Pump for transferring diesel from cans to tractor/mower etc.

[Chris Green]

I'm getting fed up with (and too old for) trying to pour diesel from

20 litre jerry cans into my tractor (and into my Stiga mower though this is less difficult). The tractor's fuel filler is in the middle of the bonnet right up by the windscreen so I have to climb up on one of the front wheels, balance the can on the bonnet and pour. It splashes on the windscreen and often dribbles elsewhere.

Oh, it would also be handy on our little boat, the problem there is manhandling 20 litre (or larger) cans of fuel up and down into the engine bay.

So I'm looking for easier ways to do this. Basically all it needs is a pump (hand pump is fine) that will suck diesel (they're all diesel) out of a metal or plastic jerry can and pump it up a couple of metres maximum into a fuel tank.

I've found (on-line) pumps for use with barrels but I doubt these will work well with smaller containers like jerry cans. One comment even said the inlet pipe wouldn't fit into a jerry can spout.

The best I've found so far is these from Zoro/Cromwell:-

Has anyone tried anything like these? My main query is whether they would work in a mix of cans/drums of different depths. I think I'd need to extend the outlet too but that's not a big issue.

Any other ideas and recommendations would be very welcome.

[Colin Bignell]

I used to have something like this for drawing off from 210 litre barrels of trichloroethylene. The rotary action is easier if you need to move a large volume.

[Theo]

I used one of these for the princely sum of £10 (now £8.49):

a car battery to drain 400 litres of heating oil into jerrycans. I just hoseclipped a length of garden hose onto the outlet and dipped the pump into the tank. The main issue was it was hard to get the last few centimetres as the pump would always lie on its side when dangled in the tank - ended up having to angle the tank (which was ok since plastic but still awkward)

In your case I'd look for something similar to the above but with a hose-shaped inlet rather than a gauze one. eg

Just use a hose and then you can get to the bottom of any can.

Theo

[Chris Green]

This is the sort of thing I meant by "pumps for use with barrels" but, as I said, I doubt one would work well in a 20l jerry can, I agree about the rotary action being easier though. If I could find a rotary pump sized/adapted for jerry cans it would be just what I want.

[Chris Green]

But that was *into* jerry cans, I want to pump out of jerry cans. The above wouldn't go into the can at all I don't think.

I have a couple of those, not very handy really for what I want to do. I'd prefer manual anyway rather than having to get to the vehicle battery.

[Adrian]

In message [e-mail]>, Chris Green [e-mail] writes

Decades back, we used to sell these :

with a length of hose on each end for transferring diesel from barrel to tank.

Adrian

[inri]

That type of pump was used in air raid shelters for pumping out water.

[Andy Burns]

The nozzles for different brands of jerry can don't seem to be interchangeable, so beware what type(s) it fits ...

[Tim+]

Only 38mm diameter. Are you sure?

Tim

[Chris Green]

As for previous recommendation of exactly the same pump, it's made for barrels not for jerry cans, it won't fit into a jerry can spout.

[Chris Green]

Even if it did fit in wouldn't you lose it? Do you pull it out with the wire and/or hose when finished? It can't be left permanently in the can because I want to move it from can to can.

[Chris Green]

Adrian [e-mail]> wrote: [snip]

Fine if it could be fixed on something but that isn't really my situation. The jerrycan gets carried to the tractor or mower and then I want to get fuel out of the can into the tractor or mower. I suppose the above could be screwed to a board or something but it ends up being a bit clumsy I suspect.

[Chris Green]

It would work well on our metal jerry cans I think, but not on plastic ones (which is what we have on the boat). However I probably want two pumps as the tractor and mower are at home (UK) and the boat is in France, so two different pumps would be OK.

I wonder how the pipe is guaranteed to reach the bottom of the can such that the can get's emptied.

[Tim+]

No because you’ll have fixed a hose to it. Just pull the hose and pump out together. It’s the same kind of pumps most caravaners use for water.

What is the diameter of your jerrycan filler?

Tim

[Theo]

I covered that angle in my post.

It's only a 20 litre can, so the pump is going down about a foot. I could easily fish it out of a 6' high 1000 litre oil tank just by the hose, given it was clamped on (I had to use a heat gun to warm up the hose to make it fit, so it wasn't going anywhere). The pump weighs maybe 100-200g so it's not much to lift - the weight of the hose is more.

If your containers look like this:

have a 61mm neck.

Theo

[fred]

I feel your pain. We had a boat which had a 120 gallon diesel fuel tank. Marina charges for diesel were ruinous so we used to run up to the marina with a couple of 40 gallon barrels. I tried different type of pumps to transfer it. From those toy ones run off a drill to proper board mounted 12v ones.Also hand operated ones with a rotating handle. They all had their faults. In the end we switched to a manual syphon.

though the RS price for that is way over the top As long as the barrell was higher that the boat, which it obviously was, it all ran smoothly. If you can manoeuvre your container higher than the bottom of your fuel tank, and a bigger container would be an advantage. then you're good to go. Our central heating oil tank recently ran dry. PITA. Local garage sells heating oil so a couple of 5 gallon drums were used . One at a time they were balanced on top of a step ladder to give them height. With the help of no. 3 son it all went smoothly

[John J]

We use a caravan submersible water pump in conjunction with a battery to transfer kerosene from the heating oil tank into containers. A length of suitable plastic pipe and jobs a goodun.

[chop]

[Tim+]

I have one for putting Adblu in my wife’s car. Doubt it would pump uphill any significant distance.

A small 12V inline submersible pump seems the obvious solution to me. Way more oomph than those pumps you linked to.

Tim

[Chris Green]

A submersible pump really doesn't work as I need to move it from can to can.