1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172 
Bulk-buying diesel can slash your fuel bill dramatically.
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
We look at the equipment you'll need to do this.
Words: Sharon Clancey
Once your fuel use reaches a certain level, investing in your own fuel storage and management system can help keep budgets under control. Bulk-buying diesel can save as much as 20p or more on the cost of paying at the pumps or with a fuel card, depending on the delivery amount.
Most bunker installations are now above the ground, with underground storage used only where space is at a premium. "Below-ground installations pose a greater threat to the environment if a leak develops. so the installation is more costly. Extra precautions have to he built in," says Stephen Hannah, managing director of the dispensing specialist Merridale. "Insurance against
spillage and the clean-up costs needed for below-ground installations will be higher."
JA Envirotanks sales engineer Trushar Desai says a rule of thumb when working out the size of tank to install is to calculate your weekly fuel use and double or treble it. "That gives you one or two weeks safety margin if a delivery is delayed," he adds.
Tuffa's Robert Shenton advises operators to buy the biggest tank they have space for. "Why install a 1.000-litre tank that will need filling 12 times a year, when a 12,000litre tank will need filling only once?" Apart from paying a higher price for the diesel, delivery costs will be greater, he points out. Storing diesel for too long, however, is not recommended elements start to settle out over time.
Storage tanks Fuel and oil tanks come in various shapes and sizes, but one thing they all have in common is that they must be bunded to comply with the Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) (England) Regulations 2001. These apply to any tank of more than 200 litres above ground, and it is the company's responsibility to prevent pollution from its premises. Failure to comply is a criminal offence, and you could face heavy fines from the Environment Agency if you have a fuel leak.
A bund will contain any leaks from the primary storage tank (provided it is not leaking itself, of course). Legally, the bund has to have 110% of the capacity of the main fuel tank. A Ledbury Welding spokesman says many operators are inadvertently failing to comply, especially those with older installations. Singleand double-skinned tanks don't meet the requirements in full, he says, unlike integrally bunded tanks.
JA Envirotank tanks are designed so that any fuel that spills into the bund because of overfilling can be recovered and pumped uncontaminated back into the main tank.
Most modern tanks will also incorporate overfill prevention valves. These trigger an audio and visual alarm if the tank is danger of being overfilled. If the bund comes complete with an alarm, it can alert you to overspill and potential leaks. Crash-barrier protection is advised if there's a risk the tank might be hit by moving vehicles, including forklifts.
Managing your stocks Accurate pumping and metering of fuel is critical if fuel-consumption figures are to have any meaning, points out Hannah. "There is a lot of attention paid to capturing the data on how much fuel was issued to each vehicle and which driver used the pump. If you ignore the basics, they'll mean nothing." "Diesel fuel pumps are pumping significant need to be as accurate as those on retailers' forecourts, which tend to get replaced every five years." Typical dispensing rates are 50, 70, 90 and 1101itimin. Budget systems offer one pumping speed, but dualor multispeed pumps are also available. Dual-speed pumps are useful if different types of vehicle are using the site, to avoid spillages. Merridale has now introduced a multispeed pump as a replacement for its dual-speed unit.
The quality of your fuel-management information can only be as good as the accuracy of your pump, points out Andy Seal, Hytek's sales director. "For example, a pump that is accurate to +/-0.5% is four times better than a pump dispensing at +/-2%. When you look at your fuel usage data, the difference can he vast if your pump meter is not measuring accurately.
Hannah advises that any dispensing equipment you buy should include an air separator. "Diesel fuel absorbs air, so if you don't remove it, the amount of fuel dispensed will be inaccurate. You could, for example, only be getting 90 litres of diesel for every 100 litres dispensed, throwing your fuel consumption figures completely."
Should you resell the diesel, to staff or other operators, both the pump and the fuel management system must be sealed by Trading Standards in order to comply with Weights and Measures law.
When bunkering fuel, you also need to manage stocks and meter the fuel going into and out of the storage tank. "Fuel monitoring starts with this basic task," says Hannah. "It also provides an essential check on the tolerances of your metering system. There will be natural losses to the pump, and monitoring fuel-in/fuel-out over a period will show you what the normal pattern for your installation is."
Dipsticking from the top of tanks is now frowned upon for heath and safety reasons, so hydrostatic tank gauges have become more widely used. They range from the basic to examples that can detect the water content in the fuel.
For truly accurate tank-gauge measurement, and for busy refuelling sites, electronic gauges such as Gilbarco Veeder-Root's TLS tank-gauge system are ideal. They constantly monitor and report stock levels to a central point. -Manually dipping tanks takes time and is less accurate. Automatic gauging incorporates other benefits, such as measurement of water content and is suitable for sites with large dispensing requirements," says Martyn Gent, UK commercial manager.
Gilbarco Veecler-Root has now developed a wireless version of the TLS, which eliminates the cost and disruption of digging trenches to install the cable ducting. Lithium-battery-powered transmitters on each tank transmit the data to an RF receiver in the office. "It's practical and cost-effective, especially for retrofitting. Data transmission times can be configured, but the default rate is over two minutes when idle, every 30 seconds during dispensing and every five seconds during delivery" Some premium fuel-monitoring systems even automate tank restocking. Once the level falls below a preset parameter, a message is sent to the fuel company.
Issuing fuel
There's a wide range of pump-dispensing equipment to suit most budgets. You do not have to have a fuelmonitoring system to dispense fuel, but it is a useful tool in order to analyse usage by vehicle and driver.
Most fuel-management systems come with dedicated reporting software. If you want to export the data to another piece of fleet management software, make sure the fuel data is stored in XML format (Xtendible Markup Language).
"Secure fuel-management systems offer stringent protection against fraud, with fuel tags ensuring that drivers can only top up their own vehicles and that you can keep track of how often they fill up and where," says Seal.
Driver-recognition devices include proximity tags, RF cards, data keys, and smart tags that automatically transfer vehicle data to the fuel-monitoring system during refuelling.
With Triscan's Kisskey system, for example, when the driver touches the fob on to the fuel dispenser, the current mileage, along with vehicle and driver ID are automatically transferred to the Phoenix fuel-monitoring system. They key can be programmed with driver information, and vehicle information is automatically recorded. In the vehicle, the key collects mileage data on the odometer, either from an interface with the tachograph or a mechanical inducer.
"Our aim is to ensure the data is clean at all times," says Peter Sumpton. "The Kisskey eliminates any risk of driver input error or fuel being allocated to the wrong vehicle or driver."
Hytek 's ALPHA FC10 pump with integral fuel-control system and PC-based fuel-management system can register up to 65,000 fuel tags.
Transflo's Pumpmaster fuel dispenser can be specified with a driver-tag system to prevent unauthorised fuel withdrawals, and can be programmed remotely to deny access to lost or stolen tags. Its Secure Monitoring with Automatic Recognition Technology (SMART) eliminates the need for cards, keys and fobs. The V-Tag is a nozzle-mounted RFID tag reader. The tag is attached to the vehicle and is 'read-only' when the nozzle is in the tank.
Triscan's Automated Fuelling System also offers automatic recognition. Data is captured by Triscan's transmitter coil fitted around the tank inlet on the vehicle. This communicates with a receiver coil on the fueldispensing nozzle, which verifies the vehicle and driver ID.
Transferring data from the fuel dispenser to fuelmanagement software can be done over a hardwired data line from the pump to an office or via a GSM modem or an RF wireless link.