Aluminum Tanks For Methanol
 

How long will a set off aluminum tanks last runnin 100% Methanol ???? can i get 1 or 2 years and throw them out and put 2 new ones ..
Thnx in advance

are you looking for some killer horsepower:cool-smiley-011:
the alcohol wont hurt you its the water it absorbs, i heard about a coating you can line the tank with to help, dont know how well it holds up though

Running Hot
I don't know about in big boats, but we used to run methanol in blown alcohol flat bottoms in aluminum tanks. Ran it for many years without a problem. However, after the race was over, the tank was pretty much empty. Like I said, after numerous years we never had any troubles from the alcohol. You could look into hard anodizing the tank. I would think that would solve any potential problems.
Eddie

Did those stainless one's not work out? They looked perfect.

Uhhht oh.... what ya got goin in the boat now?

Im limited for space / size and only have 32' l, 12" W & 16" T
Fuel safe has some but there too big and custom made is weeks out .. Just ordered 2 polyethylene perfect size 32"x 11.75X 14" = 20 gallon and we'll cut the fuel fill off and put on Summit fuel cell caps .. Now waiting for Glazzdave on the prep for etching/burning for bulldog & adhesion promoter ... Just got off the phone with MR HP / Dean and he threw another interesting point into the mix ,that the Meth will gell and tanks have to be pumped empty ...Tanks will be here tomorrow as soon as painted & mounted will throw a few pics on ..:cool-smiley-011:
ROCK ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

Thnx Eddie sounds like the key is to empty the tanks at the end of the day,weekend,poker run
ROCK ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

like the drag cars remember to put a ground strap on the tanks:D

Hey BIG Daddy there coming from Marine Power Service .. check out there website cut me some pretty good deals on tanks , straps, clamps, and prices on 3m products were good prices ... check your AOL i sent you the tank pics & specs and the reciept i put it on your CC card :D

Ground straps ????? never thought of it Rob .... the fuel cells in the 3 chevelles and the mustang none have straps ... what r ya thinkin BIG Daddy ?????? :cool-smiley-011:
ROCK ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

definately ground!!
 

we build fuel tanks. We ALWAYS weld on a ground strap. When we make a tank that will be using methanol, we weld in a "stripper". It's a pick-up to the very bottom, to get the residual water out.

I deal with guys pumping this stuff quite a bit in the bio-diesel arena. The key will be the temps of the fluid. Methenol (Methyl Alcohol) is good with Aluminum up to 140*F
The polyethylene has the same rating. Polypropylene fairs slightly better up to @180*F
If you wanted a plastic tank that can stand up to it best, i would try and find one made from PVDF (Polyvinylidene Fluoride or Kynar) Plastic as it can handle it up to @ 260*F this according to my Corrosion Resistance Table i have here on my desk ;)

The methanol will corrode bare aluminum. We drain tanks if going to sit more than a couple weeks.
Same goes for anything in the fuel system thats aluminum.
Anodizing helps, but you could get a couple years by draining and cleaning.
the ground straps are on drag cars to keep static sparks out when refilling the tank- required by sanctioning bodies even with plastic tanks.

Shawn as you know the Polyethylene tanks work awesom ad not a stich of problems ,there full with 40 gallons of meth and she's hibernating for the winter mos & and we dont ever drain them ...:drink:

Our racers havent seen a huge issue with switching motors over to meth and not changing tanks on their race cars. There were some that they had to replace some fittings etc that were not right for the application

I prefer the poly tanks also. Run one in the pro mod,has a aluminum outlet tube thru the bottom that will corrode every so often. Some say fuel additives like top end lube help, but never run them myself

same
run the Poly in the chevelles,mustang & Skater with great sucess ... when we ran the Alum we drained every Sunday or it gelled no such problem with the Poly:coolcowboy:

The toplube will prevent a lot of the gel unless you have huge temp changes. Cold weather causes a lot of top lubes to gel also.

dont know many race cars, and or boats spraying meth running in Cold weather :eek::lolhit:

Meth will gel in a Aluminum cell in warm weather ,thats why racers drain them sunday eve .... with the Poly there is no gel and meth can sit for a year with no problems.. have tested on the bench for over a year with different materials and str 8 Meth & 50/50 mixs .

I was reading through this thread without realizing it was 3 years old. I saw Chris Sunkin made a comment. I thought it was recent, i almost fell over.