Fueling Cart w/Pump

I am building a fueling cart for my tractor.


I am tired of lifting the 5 gallon can up to the fender to fuel my tractor.  This is made worse by the height and awkward position I have to stand at while I wait for the can to empty painfully slow.
I decided that I would change this by building a fueling cart.  

For some time I was trying to organize the various 5-gallon fuel cans in my garage.  As is typical for me, my garage has gotten pretty messy and just putting the cans on a rolling cart not only makes for a convenient place to store the cans, but with the addition of pump, I will be able to roll up to the tractor and start fueling right from the cart without having to get the cans out and lift them up.

I bought a fairly heavy duty (for my purposes) fuel pump when my last cheapo pump quit (you get what you pay for).  I added a long, 3/4” PVP pipe to the end of the hose to act as a dipper stick.  The top of the cart has two holes at present—one for the dipper stick to reach into either a can or rest in a little plastic jar to catch any remaining fuel after fueling.  The other hole—for the moment—allows me to rest the spout and it also can drip into a catch-jar.

The one part I don’t have figured out yet is power.  Looks like I might need to build an additional battery box, but this will be an extremely simplified design.  I plan on using an ammo can with two 35 AH SLA batteries mounted in parallel for a total of 70 amps and 12 volts.  The pump seems to want 40 amps at 12 volts.  My little 15AH SLA battery box was not up to the test today (it was a little discharged).  I think that a 70 AH system with a breaker set at 40 Amps should do the job nicely.  This box will basically just be the ammo can, two batteries, a heavy duty switch w/built-in volt meter, a 40 amp breaker, an Anderson Power Pole outlet and some wiring & connectors.  Nothing really fancy on this build.

I am going with Lead-Acid because I can get a pretty heavy-duty power output for the size of battery I am using.  Also, it might have to operate in cold where LiFePO4 batteries don’t do well and I really only need this to work for a short time and then I can bring it back inside.  Further, I can simply use voltage as an indicator of battery state-of-charge as opposed to the complexity of Lithium.

With a little luck, I will have this up and running soon.


Eric

We have had great luck at work running fuel pumps from 18v tool batteries. Buy a $10-20 battery adapter off Amazon for your favorite flavor of battery, a couple crimps, and a fuse holder if the adapter didn’t have one. The pumps are made to run at alternator charging voltage so the 16-18 they see from the tool battery isn’t a problem. These are 50-100 gallon transfer tanks and usually pumping 30 gallons max at a time.  It doesn’t matter which truck or trailer or corner of the onsite it’s sitting, just grab a battery when you need it.

Would bigger wheels help over rougher ground than the concrete slab included in the image?

R Scott,

Nice idea about tool batteries.  On that note, I have been buying 3rd party batteries for my tools—6&7 AH, 18 volt batteries, and they are are less than a quarter than the price of the brand name.  I could see myself wiring one to the pump for the short time it takes to fuel the tractor.


John C Daly,

Larger wheels might help over rough ground, but I generally drive up to the driveway pad to fuel the tractor anyways.  Maybe an upgrade for a future project!!!



Eric

I'm using a hand siphon pump (see example pic attached) out of 5 gallon containers since pour spouts are annoying at best, even before all the vapor/spill modifications added in recent years. Pumping the bulb starts the siphon, as long as the container is high enough. One of the main downsides to using this is lifting & supporting the full container, but at least it doesn't need to be held in an exact position for a pour spout.

I like your set up.

We went the cheap route like Andrew posted.  Except I help and we do not lift the gas container as it sits on the ground.  I guess we have a long hose?

Andrew, Anne, Everyone,

I used to use a 12v DC version of the siphon pump like Andrew presented in the picture.  I guess that it technically was not siphoning, but the overall construction looked very similar.  I did use that pump until about 3 months ago when it just quit.  I think I got about 2 years use out of it and I guess that I got what I paid for.

It would be difficult for me to raise the can high up enough to do a proper siphon.  The fuel cap is about 4-5 feet off the ground.  So instead of buying another cheap pump, I decided to get a pump that is made of more solid construction.  Truth be told, it is overbuilt for my needs, but that's fine by me--preferable actually.  Now my challenge is to work the pump into a carts that also holds the fuel tank plus a little jar to contain any fuel drips that might be left over.

The final product is not done, and I am not exactly certain what it will even look like, but this is a starting point.  I think I will find a way to get a hook or some type of way to organize both the spout and the fuel hose.




Eric

I like the fuel cart. I use a hand truck setup to move jump start batteries and tanks for the propane milkhouse heater when getting things running at low negative digits.
However, I belong to the stone axe simple tribe.
Have a really old version of one of these, along with the 12V hi volume DC version attached to the 120gal TidyTank I use to store diesel.

https://north40.com/fill-rite-cast-aluminum-heavy-duty-rotary-drum-pump

Not a siphon, but true pump. Moves tractor/hydraulic/engine oil, which your (especially if non-self priming) little DC pump may not. Cost might cause some alarm, they never used to be this expensive, but there's no deciphering which battery is 'best', no batteries to charge or replace, works in all weather, moves a startling amount of fuel in a very short time, no (infinitesimal) risk of explosion.
OP has already set out on the opposite course, but for any one else looking...... Eric's already replaced one pump.
You can't wear this one or it's non-existent batteries out.

As an aside, Bluff Valley Battery sold me the guts to refurbish my old Milwaukee 18V NiMH batteries.
Saved tossing a tool set I really liked when the proprietary batteries were NLA.

Tommy,

I did consider a pump like that.  But I don't have a 120 gallon storage tank, nor the ability to get one easily.  I don't even own a pickup--wish I did--it would make it easier to get fuel from the station (or wherever).  

Actually, the pump is rated for Diesel/Bio-Diesel/Kerosine/Vegetable Oil/Light Oil/Lubricants.  That list is plenty long for me--I just need the diesel.  In terms of construction, the pump/handle/spout is WAY overkill for my needs, but that's fine by me--if it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing!!

I know that this may look overcomplicated, but really, all of this simplifies a problem that I had earlier by consolidating both storage capacity (fuel cans consolidated in one place) and easing refueling--I just roll the cart out and fill-er up!

The old hand-crank is an awesome way to go if you know you won't have electrical power on site and just want a rock-solid, simple solution.  No doubt that your hand-crank pump is WAY more durable than my first, cheapo pump.  I think it was $50 on Amazon so I thought I would try it and see what happens.  It worked for about 2 years until it just quit.  But then looking at it, it was obvious that this was never going to last--everything about it said "cheap."  This new pump is far different.  The pump and handle are made of metal, not cheap, thin plastic.  The hose feels thick and durable.  The whole package was surprisingly heavy.  At this point I am optimistic that once I get some power connected, I will have a good, reliable and simplified way to get fuel in my tractor.  But you are correct, that it does require electrons and that is one more step in the chain of steps that have to come together to have a functional product.


And BTW, I TOTALLY agree with your idea/ethic to refurbish your old NiMH batteries.  While they may be yesterday's batteries, they were still very good batteries and gave good service.  ALL of my old Lead-Acid tool batteries have by now been repacked with NiMH cells in place and I still get useful service out of them.

Thanks your your comments on my project--I will add in more pics as I get more progress.


Eric

OK, some progress…


I picked up a little a/c to d/c power supply that can put out 12v at 45 amps.  I hooked it up and the pump works—yeah!!

Now on to figuring out what type of battery system as my battery box won’t work even after being fully charged.


Eric

Ok, here is my temporary solution for troubleshooting:


This is a little 120v ac to 12v dc converter.  It will put out 50 amps for a total of 600 watts which is plenty for my purposes right now.

Yesterday I adapted a pair of mini-jumper cables or large alligator clips to Anderson Power Pole for easy connection and the ability to swap out different connections on either end—alligator clip, XT-60, car 12v, etc.  Now I can plug into a standard wall outlet and get the 12v dc that I need.  So I hooked it up, turned on the little power supply and turned on the fuel pump for just a second to see if it would indeed turn on and operate.  I got a nice, solid whirring sound!  I flicked the power right off so as to not run the pump without fuel.  

Now I know that the basic unit functions.  Presumably I can pump fuel into the tractor as long as I am within distance of a wall outlet.  The goal is to have battery power available—or I would have made this a dedicated AC pump.  I did hook up my first SLA battery box that is fused to 30 amps (not 40 like the pump).  When I turned it on, the little solar charge controller immediately tripped.  Maybe a larger charge controller would work or maybe the 15 AH 12v SLA battery is just too puny for the task, though I would have thought that this was a good use.

If I do need to build a new battery box, it will be pretty bare bones.  I would run with lead-acid chemistry (mature tech, needs fairly high current but only for about 5 minutes, monitors with simple volt meter, and is pretty impervious to cold).  I might need something like 50AH to 70AH for this to work, but if someone has a better idea, I am an open book!  I also will only be having one type of output—Anderson PP.  Maybe I will include a couple of lights?  This will be a pretty special-purpose battery box.

One thought that does cross my mind is that maybe I should steer clear of SLA and instead go with a little garden tractor battery.  I need a little high amperage but only a short runtime.  Thoughts on that option?  Or maybe AGM—Advanced Glass Matt, another lead acid design.

At any rate, I have some progress and if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear the feedback.



Eric

I used the fuel pump for the first time today to fuel up my tractor which has a 9 gallon tank and it was almost empty.

I stuck the dipper in the first tank, turned on the pump squeezed the handle and wow. WOW!  It pumped out the whole can in seconds.

The tank was still only 1/2 full so I hooked up the second can and before I knew it, the tank was topped off and the fuel spout shut off to prevent overfill.  And that was that.

It was powered by a 12v 50 Amp DC power supply that is then plugged into the wall.  

I still have some optimization and a few improvements, but the pump part WORKS!!

Eric