Okay, I work part time at a Stop-N-Rob[sup]TM [/sup] and in the mornings I have to “stick the tanks” (i.e. drop a giant ruler into the fuel tanks to measure how much fuel is in them) and for the past two days, when I’ve dropped the stick into the diesel tank, it’s hit something and then continued on down a second or two later. I have no idea of what it might be, and I got to wondering if someone stuffed a body in the diesel tank. This, of course, is so unlikely as to not worth mentioning, but I have to wonder if anyone knows how soaking in diesel fuel will affect a body’s decomposition rate. Surely it’d do something to it.
This is a total WAG, but I suspect that it would slow the rotting quite a bit, for the simple fact that diesel isn’t exactly the perfect atmosphere for bacteria.
Like I said, that’s a WAG, so don’t quote me.
Boy, are you gonna be embarrassed when you discover that you’ve been measuring the septic tank by mistake…
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Your diesel tanks have hatches large enough to pass a body? At a Stop-N-Rob? Trying to create your own urban legend, eh?
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Tuckerfan —so, the body just happened to show up in the diesel fuel tank where you happen to work…hhmmmm?
What have you been doing with your “Granpa Munster’s Do-It-Yourself Poisoner’s Kit”, young man? 
How large is the hole that your measuring stick goes through? Every time I’ve ever them fill up the tanks the hole is about 4 or 6 inches in diameter.
Actually, there’s some rather large hatches near the tanks, which, while I haven’t pulled the lids off of to see what’s underneath them, are large enough to fit a body through.
Under the larger hatches are usually just plumbing and distribution manifolds for the tank and pump-feed piping. There’s no passage into the tank directly, large enough for a body.
What you’re contacting is most likely a sump arrangement- a short baffle/box in the bottom of the tank to help seperate sediment, and most importantly, water from the tank pickup tube. Water in diesel is a bad thing.
Doc, does that sump float around in the tank? I’ve been working there for over a month and have stuck the tank every day that I’ve worked and only recently have I had this happen (thus leading to the highly unlikely thoughts about the body floating around in there).
**Tuckerfan, ** as **Doc Nickel ** stated, the larger hatches are for repair access to the submersible pumps. No way to sneak a body in there.
As for what you are hitting, is it near the top of the tank or the bottom? Since you are actually sticking the tanks for readings (as opposed to getting a computer readout), I’m guessing you have really old tanks. Old tanks commonly have a couple of inches of dirt , rust etc. in the bottom. This is one of the reasons why tanks generally won’t pump below 5 or 10 inches. Therefore, you could just be punching through this sediment before your tank stick hits the bottom of the tank.
I managed a truck stop/gas station for about twenty years and people that worked for me dropped all kinds of things down the fill holes. Screwdrivers, pens,padlocks even their glasses. I can’t remember anyone that dropped something that would float though. 
Hup, the tanks aren’t more than a decade old, I’m sure. I also doubt that it’s mud I’m punching through since the owner’s too cheap to get the tanks filled, and instead only buys a few thousand gallons of fuel at a time. There’s no mud or anything on the bottom of the stick when I pull it up, and whatever I’m hitting is pretty close to the surface of the fuel in the tank. (There was something like 16 inches of fuel in the tank the last time I stuck it and the stick seemed to stop at about that point before continuing on to the bottom.)
Have used a flashlight to look inside?
May just be body parts that the pole is bumping.
Can’t really see anything down in the tank, since the opening I’m using to stick the tanks is no more than about 4 inches in diameter and is at least 8 feet about the bottom of the tank.
Flashlights are too much trouble, Tuck. <billybob>Jest strkie a match.</billybob>
PS–please don’t do this, as I don’t wanna see your name on the Darwin Awards nomination lists.
I was going to ask if you were checking for water at the same time as you measured the tanks( if you had water you may have ice), but if whatever you are hitting is on top of the fuel, that would rule that out.
Maybe it is an arm or a really skinny leg.
Sort of off thread, one time a friend of mine dropped his Zippo lighter down a 15,000 gallon fuel tank. He had served 20 years in the Marine Corp and it was his discharge gift from some of his men. We affixed a magnet to the “big ruler” and spent about 30 minutes, in -20 below weather, and actually managed to fish it out. Maybe you can add a hook to your tank stick and try to pull the body up.
Actually diesel fuel is a pretty good medium for stuff to grow on: http://www.boatus-store.com/browse/item.asp?IID=17579
How about you dangle a couple of Glow-Sticks down there the next time?
Um… What happened when he lit it?