<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">What's the best way to cut the bottom out of an "A" gas tank, without getting blown into the next county? It's been a few years since the tank had any fuel in it, but i want to take all orecautions! Any help would be appreciated! Thanks- </TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Try what Harrison recommended and if you're still wary run a hose from an Argon bottle into it. I've cut out a couple with a plasma cutter by purging with Argon without blowing myself up. Your mileage may vary....
dont waste your argon ! use a hose from the exhaust of a running car into the tank cut with plasma, grind disk ,sawzall ect.
Take it to a local radiator shop, $35 and its ready to cut, have done three this way and I'm still here, don't take any chances, lost a good friend years ago cutting a tank. not a pretty sight!
yes...have it hot tanked, dont believe all the **** about running exhaust or water through it, there is still a HIGH possibility of it exploding. I would even be on the safe side and take it to someone to do.
An old farmer told me to hook a shop vac to the spout while cutting to **** up the vapors. Works for me.
I watched a true "hammer mechanic" use a torch to cut the straps on a leaky gas tank that STILL HAD A 1/4 TANK OF GAS IN IT ! (I watched it from about 100 yards away, behind the corner of a barn)
Good idea in theory, except you are ****ing fumes into a vacuum that is powered by an electric motor! Ever see brushes in a motor arc when its running? A better way to **** the fumes out would be to use an air vac.
even professionals hate doing this...why? because it is a potential bomb!..be very careful. Make sure it is removed from the body, frame, car. fill the ****er up with water and flush it often for days. maybe 4 or 5 times in a week. letting it set full between each fill and sit. be absolutly sure it is void of any fumes before you cut it with anything. if you are not sure about it..have some one who has sucessfully done this before, do it for you.. check to see if his head is still attached when you are talking to him and if he has all his fingers and hands..
Do you have one of those neighbors who is always bugging you while you work? This would be a good time to put him to work.....while you go in the house for a refreshment. Bad news is if there are no fumes and he makes it through it, he will now be there more often be cause he is now on the build team.
oh i forgot, you can rent an LEL meter..LEL stands for lower explosive limit meter..it will tell you if the confined space is potentially volitile or not..they rent for like 50 bucks..cheap when you conciter what a few weeks in burn center might cost you..or the casket and grave site!
I haven't seen an A tank yet that actually had fuel in it. I was more worried about the plague from the rats nests in mine.
I heard this once and it made sense to me...after you flush the tank out with water for awhile, leave as much water in it as possible, then cut. The idea is that you're reducing the amount of gaseous fumes available to explode. Also helps steady the tank. Never done it though. Edit: Oh **** Mac, you beat me to it while I was on the phone...
I'm with flt-blk. The take I would be cutting probably hasn't had fuel in it since 1960. Am I still to be worried about something like that? I can't imagine so...
Fill the tank with water and use a cut off wheel or Plasma it does not matter.if it does have any fumes it will be minimal and you will live to work another day.Ive done it about three times and used a Plasma all three times and Ive been hurt worse on *** nite than afuel tank.
I flushed mine with water - it hadn't had fuel in it for years but I flushed it anyway - then a friend lit his torch, pocked in in the filler, it didn't explode so he cut the friggin thing. For christ sake if it hasnt had fuel for years the vapors were gone long ago.
Does it still smell like gas? Anything that has been empty that long could probably be cut without doing anything to it at all.
<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Thanks for the info. everyone! We're not sure how long ago it was emptied, but, if you stick your sniffer in the filler, you can just barely smell fumes! (Why am i thinking "stick you sniffer in the filler" was a bad choice of words?) </TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
It's not just a dribble of gas left in there that you have to worry about. Some old tanks have lots of "varnish" type **** all gunked up on the inside. When you start heating up the tank to cut it or weld on it, the varnish starts vaporizing, and fills up the tank with possibly explosive fumes. I remember a long time ago (about 30 years ago) buying an old motorcycle gas tank that had sat in the attic of a motorcycle salvage place for probably ten years. I knew it was dry and it didn't smell like it had any fumes in it. I rinsed it out with soapy water and figured that was clean enough. I had the brilliant idea of using a torch to burn the paint off the outside of it to get ready to repaint it. As the torch heated it up, the "varnish" stuff that was all over the inside walls of it heated up and made billows of stinky fumes come out of the fill hole. I got a little worried about that, but kept torching it anyway. Then a few times the fumes caught on fire and made a cool fireball that shot out with a big roar. I thought it was kind of funny at the time, but thinking back, it wasn't too smart. That was just a little ~3 gallon tank with a large gas cap hole. It might be a different story with a bigger tank with a higher concentration of junk in it. If you get the right combination of vapors and air inside, it could be like a bomb. One other way I heard of though for making the tank safe to work on, is to throw some water and chunks of dry ice in there. The dry ice will fill the tank full of CO2. If it's all CO2 in there, nothing can burn.
I just cut my tank apart this past weekend. there was about a half gallon of gas still in there that i dumped out and then just let it sit with the cap off for a week. i'm still here to talk about it so i can safely say there was no explosion. and the inside of the tank was dry when i cut it apart.
Wow ..you are eather very lucky or very...well..your lucky..I wouldnt make a habit out of doing that.
Just fill the thing completely up with water and cut it out with a plasma torch. Even if there is any gas or varnish still in there, the water has displaced all the air. No air, no boom. And thus, no problem. Cut it and get on with your life.
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