| Drying Tank |
| The drying tank is used to dry the fuel after it has been washed. |
| There are several ways to dry the fuel and I invite you to try all methods until you find the one that best serves you, your climate, and your situation. I have found this method (as shown in the photograph) to work the best for me. It takes the shortest amount of time, it works flawlessly, and it is very easy to implement. |
| The fuel is drawn from the bottom of the tank, through the cycling pump, and forced through a sprinkler system that sprays the fuel down onto the surface of the fuel inside the tank. The spray of fuel is exposed to the air and evaporation occurs; simple but effective. |
| This photo was taken in July 2006. This was my first iteration of this tank's design. |
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| Drying Tank, Version 2.0 |
| I decided to make some changes to my drying tank's design. Why? Well, mostly because of the mess I have to deal with when transferring the fuel into and out of the tank. Here's what I've done. |
| As you can see, in the photo below, I have mounted the pump to the drying tank's cart. I have also hard-plumbed (removed much of the flex tubing) the connections to the pump. This has greatly reduced the leaking and mess I had before making these changes. |
| A: Fuel enters the system from its source through this valve on its way to the pump. |
| B: Fuel exits the barrel (tank) through this valve on its way back to the pump. |
| C: Fuel passes through this valve on its way up into the top of the barrel (tank). |
| D: Fuel passes through this valve on its way out of the system. |
| E: This is the top view of a large, 25 micron fuel filter/water separator assembly which filters the fuel before it moves on. |
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| F: Fuel passes through this tube going up to the top of the tank where it is pumped through the sprinkler manifold and sprayed back into the barrel (tank). |
| G: Fuel passes through this union fitting on its way out of the system. A tube is connected to this union allowing distribution of finished fuel to a storage tank or directly into a vehicle's fuel tank. |
| H: Pump. |
| I: The original plastic box which held the electrical connections and controls was shattered somehow. I created this replacement from a standard electrical box. I knew it would generate some questions so I labeled it. |
| The red line illustrates the pathway the fuel takes as it passes through the system. |
| I still get a few drips here and there but with this new configuration, I can easily capture those with a single pan underneath and clearing the attached tubes is so much easier than before. Also, the pump stays up off the floor and allows easy wipe ups. It's pretty nice. I'm sure to make additional changes to it but I like it a lot compared to before. |
| This photo was taken in June 2007. |
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| Here is a photo (below) taken from the front of the drying tank. I think it shows the plumbing a bit different than the photo above. |
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