gas in water tank

fpawn1 · Post by **fpawn1** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:57 am

Made a real stupid mistake on Sat-----started filling the water tank with gas---added about 11 gallons to tank which had about 20-25 gallons of water already in tank---pumped it out and try to flush it once---any ideas on what should be done--help

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:21 am

Ouch! What did you do with the gas/water that you pumped out of your water tank? On second thought, maybe I don't want to know. Sounds like you'll need to flush your tank and system at least more than once to get residual gas out of it. There are tank flush chemicals you can buy to restore the tank. Check West Marine or Google "Water Tank Cleaners". I'm thinking you'll need something like that or a detergent solution that can be circulated through your water system to get rid of any gas traces. Since the gas would have been floating on the top of the water tank the final 1/3 of fluid that you pumped out of your tank was pretty much all gas. Not sure what that did to your piping (PVC?) and your pump. Worst case is that you have to replace the tank and the plumbing. Hope not.

rick1954 · Post by **rick1954** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:40 am

Youch!!!
Ok you are going to need to fill the tank backup with water and a degreaser â€œpick oneâ€, this will remove the oils from the gas that has attached itself to everything. Dawn is a good one we use it every day when we clean our dishes. Fill that tank till it overflows with the degreaser and water and let it sit, drain it and do it again, drain it by pumping the water thru the system. Then do the whole thing over with fresh water until you do not smell the gas. It will clean out, it will take some work and time but that is better than replacing the tank. Do not wait do it now. oh remember S&^t happens and I am sure that you have not been the first to do this, and will not be the last

Lookout · Post by **Lookout** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:03 am

well, gas floats on water, so if you were careful, you could have let it set for awile and pulled most of the gas off the top. when you get all the gas/water mixture out of the tank, use dawn detergent with water (the dawn will bond to the gas. and pump that out, then rinse a few times. While this ia a pain, its not as bad as filling your gas tank with water......

fpawn1 · Post by **fpawn1** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:09 pm

Thanks for the replies---best advise I got was from my wife---Why did I put gas in the water tank when the flange says water! How do you ans??

james264 · Post by **james264** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:09 pm

load it up with bleach and water and keep flushing

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:11 am

I agree with Lookout, Dawn dish soap works wonders. Don't forget to go for a wild boat ride after putting in the Dawn to stir up the tank. Lots of people have had this same problem. It's the learning curve.

Lookout · Post by **Lookout** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:46 am

james264 wrote:load it up with bleach and water and keep flushing

Yea, the problem with that idea is Peroxides might be formed in the gasoline. Peroxides have
the potential to spontaneously oxidize, or combust, that is to say
that they catch fire. There is a possibility, then, that by putting
bleach into a tank containing gasoline you might cause it to explode. The chances of
actually getting an explosion in a sealed gas tank is probably small,
but not impossible. I wouldnt put bleach in gasoline, but thats just me (and any chemical engineers that may own boats)