How do you purge gas fumes from plastic tanks?

[powerhammer]

Shipping a bike and must have it emptied and purged of all fumes.  What's the best method?

[Howie]

Maybe not the best way, but doable by most.  wash tank, then run a hair drier inserted into fuel opening ,no heat, until dry.  The same could be done with compressed air, throttled down if you have a compressor.  This can take a while.  The smell will linger in the plastic, but there will be no explosive fumes

[Punx Clever]

Another option, if you have CO2 handy (from welding, beer, or even paintball), you can run an air line form your CO2 tank to the fuel tank, and slowly let CO2 in.  being denser than the air, the CO2 will stay in the tank and push the fuel vapors out of the tank.  Just go till the layer of fog is at the top of the cap.

Methinks it will work.

[ducpainter]

The hardest part is getting the liquid out IMO.

[dlearl476]

Not very green, but I just get all the liquid out that I can, then set it in the sun with the filler door open for a couple of hours. 

How'd it work, D-P? 

[He Man]

siphon it out and throw lit match in. That way you'll just burn of all the fumes.

I take no responsibility for your actions that result from reading this thread.

Seriously though, just leave the cap open for a few days with a blowing across it. Gasoline evaporates VERY quickly and as the gases rise the fan will push it away, and dense air will drop in to replace it.

Or you can just remove the tank, drop the fuel pump, wash it, (change your fuel filter while your at it casue youll never want to do that again) then let it air out. I did that to my tank and it was gas fume free in minutes.

[ducpainter]

Not very green, but I just get all the liquid out that I can, then set it in the sun with the filler door open for a couple of hours. 

How'd it work, D-P? 

It's a no brainer in AZ....