run home heating oil , out .

[peter lena 8,610]

always keep my home heating oil tank with oil , preventing condensation build up , also on automatic refill . getting oil the other day , guy was telling me of the incredible run , on tank blow outs , rotted  tank bottoms , add any amount of oil , and in no time its on the floor . like running out of oil and getting  50/ 100gal. pumped oil myself and also did some burner work , back in the day . worst thing you can do is , ENHANCE CONDENSATION BUILD UP , with a regular , almost empty tank .  just my own experience , stay oily , Pete 

[ebinmaine 67,435]

Remember we had a massive oil spill in our basement a few years ago?

The Maine DEP at that point was handling over 600 claims per year regarding RESIDENTIAL issues.

Rusted rotted tanks of course was one of the major ones although not the cause of our disaster.  

 

Back then Maine was the ONLY state in New England with a financial assistance program. 

 

The DEP stepped in immediately after our 911 call and took care of everything. All the paperwork. All the physical and mental work. EVERYTHING.

 

 

[Rob J. 1,941]

Why not propane? Buried underground tank. Problem solved. 

[ebinmaine 67,435]

6 minutes ago, Rob J. said:

Why not propane? Buried underground tank. Problem solved. 

 

Having endured what we did a few years ago I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of owning another building that is heated by oil or k1 or diesel.  

 

Given the choice between k1, heating oil systems or a propane system I would absolutely go the propane route.

 

In my area that is nowhere near a cost competitive option so we went with electric heat instead. 

 

 

 

[rmaynard 15,436]

We have been heating with oil since 1978. Our first tank was a 1000 gallon buried tank. It never had 1000 gallons in it due to the price of oil. So we only kept no more than 275 gallons at a time for two reasons, money, and fear of a leak. Fast forward to 2019, our insurance company advised us that in order to continue homeowners insurance, we would have to pay for a rider to insure the tank. However, we would still have to remove the tank should we ever decide to sell. So we decided to have the tank removed.

 

 

 

They opened the tank, to remove any remaining oil, and to inspect the integrity of the tank. What they found was that there was very little water in the bottom, and that the tank would have lasted another 30 years. Long story short, I spent $2300 to have a perfectly safe tank removed.

To replace the tank, we purchased a Roth 275 gallon, double-walled tank. It was placed in the basement. The inner wall of the tank is plastic, the outer wall metal. I'm not going to have any problems with my oil tank in my lifetime.

Edited November 30, 2023 by rmaynard

[JoeM 7,873]

56 minutes ago, rmaynard said:

inspect the integrity of the tank

is there any none destructive test for tanks?  

[Handy Don 12,214]

1 hour ago, rmaynard said:

in order to continue ... insurance, we would have to pay for a rider to insure the tank

While on the facilities committee for our church, we got a similar message regarding tanks for the church, parish house, and school.

Fortunately, all three tanks passed integrity tests so there was no leakage remediation expense. As you did, over the next two years we “unburied” all three tanks to above-ground locations with protections against any leak causing pollution.

 

My understanding is that the accepted, definitive test is to empty, clean, and do the equivalent of a plumbing leakdown test. Going direct to leakdown risks pushing oil out of the tank into the soil if there is a leak.

[CCW 1,295]

After our tank reach 70 years I decided it was not worth the risk of a potential leak.  If it leaked and contaminated the basement and soil beneath I would have been on the hook for potentially ten of thousands of dollars remediation work.  The $3000 new tank is worth every cent for peace of mind.  It will outlive me. 

 

[squonk 41,071]

They found this tank buried under the ER parking lot during hospital renovation. There used to be an apple farm at the location. They ad built the parking lot in the early 70's so this tank may have been installed in the 40's or 50's. Still had some fuel oil in it and we had it tested and it was still ok. We gave it to a farmer nearby

 

[ebinmaine 67,435]

2 hours ago, CCW said:

After our tank reach 70 years I decided it was not worth the risk of a potential leak.

 

70 ??!!??!!!!

 

Here in Maine the DEP would not reuse a tank after the 20th year.  

 

 

 

2 hours ago, CCW said:

  If it leaked and contaminated the basement and soil beneath I would have been on the hook for potentially ten of thousands of dollars remediation work.  

 

We weren't responsible for - and not allowed to see - the invoice for our remediation.  

We were told it was normally between $25K and $45K or more... And ours was on the higher side.  

[Rob J. 1,941]

10 hours ago, rmaynard said:

We have been heating with oil since 1978. Our first tank was a 1000 gallon buried tank. It never had 1000 gallons in it due to the price of oil. So we only kept no more than 275 gallons at a time for two reasons, money, and fear of a leak. Fast forward to 2019, our insurance company advised us that in order to continue homeowners insurance, we would have to pay for a rider to insure the tank. However, we would still have to remove the tank should we ever decide to sell. So we decided to have the tank removed.

 

 

 

They opened the tank, to remove any remaining oil, and to inspect the integrity of the tank. What they found was that there was very little water in the bottom, and that the tank would have lasted another 30 years. Long story short, I spent $2300 to have a perfectly safe tank removed.

To replace the tank, we purchased a Roth 275 gallon, double-walled tank. It was placed in the basement. The inner wall of the tank is plastic, the outer wall metal. I'm not going to have any problems with my oil tank in my lifetime.

Yep if they’re installed right they’ll last a long time. My tank came with a special paint on it to resist rust and once the tank was lowered in the hole it was completely surrounded by sugar sand that was screened for any rocks. 

[grinchsr 627]

I installed a Roth tank also a few years back now I have peace of mind.  Prior to that that I had 2 oil spills in my basement talk about a smell that just does not go away!

[F. Marra 17 77]

15 hours ago, Handy Don said:

While on the facilities committee for our church, we got a similar message regarding tanks for the church, parish house, and school.

Fortunately, all three tanks passed integrity tests so there was no leakage remediation expense. As you did, over the next two years we “unburied” all three tanks to above-ground locations with protections against any leak causing pollution.

 

My understanding is that the accepted, definitive test is to empty, clean, and do the equivalent of a plumbing leakdown test. Going direct to leakdown risks pushing oil out of the tank into the soil if there is a leak.

UST tank tightness testing is done with fuel in the tank.  The testing measures the ullage (air space) to the fuel volume.

[peter lena 8,610]

@ F.MARRA 17 , was just reading that the average life of an oil burner heating unit , today is 15-20 YEARS . got 34 out of mine a few years ago , was not worth the rebuild  cost / efficiency  factor , got an ASCENT COMBI BOILER , super efficient , pete