Outside above ground diesel tank question

[dippy]

I have a question pertaining to an outside above ground 1000 gal diesel double insulated tank installation. The ultra-low diesel fuel will be the feed for a steam boiler located inside of a building. I am planning to run approximately 75 ft. of conduit from the control panel located inside of the building to the tank. I will be pulling low voltage control wiring that will connect to a tank level probe and an exterior jacket liquid alarm. Does the conduit have to be rigid and are there any other precautions I should be aware of?

 

[ActionDave]

How is the conduit run? Are you thinking you need ridgid because it is for a diesel tank or is protection from damage the issue?

 

[GoldDigger]

Is the tank thermally or electrically insulated in a way that might affect the wiring? Or is it just double walled to prevent spills?

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[petersonra]

I have a question pertaining to an outside above ground 1000 gal diesel double insulated tank installation. The ultra-low diesel fuel will be the feed for a steam boiler located inside of a building. I am planning to run approximately 75 ft. of conduit from the control panel located inside of the building to the tank. I will be pulling low voltage control wiring that will connect to a tank level probe and an exterior jacket liquid alarm. Does the conduit have to be rigid and are there any other precautions I should be aware of?

There is no way for us to answer either parts of the question you asked.

Rigid can be used in a lot of situations but sometimes customer specs forbid it in some cases, so since we do not know what specs apply there is no way for us to answer the first part of your question.

There are all kinds of precautions that might be in order, but you have not provided enough information about this particular installation for us to make intelligent comments about it.

I am not real sure what it is you are actually asking though.

 

[kwired]

I have a question pertaining to an outside above ground 1000 gal diesel double insulated tank installation. The ultra-low diesel fuel will be the feed for a steam boiler located inside of a building. I am planning to run approximately 75 ft. of conduit from the control panel located inside of the building to the tank. I will be pulling low voltage control wiring that will connect to a tank level probe and an exterior jacket liquid alarm. Does the conduit have to be rigid and are there any other precautions I should be aware of?

If you are asking if this needs to be hazardous location wiring, the flash point of diesel is high enough it usually is not considered to cause a hazardous location to exist. It doesn't give off flammable vapors like gasoline does either.

 

[dippy]

RE:Outside above ground diesel tank question

The double wall is to prevent/detect a defective wall,so it acts as a berm.My originally thought that this area is not classified and was going to use emt only to add a layer of protection from landscaping activities and wildlife.
Thanks,
Dippy

 

[qcroanoke]

If you are asking if this needs to be hazardous location wiring, the flash point of diesel is high enough it usually is not considered to cause a hazardous location to exist. It doesn't give off flammable vapors like gasoline does either.

I agree.
you might try looking at NFPA 30 Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code.

 

[petersonra]

The double wall is to prevent/detect a defective wall,so it acts as a berm.My originally thought that this area is not classified and was going to use emt only to add a layer of protection from landscaping activities and wildlife.
Thanks,
Dippy

I think the conduit or EMT or whatever you do should be run in such a way that wildlife or landscaping activities would have a very hard time damaging the wiring. Perhaps underground or high enough overhead that it is not an issue.

 

[kwired]

I think the conduit or EMT or whatever you do should be run in such a way that wildlife or landscaping activities would have a very hard time damaging the wiring. Perhaps underground or high enough overhead that it is not an issue.

Which may lead to whether or not EMT is suitable for the application from a physical strength or corrosion resistance approach and not so much the hazardous location approach.

 

[Fulthrotl]

The double wall is to prevent/detect a defective wall,so it acts as a berm.My originally thought that this area is not classified and was going to use emt only to add a layer of protection from landscaping activities and wildlife.
Thanks,
Dippy

emt in direct contact with soil? that won't do well, in my experience.
if it was me, i'd use schedule 40 PVC. won't rot, won't rust.

the fuel guage and leak detection are both pretty important, especially
the leak detector. those usually are interlocked with the feed pump so
if you have a leak, you can't pump until you fix it.

so it's worth protecting them, IMHO. what's 100' of pvc cost? $12?

live a little.... spend the big bucks.... ;-)

 

[kwired]

. what's 100' of pvc cost? $12?

live a little.... spend the big bucks.... ;-)

Actually when comparing the difference in cost to EMT it will cost about the same or even less.

 

[petersonra]

It occurs to me that it will likely be difficult to run such a line UG since it would have to penetrate the containment and that has some issues associated with it that are maybe better left alone.

 

[kwired]

It occurs to me that it will likely be difficult to run such a line UG since it would have to penetrate the containment and that has some issues associated with it that are maybe better left alone.

Any situation with a tank and containment means the underground needs to emerge from grade outside the containment. Happens all the time.

OP did mention it being a double walled tank for containment purposes so the actual containment is nearly same dimension as the tank and probably isn't much of an obstacle anyway.

 

[petersonra]

Any situation with a tank and containment means the underground needs to emerge from grade outside the containment. Happens all the time.

OP did mention it being a double walled tank for containment purposes so the actual containment is nearly same dimension as the tank and probably isn't much of an obstacle anyway.

I thought he said something about a berm.

 

[kwired]

I thought he said something about a berm.

He did mention the word berm in post #6 but used that as a comparison for the double walled tank.



Post #6:

The double wall is to prevent/detect a defective wall,so it acts as a berm.My originally thought that this area is not classified and was going to use emt only to add a layer of protection from landscaping activities and wildlife.
Thanks,
Dippy