tanks
 

Would anyone be able to give me advice about pulling tanks? I know that I need my tanker/hazmat endorsements. I am interested in hauling fuel, gas, propane, etc. Local driving what i am looking for. Any companies in sw ohio would be what i am looking for.

Your in luck!!! Belpre just left a job hauling fuel in Indianapolis! He fer sure can fill you in on all the in's & out's of hauling gasoline and diesel! Propane...not so much...but there must be one or two or them guys hanging around.

The problem Stan is that Belpre now gets his mail by dogsled. By the time he gets the question delivered to Chateau Petro this kid will already be on the job for a year. Bel, It is supposed to be -27 tonight in your neck of the woods, Throw another dog on the bed. Eh!

That's ok about Bel's mail delivery Jumbo! Timber Wolf is just coming off his rookie season, and can give young Auggie an insightful description of what to expect and how most things are done.......at least as far as gasoline and diesel go!


Propane is still at a loggerhead though, cuz there just aren't any active haulers here..............I think.

Propane? Never pulled it, but I imagine that it would have some surge...afterall its "Liquified Petroleum Gas", aka LPG....though I haven't got a clue as to how much surge might be involved. No smoking though...:eek1:

Pulling a single barrel un-baffled tank is a realm unto itself. Forget being in a big hurry, especially on curves, ramps, corners, etc.... unless you are carrying something really lite like acetone...you will have surge, and in turns and such the beast can climb the wall and lead to a rollover if you are moving too fast. Slow and easy is the rule for the acceleration and deceleration routines and turns.

100% legal logbook is the rule....hazmat haulers are looked at and audited more....so the BS is a thing of the past.

If you are a smoker...quit. Getting caught smoking with a flammable load is expensive.:eek1:

One major difference between tanks and boxes and reefers and others..... We don't deal with the dickheads in food warehouses and our shippers and customers are extremely safety conscious and normally friendly and professional...as long as you stick to safety protocols.

I hauled sulfur dioxide which basically has the same characteristics as propane and freon, there was very little surge. nothing to worry about. NOW I haul animal fat in a smooth bore tanker. TALK ABOUT SURGE!!!!

i haul doubles...but some animal fat behind the wheel. and start chewing instead of smoking.

huh???

Hey Auggie,
Pulling fuel is an awesome job, it is great for the testoserone flow and if you are not careful could add to an unwanted flow of crap as well.
I have just passed my rookie year as orangetx stated, all in all I love the job. It is extremely mental you have to have your mind on what you are doing at all times, at any given point of the day something as little as a phone call or some other minor distraction can easily become a $35,000 mistake and a trip to the unemployment line.
Getting Stagnant in your daily routine is also a sure fire way to screw up, hence why it is so mental find a routine and stick to it everytime, Mine is like brushing my teeth. Pull up to the rack, do my walk around, double check lights are off, pull on to the rack, double check my load info and supplier, get out of truck and card in, walk down open compartment doors and open belly values, take dust covers off tank pipes, hook up skully cord, hook up vapor hose, bucket drain, hook up proper product lines, double check all fittings once more, input product amount and let it rip.
Depending on product I have a way I fill the truck each time always the same way. it has 5 compartments #1 is 3000 Gal, #2 1500 #3 1200 #4 1000 #5 2500, if I am filling all 87 reg product, one hose goes on #1 and the other goes on #3 and then I work to the left capping each tank as soon as I fill it. Once all tanks are filled I disconnect everything oppesite of how I started and double check to make sure all connections are loose and go about my delivery.

Driving a tanker in simply terms is be on the defensive at all times, stay calm, don't get pissed off at others and just do your job, don't take turns fast go as slow as you like and make the rest of the world wait for you and you will stay alive. If you get in a hurry sooner or later you will screw up it is just a matter of how badly do you want to push those odds and why would you want to?

Delivery is the same as loading only this time you are dropping into a tank under ground that you need to know how much product will fit in there and make sure you have the right product in there. All tanks are universal for the most part White is Regular, Red is premium, yellow is diesel, Brown is propane and then some other variations for racing fuel and other products that I have not delivered as of yet.
Knowing how much will fit into a tank is basic math, they tell us to fill tanks to 90%, (sometimes 95 if it is a very busy store and they have a small tank) once you know the tank size just use a tank chart to figure out your numbers or you can use the veeder root readings if the store has one. These readings are nice but they can tend to be off by an inch or so every now and then which could result in an overflow or shutdown. I like the tank charts myself, it is just like anything else, do it enough times and you will know how much will fit into a tank just by your stick readings.
Thats about it in a nut shell I am sure I have missed a few details but it is early am and I have to get my kid off to school, If you have any other questions let me know and I will do my best to help answer them..

Good luck and be safe.

Timberwolf

Thanks for this info..Are you staying busy?This truckload freight is a bust right now..Been thinking about driving tanker for a few years now..Just doing my homework now..And 1 other question..at the rack,after a compartment fills..do you physically close the belly valve or is it automatic? Checkout the Youtube video

YouTube - The Real Dirty Jobs

Pulling tanks is serious work and only a true professional driver can/should do it. You must be on top of your game at all times when pulling tanks, especially "shotgun" tankers. As soon as you feel the power of 45,000 lbs of liquid knock you out of your seat you will understand. :D

I love it and will never pull anything else as long as I am a driver.

I'm still trying to figure out if a downhill surge is rougher than an uphill......:confused: :D

Thanks for all the replies. I have been truckin for 25+ years, but have no experience at all with tanks, so what do you mean when you " open your belly valves" and " take dust covers off of tank pipes". The company that i am working for now i have been with for 16+ years. I won't bad mouth them but what i want out of a job has changed over the years. Pulling tanks seems to be one of the cleaner jobs as long as you don't screw up. My plan that i have working in my head is to learn as much as i can about hauling gas and then become an o/o. Their seems to be alot of local work in my area. Again thanks for all the help any comments, good or bad will be welcome.

Chewing tobacco as a replacement for smoking is what he was saying, Orange. In essence, if you need a tobacco fix and wanna haul hazmats, that's a way to do it... not that I endorse either (yet I still love the smell of unburnt tobacco).

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


At least the downhill surge, helps increase the speed of the truck...cuz damn sure....having it cut back for Canadian running....that up hill surge knocks the speed into the dirt!!!


:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:


Don't you love it when you look at your axle gauge and it shows 45,000 as your rolling down the grade, then when you look at it as your half way up the next grade...you barely have 23,000??

:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:


Bow to the SURGE!!! The mighty and all powerful surge!!!


:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

The dust covers are the covers that go over the outside values that you hook the hoses to, they are supposed to keep extra product from spilling out while driving. They come in two pieces, the outer cap which is what you remove to make your drop at the station, and the whole cover which is what you remove to load the trailer at the rack.
The Belly values are situated at the bottom of each tank compartment, it is just a value that controls the flow of product, some are opened with air and others use a cable system. The values must be manually opened to put product in the truck. You can force product in the truck, however if you forget this step the noise it makes is very loud and kind of scarey. On the rack when you unhook the product hose from the trailer the front value automatically closes, you need to maually close the belly values every time. Our trailers will not roll unless the belly value is closed. Think of it as a safety measure. The belly value is the main protection from losing product, if a 4 wheeler goes under the trailer and knocks off the outside product lines (tank pipes) the only fuel you will lose is what was left in the lines, they are designed to shear off and keep all product in the tank if your belly values were open and this happened it would spill 1000's of gallons of product. Product comes out of my trailer at a rate close to 7 to 9 gallons a second it does not take long to make a mess if a spill occurs.

If you get a chance and see a driver at a station making a delivery go talk with him, most guys are pretty friendly and will give you basic information about the job, if you get lucky you may find a driver who will explain the way things work on the truck, I try to stay away from that type of conversation with a stranger while working as you just never know what they have in mind.
For the record in the video the guy made one mistake that could lead to a huge spill, he hooked up the product line to the tanker first then hooked it up to his coupler.

You should always attach from the ground to the trailer and detach from the trailer to the ground.

All in all this is a great job it does have it BS as well but what job does not..
We are staying fairly busy typical stuff one good week one bad week.
Auggie this job can be a dirty one too, it takes new guys a while to learn how to properly handle the hoses without hugging them. diesel fuel can quickly mess up your trailer as it is heavy and sticky. My trainer told me "it is not a question of IF you will ever take a gasoline bath but rather when you will take a bath". I have never been fully bathed as of yet but damn if those lines don't get pissed off every now and then and decide to spit a pint or so on you
Any more questions just let me know..
Good luck guys.

Timberwolf

That one right there is HUGE!!! I can not list the times I have sat in safety meetings, because someone failed to follow this simplest of procedures. Once the hose starts off the tray or out of the tube, it should be taken to the UST and connected...before anything else happens.

Sometimes, interuptions occur...and drivers fail to stop and look.....then....GUSH....down the gutter goes gasoline. :eek1:

Now...with environmental regulations being what they have become...a driver is gonna :tears: :tears: :tears:, with the damage done to his paycheck and bank account. :crossbones: :crossbones: :crossbones: :crossbones:

I'm skimming here so sorry if for any 2x here.
Pulling a fuel trailer is nothing like a regular tanker for surge, but you still want to take it easy on the turns.
Gas is nice because you're your own motivator. You have to pay attention to what you are doing, and most people at the racks know that, so nobody really bothers you. The first time loading under observation is a bitch 'cuz you're always distracted by the observer. I twice forgot to open my belly valves that way. Fortunately, that's probably about the least damaging thing you can do.
Basically, you find your groove, routine and rhythm, and you stick with it.
Write it all down, figure out your loading numbers before you pull into the rack, and double check anything and everything before you hit "start."

If you think you want to try fuel, I say go for it. Use your legs to do the lifting, order a case of the Predator 9761 safety-cuff nitrile gloves ($30), get some sort of thin prybar for the pesky flat covers, and be prepared for 14 hour days and 65-70 hour weeks.

I've already had my bath, fortunately it was ethanol, and that stuff smells a lot better and is a lot less dangerous than gas. Just make sure you don't get pulled over after you've been soaked, cuz it smells like tequila.

10-4..Good stuff! Thanks..

I drove vaccum tankers for 3 years hauling wastewater and anything esle non hazmat. I loved that job should have never left it. I cant really give you any advice on the hazmat since i never pulled it. But with the wastewater make sure you are empty at the dump. Cuz i have left alittle water in the tank and the next day in the winter my valves would be frozen shut.:mad: Have to get the torch out to heat them up to get them to work. Or we would just leave them open over night and stick a 5gal bucket under them.

Well you know going down is like hitting the thrusters in a rocket ship. And you know they always put a sharp curve, stop sign, or red light at the bottom of the really slippery slopes.