Portable “Fuel Station” Made From 55-Gal Barrel

Portable “Fuel Station” Made From 55-Gal Barrel ENERGY Miscellaneous “I have a small acreage and use older machinery that runs on gas I wanted a portable self-contained fuel transfer tank that I could easily load into my pickup Most of the ones I found on the market are rated only for diesel and they aren’t portable Also they cost hundreds of dollars So I made my own out of a 55-gal barrel and other materials I already had ” says Tom Chaney Sr Chrisman Ill The barrel stands on a wooden pallet cut in half and is held in place by a homemade wood cage made from 3/4-in thick plywood and 2 by 4’s The base is extended 1 ft on 2 sides to provide stability Metal hooks are embedded in each corner of the sleeve making it easy to lift the entire setup into a pickup bed with an overhead chain hoist The barrel came with 2 bung holes - a large one that serve as a fill port and a smaller one fitted with a spigot Chaney mounted a 12-volt fuel pump in the large bung which is operated by the battery off a garden tractor The battery is stored in a small box on the side Chaney now needed a fill and vent cap so he removed the spigot from the small bung and used a sawzall to widen the hole He cut a large bung out of another barrel that he already had and welded it into the hole then installed the vent fill cap from a junked 50-gal portable fuel tank “It works fast ” says Chaney “I can quickly lift it into my pickup then haul it out to the field where I’m working and drive my tractor up to it every time I need to refuel And if I need to use the pickup for something else I can quickly set the barrel and pump down on the ground If the barrel ever rusts up I can always replace it “I came up with the idea because I operate a sideline business making hay for area farmers I got tired of carrying 5-gal gas cans and it wasn’t always safe to carry one on a tractor or combine I needed something to speed my operation up without tieing up my pickup My dad and grandpa always said to use whatever you have on hand and make it work if you can Then if you can’t make it work but still really need it go buy it ” Chaney says he came up with the wood cage idea because the barrel is top heavy and would have been hard to strap down on its own “It makes the barrel more stable and provides a safe convenient way to haul the barrel in my pickup It also provides anchor points for tie-down straps in the pickup bed ” says Chaney He says he already had almost everything he used to build the unit “A friend gave me the fuel pump a few years ago because it didn’t work and I fixed it up I added a fuel filter onto it in order to catch any debris ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Tom Chaney Sr 14732 E 1800th Rd Chrisman Ill 61924 tomchansr@yahoo com

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