Hauling diesel

[JimS]

I usually load 6 jeep cans in my pickup for diesel. It would be easier to just put a 55 gal tank in my pickup, fill it, and transfer the fuel to my holding tank with a pump. What are the laws in your state hauling diesel? I am in California. Who would have that information? Stan

Technically, it’s not legal and there are a bunch of rules governing it.

I used to see the barrel thing a lot but hardly ever see it now.

If you get stopped, it would most likely be by one of the compliance officers, the ones in the pick up trucks. Regular officers seem oblivious of most rules regarding hauling. I had a friend rear ended in a truck and trailer that technically required a CDL (he didn’t have one) but the responding CHP officer never caught the violation.

I have seen officers inspect fuel cans at fuel stations and cite if they weren’t the new compliant cans, you know, the useless ones without vents that spill far more fuel than would normally be vented.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Why not just get a bulk storage tank on your property and have your fuel delivered? I don’t like messing around with fuel cans either, one drop of diesel on your pants, seems to have a smell half life of a year.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

I usually load 6 jeep cans in my pickup for diesel. It would be easier to just put a 55 gal tank in my pickup, fill it, and transfer the fuel to my holding tank with a pump. What are the laws in your state hauling diesel? I am in California. Who would have that information? Stan

99% of non-federal or state non-truck reg. cops don't knnow any more about it than you do, and they do not care. Certainly municipal or county police do not knnow or care. Do what you need to do and don't go around bragging at the coffee shop.

 

[Blackhole49]

Technically, it’s not legal and there are a bunch of rules governing it.

I used to see the barrel thing a lot but hardly ever see it now.

If you get stopped, it would most likely be by one of the compliance officers, the ones in the pick up trucks. Regular officers seem oblivious of most rules regarding hauling. I had a friend rear ended in a truck and trailer that technically required a CDL (he didn’t have one) but the responding CHP officer never caught the violation.

I have seen officers inspect fuel cans at fuel stations and cite if they weren’t the new compliant cans, you know, the useless ones without vents that spill far more fuel than would normally be vented.

I would be interested in knowing when and where someone was ticketed for putting gas in container (5 gallons or smaller) built to hold gas no matter what age. Never heard of such a thing. Some of my jerry cans are WW2 surplus and I've still fill them on a regular basis. Where I live, the only thing some stations won't let you do is leave the can in the vehicle while filling. Out Fire Dept. uses the same station I do and they have never said a thing about my cans but I have seen them make people remove a can from the vehicle when the attendant failed to catch it.

 

[jm.]

I am just carious what other states regulations are. I do realize other states do not pertain to my state. Stan

Tennessee your tank has to be YELLOW and anything under 500 gal you are fine.

 

[DoubleO7]

I would be interested in knowing when and where someone was ticketed for putting gas in container (5 gallons or smaller) built to hold gas no matter what age. Never heard of such a thing

He is in CA
Nuff said, right?

 

[Mickey Keener]

I usually load 6 jeep cans in my pickup for diesel. It would be easier to just put a 55 gal tank in my pickup, fill it, and transfer the fuel to my holding tank with a pump. What are the laws in your state hauling diesel? I am in California. Who would have that information? Stan

Texas you can haul up to 109 gallons tank no problem. If you pull trailer over that you have to have hazmat stickers and licenses. Friend got stopped with farm tank with 500 gallons and was fined $675. He only had CDL license and was stopped 2 days later and fined again. Now he has a 100 gallon tank and goes back and forth filling equipment. He has 6 tractors running in summer months.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

I would be interested in knowing when and where someone was ticketed for putting gas in container (5 gallons or smaller) built to hold gas no matter what age. Never heard of such a thing. Some of my jerry cans are WW2 surplus and I've still fill them on a regular basis. Where I live, the only thing some stations won't let you do is leave the can in the vehicle while filling. Out Fire Dept. uses the same station I do and they have never said a thing about my cans but I have seen them make people remove a can from the vehicle when the attendant failed to catch it.

The discussion is about using a 55 gallon drum instead of 5 gallon cans.

55 gallon drum of fuel is not legal and can get you in trouble because it's not a DOT approved container, BUT you'd have to get caught first. An old guy driving down the road with a 55 gallon drum in the back of his pickup truck is not going to attract attention. They won't even give him a second glance unless he's driving erratically or there is fuel running out on the ground.

There would be absolutely no way for them to know what is in the drum. It could be empty. It could have his wife's body stuffed in it. It could be full of gasoline/diesel/kerosene. It could be full of engine oil or grease. It could have water, scrap metal... literally anything. There's no way for Johnny Law to know without pulling the old guy over, and if he has no other reason to pull him over, Johnny Law is left wondering, if he even cares at all! Sure he can make something up but that's paperwork that he has to do.

 

[john in la]

It’s always interesting reading some of the replies to this type question.

 

[tomturkey]

I usually load 6 jeep cans in my pickup for diesel. It would be easier to just put a 55 gal tank in my pickup, fill it, and transfer the fuel to my holding tank with a pump. What are the laws in your state hauling diesel? I am in California. Who would have that information? Stan

Chief, just buy a fuel container that holds about 30 gallons and has a rotary pump. look them up on the internet 250$ or thereabouts, handling six 5gal cans and fueling a tractor would wear me out just getting things ready to mow. lol

 

[buickanddeere]

Portable Fuel Containers - Gas Cans | California Air Resources Board

The Portable Fuel Container (PFC) regulations are an important part of CARB's mission to improve California's air quality.

ww2.arb.ca.gov

 

[DoubleO7]

55 gallon drum of fuel is not legal and can get you in trouble because it's not a DOT approved container,

There certainly are D.O.T. approved drums for any fuel out there.
Maybe you are saying they are not legal for private use or in some states or if not properly licensed, etc. ?

High octane racing gasoline, methanol, ethanol, nitromethane, etc. show up at race tracks all over the country for every race.

 

[john in la]

007
Maybe some of you missed what I said in my post above.

Diesel fuel is not regulated by the DOT in containers less than 119 gallons.
In other words you can put it in a wash tub as far as the DOT is concerned as long as you prevent it from leaking onto the ground.

And while we at it the 500 and other size tanks some are mentioning is really 502 gallons and is a farmer exemption to and from the farm. It doesn’t exempt farmers from hazmat rules such as proper containers or placards. It only exempts them from proper paperwork such as msds or orange hazmat book and formal hazmat training.
So that doesn’t apply to this post because the original poster is not a farmer.

Like I said it’s interesting reading some of the replies some post to this type question.

 

[DoubleO7]

007
Maybe some of you missed what I said in my post above.

John in la,
I am guessing you have quotes turned off maybe?

Anyways.....
My post was totally ignoring and not referencing anything you said.
I was responding to the statement by BarnyardEngineering as to 55 gallon drums being illegal for fuel transporting.
Highly volatile racing fuel is legally allowed in approved drums some how.
Since it is, diesel would be too, right?

 

[john in la]

John in la,
I am guessing you have quotes turned off maybe?

Anyways.....
My post was totally ignoring and not referencing anything you said.
I was responding to the statement by BarnyardEngineering as to 55 gallon drums being illegal for fuel transporting.
Highly volatile racing fuel is legally allowed in approved drums some how.
Since it is, diesel would be too, right?

007
I know exactly who you was responding to.

I was just clarifying to you that your thinking 55 gallon drums can be a legal container for the transportation of diesel is correct.

 

[4play]

On federal regulations, States can add to the regs, but they can't take away. So, federal regs are a minimum and most states adopt that, but not California. Hazmat regulations begin at a 120 gal container, that's a limit for a single container amount, you can transport up to 999 pounds of fuel. So, states can't make those amounts less, but they can make them more. They can also define container quantity and regulate sizes etc (portable fuel container = 5gal or less) If you are reading up on Cali law, make sure you know the quantity of the container referenced.

I know California will stop & ticket for transporting with non-approved fuel cans, that is any container that is not compliant with current regs, even using older fuel cans. It's ok to possess and use non compliant cans, just not for transporting fuel. DOT and OSHA both have regulations on cans and approved/marked cans, you are not under their authority to use them though, but I can see California requiring it.

 

[ss55]

I usually load 6 jeep cans in my pickup for diesel. It would be easier to just put a 55 gal tank in my pickup, fill it, and transfer the fuel to my holding tank with a pump. What are the laws in your state hauling diesel? I am in California. Who would have that information? Stan

If you are hauling the tractor and mower on a trailer can you go to any gas station the sells diesel fuel and pump diesel fuel into the tractor while it is on your trailer? That would eliminate the need to fill the tractor from cans on any mowing jobs that require less than one tank of fuel. You should still be able to file for a fuel tax refund on the tractor fuel.

 

[NoDakInMN]

We have laws and regulations aplenty, but enforcement is usually a matter of scale. It is possible, but unlikely, that law enforcement will pull you over to inspect a single 55 gallon drum to see if it holds fuel instead of all the other lawful uses, when they have fleets of trucks and tankers to keep an eye on.

 

[Jim.ME]

From one of his later posts (see #10) it doesn't look like he is looking for any guidance for himself, he just wanted to see what other states have for regulations.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

There certainly are D.O.T. approved drums for any fuel out there.
Maybe you are saying they are not legal for private use or in some states or if not properly licensed, etc. ?

High octane racing gasoline, methanol, ethanol, nitromethane, etc. show up at race tracks all over the country for every race.

They show up in placarded trucks operated by properly licensed and hazmat endorsed drivers, at least officially. Any that arrives any other way falls under the "you're probably not going to get caught" clause.