sucking rust flakes in gas tank

I was going to vacuum out rust flakes from bottom of gas tank on the G john deere and neighbor told me not to do that because static electricity from vacuum hose can cause explosion from vapor in the tank. Is there any truth to this?
 
he could have just saved you from from a big bang and I bet the rust would be gone too. take the tank off use pressure washer and keep doing that. then I rinse with menthyl hydrate. then rinse with gas and good to go. just finished doing a tank.
 
Yes, very true!

Not just static, most shop vacs have brush type motors, there's the ignition source guaranteed!

Take it off, rinse it out with E85, blow it out best you can.

If it's flaking rust, it's only a matter of time it will do it again or start leaking.

A fab shop can repair the tank, or try to find an aftermarket.

I saw where someone cut away a portion of the original tank and hid an aluminum fuel cell type inside. Those are available in many shapes and sizes, not expensive.
 
I just vacuumed out one from an H farmall.

It had black goo in it. I put about a gallon of E85 and let it sit for a week and that pretty much dissolved the goo but still left behind a powdery residue.

I let it air out another day or two and then vaccumed out a bunch of powder. It still had a residual fuel smell but it was obvious that there was not nearly enough vapor to ignite.

If you poured out gasoline and then immediately vacuumed then yes you could ignite something. It needs to air out. If the tank is out then set it so that the inlet is low as fuel vapors are heavier than air and will "pour" out. If it's on the tractor you can probably ventilated it with compressed air blown in to displace any the fuel vapors.

Obviously, use common sense!
 
You probably wouldn't get a spark from static electricity but the motor on the vacuum creates a spark for sure. You might remove the tank and dry it out. Then put some nuts and bolts in it and drive it around for a couple days in the back of your truck. Then blow it out with compressed air and treat it with phosphoric acid. Then rinse and dry and put a fuel tank liner in it. If it's rusted it will rust again and if you put a fuel tank liner in now maybe it won't get holes in it.
 
50/50 water muriatic acid mix. Put a pipe plug in the outlet,I use a rubber glove over the gas cap(put the cap in the glove and then put it on the tank.)Turn the tank every day till you think you have soaked the entire inside of the tank,and rinse it with lots of water.As long as there are no holes in it you should be good. The glove is to keep the acid out of the vent in the cap. Then set your shop vac on blow and dry the tank.
 

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