SO had an issue with the great 55 gallon drum loosing the trap and water working its way in thru the cap. Diesel forced up and out as water dropped to the bottom. I had the cap not all the way tight due to expansion from heat. Soooo happened to find this when I went to pull the hand pump and it was frozen in the water. This lead me to figure out that I could wait for it to thaw, pull the pump, wait for a freeze and then pump the fuel into another barrel and dump the crap when it thawed. I did manage to save about 50 of the 55 gallons. Waited until it was a solid 10 degrees all night to do this. I think the same system will work with ethanol gas if you were to pour the gas thru cheese cloth when frozen to capture the ice.
Go to the local truck shop and get a can of fuel antifreeze, add that to your fuel and it will mix the water into the fuel so it can be used as is! Recommend for the future, get a water separation filter inline from your drum to the pump, they make several different types, I really like the duel element Baldwin filtration system, it not only pulls and separates the water, it also filters it, AND, if you need to add additives, it allows you to dial in the correct mix, so no more guess work! They sell systems or you can fab your own, and the local truck shops will have the filters in stock, either Baldwin or Fleetguard( Cummins) is what you want! Another thing, consider getting a heating element to place under your drum to keep the fuel/water from interacting, that will also solve a ton of issues, remember, Kerosene type fuels are anabatic, ( they pull moisture from the air) so if you can control that, so much the better!
This is my primitive method of fuel density sorting. It isn't as sure as a filter funnel for getting water out of fuel, but I've been able to feel the difference between water and gasoline in a fuel stream. On mowers that had gotten water in the fuel during storms I can drop the float bowl and let the fuel run over my fingers as I drop the float. When the feel of the fuel gets colder, I know it's changed from water to gasoline. Lift the float, reassemble, and start the engine right up. I did the same thing with twenty gallons of kerosene/gasoline/water mix. Pulled off fifteen gallons of K1 before I felt the stream get colder. Just to be safe, I reserved the last five gallons for pressure lamps that are unaffected by a mix of gasoline. The first ten gallons I knew were safe in wick heaters.
