Removing fuel tank, Yes, I've beaten this topic to death....but Options

[Pat Garvey]

Here's the scenario. Butt of 914 3 feet of ground. Front is 2 1/2 feet off (wanted all fuel from the engine to drain foraward).

So, I have 4 screw clamps for the tank lines, so I can open & close to drain at will.

What to drain into? Have about 4 gallons in the tank(nasty).

Have a Draintainer left over from my 911, but it only holds about 12 quarts.

Am I being too anal about this, or should I just go ahead with Draintainer, shut off the clamps, pour it into bottles & redo?

I worry about fire hazards (though I have doubts about stale 7 year olf gas igniting easily) and especially don't want gas fumes leaking into the house.

Headed out for 2 weeks off this coming weekend, but I want the tank swapped before the vernal equinox, so I'll need to be bustinng when I come back.

Tips, hints. no-do's welcomed.
Pat

[RFoulds]

I used the orange 5 gallon bucket from home depot with the lid. The "Homer Bucket" its around $3-$5 Lid fits tight. after draining, I taped around edge with packing tape and dropped it off at waste disposal.

[EdwardBlume]

Stay away from any open flame including your water heater....

I juice mine into a small 1 gallon jug and add it to the lawnmower / power washer / etc...

With only 4 gal, you can practically lift it up sideways and take it out with the hood off if you think there is a danger... wedge it up with a board...

[beech4rd]

I did this recently. First I collected all the fans in the house and set them up in the garage to blow the fumes outside.
I drained the gas into my oil drain can ( which is plastic) and also holds about 12 quarts. I gave up on screw clamps and used a sharpened pencil to close off the draining gas line when I thought the drain container was getting close to full. I decanted the fuel into a cheap 5 gal plastic gas can I bought at Home Depot ( I think I paid $8.00 for it). I kept doing this until the fuel tank was empty. Virtually no gas drained from the engine side of the lines. I removed the fuel from the garage, left the fans on until the smell of the gas had dissipated and took the fuel to recycling. The fans kept the fumes to a minimum.
I kept a little of the old gas to burn a brush pile and learnt that ten year old gas ignites in exactly the same manner as one day old gas ignites.

Chris

[Tom_T]

Pat - if your garage to house door still has good seals & the garage was built to code, then you should get no fumes into the house with the door kept closed (maybe lock it during process to avoid the "ooops" opening). Then keep main garage roll-up/tilt-up door open - as well as any garage windows - & use fans as suggested above - more for you not to have lingering fumes.

If your house &/or water heater(s) are in the garage, then you may want to douse the pilots & turn them off, the restart after some time for the fans to clear the fumes. Avoid switching lights on/off & use of electrical eqpt. during the process as well.

[SLITS]

I used the orange 5 gallon bucket from home depot with the lid. The "Homer Bucket" its around $3-$5 Lid fits tight. after draining, I taped around edge with packing tape and dropped it off at waste disposal.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

5 gal pail ... locking lid ..... open spout ....... insert hose .... let 'er rip. When you're done, put the cap back on the container.

By the nature of it, it will smell of gasoline, minimal, in your space. Nothings perfect!

[jaxdream]

If you use fans for ventilation , set them up to blow / push the fumes - not pull through the fans ( open electrical happenings going on there ) . All should be good if you think and act safely .

Jack / Jaxdream

[70_914]

I used an engine hoist to remove my tank and it was nearly 1/2 full. Been removing gas every now and then and adding it to the lawnmower gas. Tank is sealed well enough to park the car in the garage, so I figure it is sealed well enough to store gas in it until empty...