I'm planning to ship a car to Hawaii. The shipper requires no more than 1/4 tank of gasoline. My tank is more than half full and I need to siphon a little under 5 gallons out. I have a drill pump from Flotec but the instructions say not to use this on gasoline or highly flammable liquids. Does anyone know why you can't use the Flotec drill pump to siphon some gas back out of the vehicle? I can put the gasoline either into another vehicle or a 5 gallon hard plastic gasoline container. Is it just a precaution or is it very dangerous (pump mechanism gets too hot??) or maybe it would damage the flotec??
Thanks for answer .... Mike
Drill pump from Flotec.
Don't know what that is.
But if your talking about an electric drill, the carbon brushes inside the drill makes sparks that will ignite gas fumes.
thanks for reply. Flotec is the brand name of a drill pump. Basically the pump is powered by using a drill. There is a steel shaft off the back of the pump and by putting the shaft in the drill like a bit and then turning on the drill, the shaft rotates and creates suction which then pumps fluids through the pump.
I know what you mean when you say there are sparks in an electric drill. I've seen the sparks when using an electric drill. Sparks would be scary around a gaseous mix.
But how about a cordless drill? For example, a Makita. I've looked at mine, it seems sealed and there are no visible sparks when I turn it on.
Also since I'm using this to syphon gas, perhaps I don't need to run the gas through the pump, only have the pump create enough suction to start the syphon flow through the hose and then to quickly disconnect the hose from the pump and put the hose into a 5 gallon container.
Think that would work or is this too dangerous? What else could I use to create a syphon flow? In older days, people used to suck on the hose but nowadays there's too many scary chemicals to risk doing that.
But how about a cordless drill? For example, a Makita. I've looked at mine, it seems sealed and there are no visible sparks when I turn it on.
They do spark inside.
The switch may spark when you first pull the trigger.
No. I would not try it.
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What else could I use to create a syphon flow? In older days, people used to suck on the hose but nowadays there's too many scary chemicals to risk doing that.
I don't know if I can put this in words.
If you fill a hose with gas before you push it into the tank.
fill the hose.
hold one end closed.
quickly push the other end into the tank.
then bend the hose into your container and release the end.
Your tank will need to be higher then your container for the siphon to work.
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I picked up a hand siphon pump at an autoparts store for about $15.00
It lasted for about 6 months my brother did not clean it after he used it with gas.
Your tank will need to be higher then your container for the siphon to work.
About 1-1/2 dia. x 8 long, pump on the end to get the flow started.
looks like the some thing in the link.
The one I got stated good for pumping gas.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...8074langId=-1
I had problems getting a hose to the bottom of my gas tank, I think my tank has a baffle in side or something.
but my tank has a drain plug.
ROAD TRIP !!!
why not just burn off the 1/4 tank ?
seems simpler to me , isnt there somplace to see , somebody to vist ?
thats what I would do
The other reason not to use the drill pump is that the gasoline will probably melt some of the internal parts that would be in contact with the gasoline.
thanks guys - these were exactly some of my concerns. I was thinking the gasoline might damage the drill pump like the_tow_guy says. Mango man - I wanted to simply burn it off but this is a Civic and it gets like 30+ miles to the gallon. The car's got to be shipped this morning so there wasn't any time to drive it 120 miles to burn it off.
But thanks to you guys I won't be using the drill pump. I'm going to check at a hardware store along the way for a hand pump like the one GWIZ recommended.
At one time the shipping folks would help you siphon out the gas if you had more than 1/4 tank but they said they don't do that anymore. You'd think with the price of gas nowadays someone would like the $15 worth of gas I'm trying to dump out.
I've helped syphon a few vehicles for folks putting vehicles in storage and some models are very difficult due to the design of the tank and filler neck.
What helps is a very flexible hose to be able to drop to the bottom of the tank.
We've had to use a very flexible length of fuel line to do it on a few.
If you have difficulty it could help to warm up the OUTSIDE of a plastic hose with hot tap water to make it more flexible.
Be sure you keep the water out of the hose and wipe it off before putting in the tank.
Plus, be sure to take safety precautions when handling gas.
Given all the good advice I got, I put away the drill pump. I called Kragen to see if they had a hand pump like the one GWIZ described. The Manager said they definitely had hand pumps that could be used to siphon gas.
I emptied my 5 gallon gas container, put it in the back seat, opened the windows and drove down to the Kragen store along the way to the shipper. Kragen had a small rubber hand pump that you squeeze along with a 6 foot small diameter hose in the package. It looked flexible enough to meet what GregH said and I was willing to dip it in hot water if it wasn't. There was even instructions on use it to siphon gas. Cost was like 6 bucks!
One of the things we were happy about the Civic was it gets very good gas mileage. This time, though, I needed it to burn away 1/4 tank. But after driving over 60 miles to the docks, the gas meter only moved slightly. It was just below half. Lucky for me, however, when I got the car to the shipper, they went over the car, looked at the gages, etc but he never asked about the gas. I was more than prepared to debate this if necessary - the Civic holds only 12 gallons when its full - a little under half would be 5 to no more than 6 gallons of gas. Compare this with a big car or SUV that has a 20 gallon tank. 1/4 of 20 gallons would be 5 gallons which is like what I had except my gas meter is based upon a 12 gallon tank. Maybe that's why they never asked about the amount of gas, knowing the tank on the Civic was much smaller.
Bottom line, the car is now at the shipper ready to go.
I guess I could return the hand pump, having never used it. But I think I'll keep it - never can tell when one day it might be useful again.
And if you're a little short of gas money before payday......
Tags: drill, pumps, drill pump, more than, hand pump, electric drill, pump like, sparks when, syphon flow, your container, Your tank will need higher
