Oil tank

[someonelse]

I inherited the (steel) tank when I bought the house 12 years ago. Age: 15? 20? 30? Who know! Has some rust (esp at lower corners). Option1 refill, fingers crossed & it lasts another year/5 years.... Option2 replace with another steel tank (cost unknown) Option3 replace with a bunded plastic one (around £2K).
Any suggestions? The guy who quoted said it would be best to replace, but he would, wouldn't he!!

 

[gremlin16]

Option 1 sounds good to me.

Fill the tank, watch the corner seems split, watch all that lovely Kerosene soak in to the ground.
Then when the EA come to see you make sure you have plenty of spare cash to cover the cost of decontaminating your site. ( can be £10,000+)

As for having a new tank installed, some prefer steel tanks and others install plastic bunded.

Just remember tanks and installation need to be risk assessed and installed to comply with current regulations.

In the event of a serious leak, you will held liable.

 

[oilman]

If you can't smell oil at the rusty places, refill it. Clean off all the rusty scale and see what the surface looks like. If it's not too bad, coat with epoxy mastic. Steel tanks do not split and drop oil with out warning, unlike plastic tanks. A replacement steel tank will cost £200 - £300 for a 1200 litre. You can have one made any size you choose, and painted any colour at the factory.

 

[jon26]

I inherited the (steel) tank when I bought the house 12 years ago. Age: 15? 20? 30? Who know! Has some rust (esp at lower corners). Option1 refill, fingers crossed & it lasts another year/5 years.... Option2 replace with another steel tank (cost unknown) Option3 replace with a bunded plastic one (around £2K).
Any suggestions? The guy who quoted said it would be best to replace, but he would, wouldn't he!!

Why don't you think more out of the box, how about putting the £2K (or whatever the cost is likely to be) towards the cost of an air source heat pump to run the existing htg and hot water. There are grants available too if you have a look on the Low Carbon Building Programme website. This runs of electric but is up to 400% efficient (google 'heat pumps' and check them out), this means that for every 1kW of energy you put in, you get upto 4kW of useful heat out.

The running costs compared to oil is about a third so what may cost £1500 per year would be about £500, think of the payback. There isn't to much siad about the 'greener' types of systems on here, they tend to be 'old school', but have a look at them, they cost around £3-4K. I have seen load installed is exactly this scenario.

 

[Mike2007]

2K for tank seems very steep. Maybe if he is getting a new steel tank and building a masonary bund around it (you need one)?
I put plastic one in myself, nobody has said they want metal instead.

http://www.tankdepot.co.uk/shop/18_0/bunded_tanks/index.html

 

[someonelse]

Got quite excited initiall by the heat pump idea, but having had a quick look I'm dubious. I have an old house so a) installing underfloor heating is impractical, and b) the lower temp of water (compared to a boiler) means the radiators would not be hot enough. It's a tough house to heat - solid walls so no cavity insulation, sloping roof at 1st floor so attic insulation does not extend across entire roof.
And the LCBP site suggests £6-8K + VAT (with a max grant of £900), so though lower running costs it's a lot to lay out.

Oilman - thanks for the epoxy mastic tip. I'll look into that. I'm guessing your estimate is for tank only? The plastic tank quote was around 1200 + 900 for installation (drain tank, remove/dispose as per env regs, remove piers, build new flat base, install/commission, replace drained oil). My tank's 2700 litres so in itself would cost more than your estimate, + the install.

gremlin - fair point, and that's why I haven't just re-filled as usual. Is Oilman right about steel tanks not just splitting? If I keep an eye on it and have the number of a supplier ready I should be OK if it just starts 'weaping'?

 

[gremlin16]

masonary bund around it (you need one)?

What a load of Boll**ks

 

[oilman]

Is Oilman right about steel tanks not just splitting?

If I wasn't, I wouldn't have said it.

 

[gremlin16]

Is Oilman right about steel tanks not just splitting?

Ok they may not split but corrosion does cause random holes around the base of the tank.

We recently replaced a leaking steel tank at a local fishery. (50m from a specimen carp lake)

6 months previously we carried out a risk assessment on the tank, and warned the owner not to have a refill. Being a prat he decided to have the tank filled. The rust crust gave way and out came water then his precious oil.
As luck would have it the delivery driver managed to pump out the tank.

Now theres a plastic bunded tank installed to current standards.

If you check the Oftec site you will find all the information regarding tanks and their installation requirement.