As of this writing I've managed to get the fuel shed in no lesser terms, open for business. I managed to install the filler tubes for the four drums. This consists of 2" NPT PVC pipe fittings and short lengths of pipe. Since the drums are installed in the shed in a way where its pretty tight in front of the large port at the "front" of the drums and the inner wall of the shed, I had to make up a simple combination of pipe fittings that would allow for the hook up to the filler port on the drums to be accessible from the inside of the shed.
This involved using a 90 degree street elbow at the filler port on the drum itself. From there an 18" length of 2" PVC pipe was inserted into the elbow. Now for the top tier drums I was able to get away with just installing a female smooth to male threaded adapter to the end of the PVC pipe with which I was able to put a cap on. The positions of the drums relative to the wood framing that holds the top shelf allowed for the elbow to be angled at enough of an angle (approximately 15 degrees) so as to allow for fuel to flow smoothly into the drum without overflowing out of the end of the pipe. On the bottom tier drums I had to do things differently. Since the position of the framing wouldn't allow for the pipe to just come out at enough of an angle to allow for filling, I had to add a 90 degree elbow at the end of the 18" PVC pipe then add a 45 degree smooth street elbow to the other side of the 90 degree, then add a 3" length of pipe and finally the female smooth to male threaded adapter in order to put the cap on. This allows for enough height in the whole package so fuel can flow into the drum without overflowing. I will still have to pour slowly for all intents and based on the results of filling it up will probably find myself making some tweaks to the setup to facilitate clean quick filling of fuels into the bottom drums. With the drums ready for filling in the new fuel shed, I was able to empty the remaining non ethanol gas from the drum in the old fuel shed and deposit it into the top drum on the left set of drums (facing the doorway from the outside). This obviously took a minute as I had to pump the fuel into a 5 gallon can then pour it into the filler tube. The newer gas cans have that sealed design that doesn't allow for air flow as fast as the old school gas cans that have the vent hole at the top of the can opposite the spout. With the gas transferred over I was able to move the drum out and stage it with the other drums near the new fuel shed. The next thing was to transfer the mixture of old veggie oil and diesel fuel and kerosene that I had in three other drums. There were two smaller 30 gallon drums, one that was half full, another about an eighth full, and a 2/3 full standard 55 gallon drum, which was still sitting in the old fuel shed. I emptied the two smaller drums which were already staged near the new fuel shed. I put all that fuel into the top drum opposite the gasoline drum. I ended up having to poke a vent hole into the old diesel can that I was using to transfer the thicker fuel since without it, it took a long time to get the can to belch enough to get more air inside to allow for the fuel to flow. This was especially apparent when I transferred the mostly waste veggie oil from the 55 gallon drum. Once the fuel mix was transferred I moved the last drum from the old fuel shed to the new site. Afterwards I moved the other gas cans and other shit that was on the ground in front of the old fuel shed in order to prep the area for clearing and for demolition of the old fuel shed. Fast forwarding to today, I started cutting the brush from around the old structure as well as the high grass around the front of the structure so as to make it more comfortable and less likely to get bugs on me. A lot of the larger weed trees and other shit were cut and dragged to a future burn pile site next to our burn can while a lot of the smaller refuse was thrown into another burn drum I had going right by the old fuel shed. I also started knocking down the two side walls, getting one wall almost all the way out, enough so that the front of the roof is now on the ground. I slowly pulled pieces of the old OSB from the wall as well as broke sections of the disposable pallets that i used to build the structure and tossed it all into the burn can for disposal. Tomorrow will be a continuation of this work, which will also involve trying to recycle the 2x4's and corrugated sheet metal from the roof for use in future projects. When done the whole area from the eastern edge of the garden fence (which is on one side of the old fuel shed) over to the other side where the old dog yard fence still stands, will be cleared of everything except dirt.
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