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Portable Self-Contained Diesel Fuel Transfer Systems

2664 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  terdog98
While the issue of diesel fuel storage has appeared before, I am interested in hearing from those who may have explored purchasing the following brands of portable self-contained diesel fuel transfer products:
  • Emiliana Serbatoi
  • Am-Tank (the same but USA version of the Italian brand Emiliana Serbatoi?)
  • John Dow
  • Enduraplas
For those who have acquired any of the above referenced brands, what influenced your purchase and are you satisfied with your choice in terms of features, quality, dependability, ease of operation and the like? While these all appear to be similarly designed products, unless I can be persuaded otherwise. I am inclined to shy away from the Enduraplas as it does not have integrated fork pockets (very important design feature for me). I appreciate any input that could inform my future purchase. Thank you in advance for your consideration of my request.
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I purchased Kingspan 53 Gallon Storage Tank last year. I really wanted to purchase an AM Tank as I try my hardest to support items made in USA but I didn't need or desire the 116 Gallon unit and their 58 Gallon unit has the hoses hanging out the front. With the Kingspan 53 everything including the whole hose is stored under the latchable lid. No complaints so far it has performed perfectly. I modified a Ryobi Battery charger by gutting the PCB, utilizing the receptible and battery terminals and installing a DC/DC converter and SAE receptacle so I can use by Ryobi batteries to power the pump.

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I went with something a bit smaller & simpler: a Todd Diesel Caddy. It has a rated capacity of 28 gallons, but they typically hold near 30. Loading it is usually easy enough, as it is empty. However, I have loaded near fully caddies in the back of a stepvan, so somewhat high, by "tailgating" it up and in. I unload them the same way. I'm 63. Ramps would help, but I still don't have an issue with unloading a full caddy by tailgating.

I went with this when we had a second home which was primarily for a job my bride had taken. We had a 1025R at each home. I still had my business in the town in which our primary home was located. As such, she often had to mow grass and blow snow on her own. She never paid attention to the fuel gauge and would routinely run the tractor out of fuel while mowing. Having her attempt to refuel with a 5 gallon container was a formula for disaster. The weight was difficult for her to handle, which meant she spilled a lot or would drop the container. Of course, this would be in the lawn where she ran out of fuel. Nothing was going to grow where she spilled for years, unless all that contaminated soil was excavated and replaced. So the caddy was to prevent this. The diesel caddy with its pneumatic tires was easy enough for her to roll through the lawn, even when full. She could re-fuel the tractor without spilling. No batteries to deal with. Simple.

I have three of the same thing for gasoline without the pump. We utilize them for boats and the gravity feed works fine for jet skis. We have a fourth with a hand crank pump that is top mounted on the caddy. It was an earlier model that we purchased 20 years ago. It was a China junk pump and the seal for the crank shaft soon leaked profusely. The local parts store was able to cross it and I found I was not the only one who had this issue. We've had zero issues with the mid mount pump on the diesel caddy. The gas caddies we've had for nearly 20 years. It is to the point now where the rubber hoses are becoming stiff from age on some of them, requiring replacement. The diesel caddy we've had for about 5 years.

I purchased the diesel caddy from Zoro when they had one of their 25 or 30% promo codes and they also had free shipping. So it was less than $500 delivered, including tax..
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I went with something a bit smaller & simpler: a Todd Diesel Caddy. It has a rated capacity of 28 gallons, but they typically hold near 30. Loading it is usually easy enough, as it is empty. However, I have loaded near fully caddies in the back of a stepvan, so somewhat high, by "tailgating" it up and in. I unload them the same way. I'm 63. Ramps would help, but I still don't have an issue with unloading a full caddy by tailgating.

I went with this when we had a second home which was primarily for a job my bride had taken. We had a 1025R at each home. I still had my business in the town in which our primary home was located. As such, she often had to mow grass and blow snow on her own. She never paid attention to the fuel gauge and would routinely run the tractor out of fuel while mowing. Having her attempt to refuel with a 5 gallon container was a formula for disaster. The weight was difficult for her to handle, which meant she spilled a lot or would drop the container. Of course, this would be in the lawn where she ran out of fuel. Nothing was going to grow where she spilled for years, unless all that contaminated soil was excavated and replaced. So the caddy was to prevent this. The diesel caddy with its pneumatic tires was easy enough for her to roll through the lawn, even when full. She could re-fuel the tractor without spilling. No batteries to deal with. Simple.

I have three of the same thing for gasoline without the pump. We utilize them for boats and the gravity feed works fine for jet skis. We have a fourth with a hand crank pump that is top mounted on the caddy. It was an earlier model that we purchased 20 years ago. It was a China junk pump and the seal for the crank shaft soon leaked profusely. The local parts store was able to cross it and I found I was not the only one who had this issue. We've had zero issues with the mid mount pump on the diesel caddy. The gas caddies we've had for nearly 20 years. It is to the point now where the rubber hoses are becoming stiff from age on some of them, requiring replacement. The diesel caddy we've had for about 5 years.

I purchased the diesel caddy from Zoro when they had one of their 25 or 30% promo codes and they also had free shipping. So it was less than $500 delivered, including tax..
I have a Todds Caddy for Gasoline that I've had for 10 years or so, they work good as well if you won't mind hand pumping your Gas or Diesel. I don't mind it for smaller appliances that take 2-3 gallons that I only fill periodically but is it quite cumbersome when you start filling more than 5 gallons especially if you will be potentially using it on a daily basis, it is actually much quicker to just use regular gravity feed pourable fuel containers that then caddy pump, so this unit is more about storage convivence than and like you said reducing weight needed to hold. If you want something quicker I recommend getting one of the battery powered units. I can put 10 Gallons of diesel in my Tractor in under a minute with zero effort with my Kingspan unit.

I agree dealing with carrying a regular 12V battery around with the alligator clips keeping it charged somewhere would be a pain which is why I went the route my Ryobi Batteries. If your not handy with some modification there are some outfits that will sell kits for hardwiring these units. PREMIUM BATTERY KIT – American FuelTank

Todd's Caddy are pretty easy to move with the wheel but I find them cumbersome to transport long distances in the bed of truck, where as most of the tank units come with some sort of inbuilt system to allow proper securing.
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I have a Delta 50 gallon cube. that I mounted on a pallet then made a rolling rack for it to set on. With a GPI easy eight on top of it with a 12 volt plug on it. just back up to garage door put the nozzle in the tank and plug in the 12volt plug its filled in 3 minutes total. I up load a picture this evening.

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I have the AmTank and really like it. I set it up to run off a 3ah 12v DeWalt battery.
I have the AmTank and really like it. I set it up to run off a 3ah 12v DeWalt battery.
While the issue of diesel fuel storage has appeared before, I am interested in hearing from those who may have explored purchasing the following brands of portable self-contained diesel fuel transfer products:
  • Emiliana Serbatoi
  • Am-Tank (the same but USA version of the Italian brand Emiliana Serbatoi?)
  • John Dow
  • Enduraplas
For those who have acquired any of the above referenced brands, what influenced your purchase and are you satisfied with your choice in terms of features, quality, dependability, ease of operation and the like? While these all appear to be similarly designed products, unless I can be persuaded otherwise. I am inclined to shy away from the Enduraplas as it does not have integrated fork pockets (very important design feature for me). I appreciate any input that could inform my future purchase. Thank you in advance for your consideration of my request.
I have the AmTank and really like it. I set it up to run off a 3ah 12v DeWalt battery.
After considering several products, I settled on ordering a Kingspan, 53-gallon, low profile transfer tank system as the best fit for my unique set of needs.

The primary factors influencing my purchase were:

  • Integrated fork pockets
  • A clean design that houses all components, including the hoses, to fit completely inside a covered storage compartment.
  • Compatibility with a pickup bed equipped with a cap.
As I wanted to avoid attaching the unit to a pallet (introducing an unnecessary step while increasing the overall height and weight of the package) the integrated fork pockets were a must.

As mentioned by “Terdog98”, I too preferred not having any hoses hanging outside the container itself. Unlike several similar brands, the Kingspan design keeps the entire length of the hose inside the storage compartment. This made sense to me.

I opted for the low-profile model as it will be easier to fill, load and unload from my pickup that now has a new, mostly permanently attached cap making the height of the tank a relevant factor.

After receiving delivery, I will follow the helpful suggestions of “Terdog98” and “MN3046” and have the unit converted to operate on rechargeable Ryobi or DeWalt batteries making the unit that much more convenient and self-contained.
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If you are going to reuse some of your existing 24v, 20v or 18v battery system because you don't have or want a dedicated 12V battery / charger for this pump below is what I used for my Ryobi 18V System. Some Dremel work and little soldering then you can fit the DC/DC converter and SAE connector inside the charger assembly.



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