1989 modern welding fuel tanks2/20/2024 ![]() ![]() 1) Keep the Heat factor as low as possible, 2) Remove/reduce the Fuel factor by detergent cleansing and then gas purging, 3) Finally, Remove/reduce the Oxygen factor by gas purging. ![]() Any of these will displace the Oxygen in the tank and also displace much of the fuel fumes removing them from the equation. No matter the tester reading, I then fill the tank with either Nitrogen, Argon, or CO2. Even a cheap explosive atmosphere tester will give a danger reading. But there will still be enough fuel residue in the pores of most tanks to ignite. I choose to rinse/purge a tank several times with Simple Green. Thus, the key ingredients are Fuel and Oxygen. Since diesel has a fairly high ignition temperature it is not difficult to keep temps relatively low, though any 'arc' will be enough with all the other factors. Fire and/or explosion takes three elements: Fuel, Oxygen, Heat. You can't be too safe with fuel tanks, diesel or gas. Tyler, I have to agree with SOME of the other posters. Purging with exhaust fumes is plain stupid because exhaust fumes still contain flammable gases from un-burnt fuel. Anything less than that is just plain haphazard. Yeah you can possibly drive on without wrecking, but why take the chance? Fuel tanks that need to be welded on should be thouroughly cleaned with soap and water and should be fully purged with an inert gas before welding. You can either pull over and fix the problem, or keep driving while you're fixing it. It's like driving down the interstate at 70mph and getting something in your eyes that makes you unable to see. Why take uneccessary risks derived from laziness. You don't hear people talking about how when they tried these methods, it didn't work and the tank exploded, because they're dead. These folks are the lucky ones who got by on a fluke. ![]() Many times I've heard people bragging about how they made repairs by simply filling the tank with fuel to avoid air pockets, or purging with exhaust fumes, or by rinsing with water. The tank is a potential bomb that has killed/injured many, many welders. While making weld repairs on fuel tanks is fully possible and often done, it can be extremely dangerous. Ok, this post is starting to get on my nerves, so let me add a few words of caution. ![]()
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