RE: Storage Woes

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
firefighterjake

firefighterjake

Minister of Fire
Jul 22, 2008
19,588
Unity/Bangor, Maine
Wood: The worse that happens with this fuel is that a stack topples over.

Oil: Tank develops a leak . . . which you don't notice until quite a bit of the product has spilled out on to your garage floor.

D'oh . . . now dealing with this Exxon Valdezed oil tank . . . I guess a good thing is that it is in the garage and not in the basement where the fumes would have made things pretty bad or outside where it would have leeched into the ground.
 
I caught a seeping line at one point in my basement, luckily it wasn't under my slab. It took about 6 months for the odor to go way after I cleaned the area up. I was real lucky I caught it before the tanks emptied.
 
A guy I worked with had the vent clog on the basement oil tank. The oil guy was pressure-filling it and not paying attention. Blew the 275 tank all over the basement. Whole family had to live in a hotel for a month while it was cleaned-up. Yuck.
 
Got a little bit of luck . . . I figure I lost a few gallons of oil . . . hard to tell with liquids. . . sometimes a little looks like a lot. In truth, I thought I lost a quarter tank or so, but in retrospect I don't think I lost that much since it had been awhile since I last checked the tank and I really didn't see 50-60 gallons on the floor.

I was able to temporarily plug the hole in the tank with a piece of foam, rubber and a screw.

Spent yesterday with a friend/local guy who does odd jobs replacing the tank and then I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the mess with a liberal use of kitty litter. The smell has lessened considerably, but tonight I will most likely dig out some dishwashing soap and scrub down the cement floor to see if I cannot break down the oil a bit more.

Didn't realize that the "new" tanks have larger bung holes and larger outlet to the filter . . . had to buy a few adapters and new caps and fittings. I think in the end this incident cost me around $700 . . . not counting whatever heating oil was spilled.
 
May I ask how old the tank was? I've heard Canada requires periodic replacement of steel tanks. Hmmm...I wonder how much time mine has left...
 
Not really sure Velvetfoot . . . tank was here when we moved into the house back in 1996 . . . based on the age of the old oil boiler and garage I would guess it may have been installed sometime in the 1980s.
 
It may sound insignificant - but use a good quality dish soap (like Dawn). You will be able to dilute a bunch more oil with good soap than with the cheapo stuff and it will keep it in suspension longer.
 
I am some glad I got rid of my tank & oil stuff, for this very reason. Doesn't take much of a leak to really mess your house up, or cause a world of hurt beyond that. Our tank was 'due' to be replaced in another 2 years (at the 20 year mark), according to our insurance people. I don't know where they come up with this stuff or that number but that's the way it was. Maybe a stats/claim analysis?

Good luck with the cleanup, glad it wasn't worse.
 
Yuck, that sounds like no fun. So glad this wasn't in the house. What do you do? Lots of kitty litter at first, then benign solvents followed by multiple washes?
 
begreen said:
Yuck, that sounds like no fun. So glad this wasn't in the house. What do you do? Lots of kitty litter at first, then benign solvents followed by multiple washes?
Click to expand...

Pretty much that . . . cat litter (the cheap stuff -- three or four large bags) and yesterday I started using some dish soap and scrubbing. Still smells, but nothing like it did on Sunday or Monday. My wife and her super sensitive nose can at least tolerate it at this point.
 
When I moved my indoor tank last year, I spilled a little oil from the reroute of the lines, I bought the oil powder odor eater, it took the smell out right away. Its almost like baby powder, you sprinkle it right on the oil, let it soak the wipe away. It really helped.
 
Gah, my tank is 1960 something. I did replace the copper fuel line under the basement slab with the plastic sleeved one.
 
There are many stories of oil trucks showing up at the wrong house, oil tank gone but filler pipe still there. 2 or 3 hundred gallons later, house is wrecked. Happened not too far from where I live many years a go. When they did my nat gas conversion, the furnace guy tore the pipe out (said they were just turning them upside down until that year, but no longer) and then patched the wall. Smell of fuel oil turns my stomach, dunno what I'd do if they soaked my basement. Also know a couple guys with camps where supplier refused to fill past couple winters, tank sitting under the camp on its side in some cases.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
Getting hot water to a distant outdoor shower
Replies
13
Views
628
DIY and General non-hearth advice
xman23
xman23
N
New set up of an old boiler with storage
Replies
10
Views
2K
The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces
all night moe
A
P
Dodging a bullet with my heating system
Replies
0
Views
940
The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces
peakbagger
P
Max W
Oil tank leak
Replies
57
Views
4K
DIY and General non-hearth advice
Ashful
Ashful
Max W
Minisplits and wood
Replies
4
Views
854
The Inglenook
EbS-P
EbS-P
Top Bottom
Back