Pumping kerosene (heating oil)

[Jez]

Hi,

I have 2 large tanks of kerosene on this land which are used for heating systems for various outbuildings and the two houses. I would like to transfer oil between the tanks occasionally if one of them gets overly low in order to allow me to run them out at the same time, so that i can get one large delivery to fill them up and thus getting lower prices and less hassle of the multiple visits from the lorry etc.

Id like some sort of pipe that i can stick in the top of one, then in the top of the other, and then switch on some kind of pump in the middle.

So, the question. What sort of hose/pump do i need for this! And where might i obtain such a beauty.

Many thanks,
Jeremy

 

[Jez]

Id never heard of machine mart before, looks like a good store! One in swindon which is relatively close i guess.

Am i looking at the [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Clarke CPP3000 - Drill Powered Water Pump [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Compact lightweight electric drill powered pump, ideal for transferring light liquids such as fresh water, sea water, dilute organic.. [more] [/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]£10.99 (£12.91 inc. VAT)[/font]​

?? Says its for water, i assume it must be ok with kerosene if it was ok with deisel. Looks powerful enough, one tank is approx 1m higher than the other, and around 30m away. 40-50ltr/min sounds great too.

 

[Jez]

Which would you get? The £13 one on machine mart or that £5 one off ebay?

How does the drill attach to the ebay one do you think? It doesnt look to have a spindle like the machinemart one? Also, the connections on the ebay one look annoying, the machinemart one looks like i could just slip hose onto either side

Cheers for your replies matey

 

[Jez]

This is the description of the one on machinemart, it does mention heating oil:

Compact lightweight electric drill powered pump, ideal for transferring light liquids such as fresh water, sea water, dilute organic solvents, motor oil, heating oil, insecticides & liquid fertilizers.

Youve made me worried though about the metal innards! Re the priming thing, i assumed that the pump would just pump air for a short time and would pull the fuel through?

 

[Jez]

House - i am not sure you are aware of what sort of tanks we are dealing with, the vacuum thing will not be a problem, they are large tanks with a big flap at the top which gets opened to dump oil into it, id simply be sucking oil out of the top, no presurisation involved. I dont want or need a proper permanent solution, its just for a couple of times per year to top up the other tank if it gets low

The height difference is around 1m between the tanks, but that machine mart pump mentions that it should be more than capable.

Where i am confused is mickeyD's explanation of priming, if i connect 15m of tube to one side of the pump and dump in one tank, and another 15m of tube to the other side and dump it into the other tank, is the pump just going to be sitting there spinning with no oil? Thats a bit of a problem!

 

[Jez]

I know your not talking about pressurised tanks but the comment is still valid unless the top of your tank is open to atmos and this "flap" has no seal which i would find quite strange (unless you get allot of water in your fuel).

The top of the tank will be open, there is a huge flap which opens for filling much like the top of a kettle, when pumping out the oil will be completely exposed.