Owning your own fuel tank?

D

DMD3.

Pre-takeoff checklist
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DMD3.
Asking two questions at once in this thread.

Suppose the only airport you could find that has a hangar available was one that does not sell fuel, or at least avgas, and you wanted to keep your own fuel tank, would there be any hoops to jump through with airport management? Also, could you get a discount for purchasing fuel in bulk?
 
DMD3. said:
Asking two questions at once in this thread.

Suppose the only airport you could find that has a hangar available was one that does not sell fuel, or at least avgas, and you wanted to keep your own fuel tank, would there be any hoops to jump through with airport management? Also, could you get a discount for purchasing fuel in bulk?
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1. You'd have to talk with airport management
2. Not likely any discounts at sub-thousand gallon volumes.

There's also a lot of EPA and insurance headaches.
 
I have a 95 gallon tank setup in my F150 for 100ll. My airport has expensive fuel. The neighboring airport has cheap fuel. I save $200 each time I fill it up. Paid for itself on the fourth fill up. To be legal, get a tank placarded for flammable not combustible fuel. Same tank just a different permit. Most of your local suppliers only carry combustible placarded tanks. Most don’t know that there is a difference.
 
The smallest "bulk" purchase for avgas I have ever heard of was for 1,000 gallons. Routinely bulk avgas purchases are for 4,400 gallon ("half load") and 8,800 gallon ("full load") quantities.

The benefit of the "bulk purchase" drops fast below that 8,800 gallon amount, due to transport costs.

$0.02 (plus $0.00518 cartage)
 
Check:
Hangar Lease
Local or state Fire Marshall
Insurance Company
Local or State EPA tank regulations, particularly any secondary containment and testing regs for small tanks.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I have a 95 gallon tank setup in my F150 for 100ll. My airport has expensive fuel. The neighboring airport has cheap fuel. I save $200 each time I fill it up. Paid for itself on the fourth fill up. To be legal, get a tank placarded for flammable not combustible fuel. Same tank just a different permit. Most of your local suppliers only carry combustible placarded tanks. Most don’t know that there is a difference.
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Doesn't that sort of diminish the usefulness of that F150? Surely, the fuel savings don't offset the cost of the truck.
 
JOhnH said:
Doesn't that sort of diminish the usefulness of that F150? Surely, the fuel savings don't offset the cost of the truck.
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I already had a truck. Almost everyone I know has a truck. If you don’t have a truck then no, it doesn’t work.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I already had a truck. Almost everyone I know has a truck. If you don’t have a truck then no, it doesn’t work.
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I figured that, and if it works for you, then you have a good system. I was just thinking that I have a truck too, but I use it for hauling stuff all the time. If I mounted a 95 gallon fuel tank in it it would lose much of it's usefulness. Perhaps your other uses are compatible with hauling that fuel tank around. Do you by chance have a convenient way of offloading that tank when you need the truck for something else?
 
JOhnH said:
I figured that, and if it works for you, then you have a good system. I was just thinking that I have a truck too, but I use it for hauling stuff all the time. If I mounted a 95 gallon fuel tank in it it would lose much of it's usefulness. Perhaps your other uses are compatible with hauling that fuel tank around. Do you by chance have a convenient way of offloading that tank when you need the truck for something else?
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Mine is permanently mounted. I have not lost any significant utility. Lumber, plywood, firewood, appliances, etc. No problem. I can take a picture if you like.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Mine is permanently mounted. I have not lost any significant utility. Lumber, plywood, firewood, appliances, etc. No problem. I can take a picture if you like.
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No picture needed. Maybe you don't have one of those wimpy 6 ft beds that I have. I have grown up thinking an 8 ft bed was required to call it a truck. But my 6 ft bed truck would be rather useless for regular use if I mounted a fuel tank that weighed almost the entire maximum payload.
 
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