'm old i forget shit) in a vehicle tank with no hazmat certification needed (why most transfer tanks are 100 gallons).  The limit for gasoline is 8 gallons.  8.   Think about that.

Get a transfer tank for your truck with a pump powered off your battery for diesel.  And convert your equipment to diesel and the few things that take gas, you won't really need that much.  I could run hard all day doing field work with my ATV and never use more than the 5 gallon can i had with me.

Here's  a DOT approved 15 gallon gravity fed gas tank.

https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200735783_200735783?cm_mmc=Google-LIA&utm_source=Google_LIA&utm_medium=Fuel%20Transfer%20%2B%20Lubrication%20%3E%20Fuel%20Caddies&utm_campaign=JohnDow&utm_content=63740&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs8zX7r376wIVCrLICh2Mng02EAQYASABEgJEmPD_BwE

Past life did this with a 300ish gallon tank I built IIRC out of A588 or A514 (tank purpose) steel.  Gravity fed about 4' off the ground and had the local fuel delivery folks come by and top me off when needed.  If you build the tank you'll know how much it holds and be able to measure the fuel with a tape measure, do the math and make the order.  Filtration can be a issue as the new stuff will not tolerate any debris at all and hard to filter with gravity pressure.  Could also build a ground tank and a simple electric pump from Northern Tool will get your going.

If you're going to post here you better know WTF you're talking about and you clearly don't.


B S.

Gas stored in vented containers loses volatile compounds quickly. Gas stored in airtight containers lasts years. I've stored untreated pump gas in 55 gallon drums for as long as 5 years without problems. It would likely go longer than that, I just haven't tried it.


The threshold at which secondary containment is required is probably dependent on state law, but it is is MUCH larger than "an overhead tank or any other tank". In all states I am familiar with you can store 1,000 gallons on a single property without needing spill containment. Many regulations are written such as "secondary spill containment is not required if the total amount of fuel (stored in containers 55-gallon and larger) does not exceed 1100 gallons". Or, in the case of Michigan, it is 1320 gallons which would permit OP to have two 500-gal tanks, a 100-gal tank, four 55-gal barrels, and unlimited containers less than 55-gallons without secondary spill containment.


I know it's super serious to make sure the tank is empty and load it up to haul to a scrap yard, but it's not THAT serious. Stop overly dramatizing.


Gas is not a bomb. The only way to even get close to that level of flame front propagation is to vaporize it into an oxygen rich environment or mix it with oxidizers.

Gasoline is flammable and is to be respected, but that doesn't make it a bomb.


Nope, not kidding. 55-gallon closed-head drums are DOT-approved for transport of fuels and oils via air, land, or sea. No certifications, trainings, or special handling is required to transport them unless you are a commercial carrier. The drum does need to be marked with the contents and have the appropriate diamond placard affixed.

As a matter of fact, if you were to call up your local petroleum supplier and tell them you wanted to buy high octane race fuel, aviation fuel, methanol, etc in non-bulk quantities they will tell you, "we have that available for special order in 5-gal pails & 55-gallon drums. It will take about a week to get it, which would you like?" And when you go to pick it up, they will even load it in the back of your truck for you! BTDT

Additionally, it is very routine for fuel to be transported via 55-gal drum outside of locations with modern interconnected highway systems bc the whole container can be moved/transferred WITHOUT requiring special tanks, spill containment, etc. Take, for example, remote areas of Alaska. The barrels will be most likely filled at a refinery in Alaska, trucked to an air terminal, then flown to the remote area and offloaded. If the truck is a commercial carrier there are additional handling & certifications needed, same for the airplane. But once it arrives at the receiving end, if the customer is receiving it at the air terminal (or grass strip runway in front of their cabin), there are no longer any special handling requirements or certifications needed.


Citation of regulations limiting non-commercial carriers to the above limits please.

Can you mount a transfer tank on a skid and use your equipment to load and unload it from the bed of your truck or trailer. Cart it to the gas station, fill it up, and unload it into the barn, shop, or even outside?

I would get a 500 gallon UL listed double wall for gas tomorrow.  And a padlock.

Everyone gets a veto on the grid.  When the Marxists pitch a hissy after trump wins, that tank will be valuable.

And..nobody has ever been car jacked or robbed at my tank.

GK machine fuel tank brochures

We have a few of these 500/250 tanks on different farms. They are self contained and pretty slick.  It’s the spendy option.

that looks expensiveee.

around here the solution for legal minded people is a heating oil tank in a half septic tank with a roof.

Call some local fuel companies.  They might just give you some old tanks and have them come fill them every couple months.  That makes it super easy

when price makes you no never mind

Our conservation club received two 100 gallon gravity tanks for about $100 each.  All they needed was to be sand blasted and painted with outdoor paint.  Check craigslist and state auctions.

Being in the fuel business... Stand tanks are the devil. Spills waiting to happen.


For your consumption, the 15 or 25 gallon gas caddy's are the best way to store, handle and get fuel.  They even make them with pumps.


For diesel, you can do 55 gallon drum without safety issues. (This is what I do for my Deere Sub compact at my house.)



Unless you're using 100+ gallons a month of gasoline and/or diesel, larger tanks are just going to be more money sitting there, more safety/spill issues, contamination issues, etc.

Do you have a pump on the drum?  Hand crank?  Electric.  How do you haul it around, just on a pallet?  

I know you know fuels and lubricants from your other posts.  

Like to pick the brain of someone who 'knows'.  

@Foxtrot08

55 gallon drum, hand pump with a filter kit put on it. 10ft hose, nozzle.

I have forks for my tractor. But I’ve also just ratchet strapped it to my bucket before and it’s fine.

I don’t move it much anymore. As I have a 90 gallon truck tank on the farm truck. So I fill it up with that.


Now this is at my house.


At  the farm...




Twin 500 double walls and a 300 double wall.


Diesel / gasoline / dyed diesel.


We fill our vehicles up at the farm or the office.

The office has a underground 10,000, a 6000 and a 4000 with a fuel island.

Setting it on a pallet works fine but these also work great to move full drums around. We buy our oil in 55 gallon drums and use one to move the drums around.

Drum hoist

have a 37 gallon tank mounted on a pallet i set in the back of a truck, go fill and unload it back out.  This is for gas for my SXS mainly, everything else is diesel.  It's amazing how much cheaper it is to buy bulk diesel, I gave $1.25 a gallon this past summer for red fuel.