Please Don't EXPLODE!!!

[Uncle Tucker]

Me and Jeff D are going to start building his arch soon. We are taking a 275-gallon oil tank and will cut and paste it into an evaporator. The tank has oil sludge in it, could this catch on fire or worse EXPLODE!!!? We were thinking of using an angle grinder or a saws all. Any thoughts or warnings.

[peacemaker]

saws and oil the balde as you go so it will stay cool i cut mine that way

[Clan Delaney]

Just my thoughts... apparently the oil that was once in that tank has to be atomized for it to burn, so I'd guess that the sludge would be even less likely to burn from just the heat of a saw or grinder. I sure wouldn't use a torch to cut it though. I'd just be concerned about vapors in the tank. Those could ignite pretty easily.

I don't know... fill it with soapy water and roll it around a bit before cutting??

[peacemaker]

some sand if theres alot

[wdchuck]

Just did this a few weeks ago- we used a sawzall, no issues whatsoever. The bonfire we built inside the opened-up tank sure was fun!

[danno]

There was a pretty contraversial thread on this issue a year or so ago. I don't know if it got pulled, because my recollection is that it got pretty ugly - but worth a read if you can find it

[Cardigan99]

I do recall that thread!

I cut the top off of mine with a sawzall. I'm still here.

Uncle Tucker, JMO, but if you shorten the pan by 6 inches and frame out an area for the stack instead of just cutting an 8 in hole in the back you'll have a much better burn. We're getting 12 - 15 GPH that way.

On second thought, I'll save you guys the trouble and sell you the one I got.

[Clan Delaney]

There was a pretty contraversial thread on this issue a year or so ago. I don't know if it got pulled, because my recollection is that it got pretty ugly - but worth a read if you can find it

Found it. (http://www.mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=3006&highlight=oil+tank)

Despite the ugly, there was some good info in there to consider. Check it out.

[Pete S]

When I was working on my "initial" build for our little metal box, I needed to do some welding.

There was a layer of fiberglass on the bottom, which was soaked with oil, as this was an old "parts cleaner".

Either too lazy or too excieted to work on the thing, I began to weld. I welded and cut for quite some time,..........until I could smell a stong sooty oder from within my welding mask. I flipped it up and the interior of this metal box was goin' purty good with flames a'rollin', and black smoke a puffin'.

I "quickly" took of my gear, and slid this thing across our 34' wide shop floor and out into the drive to let'er burn.

After that the fiberglass bottom patch came out real easy.

My Firefighter buddy told me in hindsight to NEXT TIME, chain it to my truck so I can git'er out quicker!

Thought I'd share,............but I too have a 275 gallon tank that will be needing to be cut, hopefully soon. Still thinkin' on trying to use an abrasive wheel or a torch and angle iron.

How many sawsall blades does one burn up to cut a tank that size?

Pete

[Cardigan99]

Pete, I did it with two, but you gotta get 'milwaukee' brand. anything else and you'll end up using a bunch. Lay your sawzall down as flat as you can get it (as oppossed to straight up and down) when you're cutting and you'll get yourself a nice straight cut.

[maplecrest]

if your really concerned drop a road flare in it

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would get the good blades and dont over speed the blade. As your cutting look at the amount of chips coming out of the cut you can tell when a blade is cutting to the max. High speed high heat kills the blades.

[peacemaker]

i like the lenox blades better then any in my younger days i competted cutting cars for rescue one of my tools was our gas powered sawzal i used lenox blades then and when i have a big metal cut i use them now i bit more money but worth it .... get some to follow you with a squirt bottle full of soapppy water keep the blade cool and lubed and u may get the whole thing done with one .... here is my other sugggestion dont cut your corners till its cut all the way around the corners are much thicker and will destroy the blade and as you cut it wont shift around and its alot easier no pinching the blade

[Big maple]

the lasttime I cut one in half for a smoker we took it outside and cut it with a plasma cutter and it didn't light so i tried to light it with a match and that wouldn't light it so we lit it on fire with the cutting torches and even then the oil and sludge barely did any thing when we lit a wood fire in it the slude was stiil there mixed into the ashes

[peacemaker]

yup it took a long time to burn it all away

[markct]

my first arch was a 100lb propane tank made into sorta like a barrel stove. i stood it upright and took the valve out of it and filled it full of water, then took and cut about a 8 inch hole in the top with the cutting torch, it popped and spit a bit, but there is no chance of explosion with it filled because there is no airspace, and air, ie oxygen is whats needed for an explosion of course. once i had a hole that big in the end i poured the water out and steam cleaned the inside with some detergent and did the rest of the cutting with the plasma cutter and was very pleased with the results, once there is a proportionatly large hole in the tank the risk of explosion is gone, altho it could still make a heck of a flash and fire if conditions were right, so i keep my body away from the opening! now mind you this is with a propane tank so very much more dangerous than the diesel or fuel oil tanks discussed here. diesel wont burn till its heated or atomized but i would still be affraid to use a torch on a whole tank, but a cutoff disk wouldnt scare me, as long as i knew the tank NEVER had gasoline or some other vapor explosive material

[Maine4me]

I used to cut up 10-20 oil tanks a month in previous employment with a local environmental service company for scrap metal. We always used sawzalls, lenox or milwaukee blades. Most came from home owners and had a lot of oil or sludge in the bottom of the tanks. If you go slow and stay above or below the horizontal weld it will go smooth. Just don't try to overpower the saw or it will dull the blade faster than you could imagine.

[davey]

My dad always used to hook a pipe to the exhaust of a running vehicle to purge the container with CO2 prior to cutting.

[NH Maplemaker]

A couple of years back we found a 500 GAL tank that had been used for gasoline. We wanted to use it for #2 fuel oil for the sugar house, but need a fitting welded in the bottom of the tank for the oil pipe! So I chained the tank in the back of dump truck.Than I put 20/30 GAL of water in the tank,raised the body up until area of weld was covered with lots of water. We welded the fitting onto tank, Drilled a hole though fitting into tank which drained and also cooled fitting. No BOOM! Didn't even get hot.

NH. Maplemaker

[danno]

The hair on the back of my neck is standing on end - I remembered these threads but did not remember I had posted.

Bob was the sweetest guy in the world I will sincerely miss him. I truly hope people take heed and somebody learns from this. I'm really am not on here to preach, I just hope the lesson he learned the hard way may keep someone else from hurting themselves.

Bob - RIP my friend!

http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Police-release-name-of-man-killed-in-oil-drum/NwuiotRKmkeCaonjKAF0mA.cspx

[buxtonboiler]

I just cut a 275 tank that has about 3 gallons of oil in it. I used a sawsall with the lenox blades and had no issues. A firefighter (20 Years) told me there wouldn't be an issue that way. He did say if I was still worried, get a couple pounds of dry ice and drop it in the tank. dry ice being CO2 would displace the oxygen. But, like I said, I had no issues. Will post plans and pics when I get it done.

[C.Wilcox]

Sorry to hear about your friend danno.

When our company has to dispose of drums we drain them as much as possible, dump in a gallon of simple green, roll them around, and then drain again. If it was a particularly nasty one we do that several times to remove all the remaining oil, etc. I can't claim that it's "the way" to do it, but it has been a good method for us.