[Shop-talk] Drilling into a gas tank

[David Scheidt]

On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 2:33 PM, Brad Kahler <brad.kahler at 141.com> wrote:
> Pat, I forgot about the fact that the water will since to the bottom.
> Makes me feel a lot more comfortable about the water idea. B I did get
> a reply about pumping exhaust fumes from a vehicle into the tank while
> performing the drilling. B I like that idea because I wouldn't have to
> worry about having to get the water out of the tank.

Ah.  Yes.  The old "fill the gas tank with an explosive gas" trick!
Brilliant!

Siphon the tank.  Fill it with water.  Drill away.  Drain the water
from the hole you just drilled.  Sluice the tank.  I rather suspect
you're not going to get this tank clean through an 1/8" pipe fitting,
but you're sure not going to just by draining it.  It's likely to
require 10 or 12 volumes of water to rinse it cleanish.  The drain
should be at the lowest point, so I wouldn't worry too much about the
residual water.

Make sure there are several gas filters on it, idealy including a
sediment bowl as the first stage.  I'll bet this tank is rusting, too,
and will continue to shed rust into the fuel.





--
David Scheidt
dmscheidt at gmail.com