fuel tank cleaning

[shyster]

Hi everyone,
I recently fitted a 'new' fuel tank that had been stood for sometime. I didn't think about cleaning it first and I just went ahead and fitted it and filled up. Over a period of time lots of rust has been coming through in the fuel and now I'm on about my 3rd fuel filter.
I am now going to drain the fuel remove the tank and 'clean' it.
Any ideas about the best way to do this? I was just going to rinse it with a hose.
I definitely don't want to put any tank sealers or similar in. (done this before with disasterous results)

thanks
Shyster

[Firept]

Reminds me of a story an old work colleague used to tell .
When working on fuel bowser's during the war they needed to be de-scaled inside occasionally and this was done using a copper chisel and a lead hammer but it meant wearing a breathing mask that was fed by clean air from out side of the tank and remember that the inspection hatches were quiet small, well the inevitable would happen in that someone would put their finger over the pipe and see how long it took you to get out... or the worse one was usually after a night on the beer and will let you imagine the result.
Any way to your problem no doubt some one will have other ideas but I have used paint brush cleaner 1lt and the small baked clay balls that are used in garden centres / planters for indoor plants they are about 1/4" 6mm dia.
Pour in the cleaner and then a good couple of hand fulls of the clay balls seal off the outlets on the tank and give it a good shake, rattle and roll.
then give it a good wash out. I would have then said use some sealer but as you have had a bad experience of it just have a look inside and see what it looks like.

best of luck
Paul.

[Dave Worrall]

When I did mine I flushed it out with a high pressure hose several times then left to dry before checking it again to make sure all the crap was out.

Dave.

[DJT]

It's about now that Steve (Stagdad) usually comes in with a picture of his tank strapped to a cement mixer

[flying farmer]

Try a few small stones with the water and give it a good swill/shake. That will dislodge most of the loose rust

Neil

[Seaking]

Shy

I used a chemical cleaner from rustbusters with good results.

Glenn

[Jeff]

It's about now that Steve (Stagdad) usually comes in with a picture of his tank strapped to a cement mixer

I could be wrong but I thought it was Dasadrew

[Mister G]

Shyster

I have more of a problem with mine as it has a small leak so I am using a sealer although I understand your reasons for not wanting to do this.

The point which might help you is that as part of the process I used Frosts Marine Clean with a few nuts (counted 'em in and counted 'em out again) and this really worked to get the interior clean.

As previously commented, with the sender unit out of the way, it's possible to see a long way across the floor of the tank and get a feel if it's really clean.

Then it was a few mins negotiating with SWMBO to get it into the airing cupboard to dry out......

[shyster]

Thanks for all the replies guys. In the end I just kept flushing, then draining into a tub to check for debris.
One thing I did try was dangling a magnet in the tank and trying to swirl the water around it, this picked up quite a few bits of rust.
So I decided to stick a magnet in the bottom of my tank and this will hopefully pick up any further bits as they corrode into my tank.
I'll keep you informed if this works or not.

Mister G the problem I had when I tried a sealer was that the petrol lifted it all away from the tank, and it ended up continuously blocking the fuel lines filters etc. Ended up scrapping the tank as there was no way to get it all out.
Cheers
Shy