Oil tank leak

[stoveliker]

Same, my hot water uses 20 gallons per month.

 

[ABMax24]

I average about 30 gallons per day in the dead of winter without the stoves, but I can easily hold usage to just 1 gallon per day for a few days in October, using the stoves if needed. The 1 gallon per day is my average usage for domestic hot water.

Heck, I even have one bathroom on a separate electric water heater, and we can all use that, if we truly run dry on oil.

30 gallon per day is 123 million BTU per month for heating, brutal. Worst I've ever used in a month prior to the stove was 20 million BTU in a month.

 

[Max W]

I’m guessing that at either 20 or 30 gallons per month and the present and upcoming price of oil, a hot water heat pump might look attractive. The 2023 tax credits can make a switch even more so.

 

[Ashful]

30 gallon per day is 123 million BTU per month for heating, brutal. Worst I've ever used in a month prior to the stove was 20 million BTU in a month.

You got me curious, so I did a little digging for data, and some quick math. The wood and oil is easy, input x efficiency = output. The heat pumps (mini-splits) are far more tedious, as their efficiency changes so wildly with outdoor temp. I can easily pull the temperatures or HDD's for any date, but I'm not sure what the efficiency of the heat pumps are at said temperature, so I'll leave that for someone else to figure out.

In any case, here's the rough fuel usage:

1. Oil = 1000 gallons = 135M BTU in = 115M BTU out @ assumed 85% eff
2. Wood = 10 cords red oak = 246M BTU in = 197M BTU out @ assumed 80% eff
3. Heat pumps ~ 1250 kWh in = 4.3M BTU in = ?? out
4. Electric resistive = insignificant
5. Propane ~ 100 gallons = 9M BTU in = 8M BTU out @ 90% eff

I’m guessing that at either 20 or 30 gallons per month and the present and upcoming price of oil, a hot water heat pump might look attractive. The 2023 tax credits can make a switch even more so.

That's already in the plans. In fact, it'd have been done already, if a few bigger surprise projects hadn't popped up on me this summer. Between the desire for summer cooling and dehumidification, and the winter waste heat coming off my boiler, I'm an ideal candidate.

 

[Ashful]

My oil company asked me to run mine dry, before replacement. They said they never like to put oil from an old tank into a new one, if it can be avoided.

In order to make this feasible, they're dropping off a 10 gallon temporary tank, which I can switch to, as soon as my old tank runs dry. When that happens, I call them, and they come do the swap within a few days.

Well, the new tank went in today. Figured I'd follow up here.

Before:



After:

 

[hockeypuck]

This is exactly how my process started, me asking a tech to check it. Although they didn't pull out the ultrasound equipment, they looked at it, knocked around it, and gave me the same "you're fine today, but you'll want a new one in the next 10 years." My response was, "well, I'll still be here, and they'll only cost more then." So, we're doing it.

I never asked for a price, figured 2 men for most of a day is going to be $1k, and tank and piping has got to be another $500 - $1k, so just guessing $1500 - $2000. What did they quote you?


Hoping it's not that much, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Two tanks shouldn't be that much more, only the diff in material, you're still paying two men (or back-strong women) for a day's work.

THey quoted me $2400. Not surprised by that. They are a big company but would expect the job to get done correctly.

 

[hockeypuck]

Well, the new tank went in today. Figured I'd follow up here.

Before:

View attachment 301432

After:

View attachment 301433

Did you see what the old tank looked like? Truly on its last legs or still had some miles to go?

 

[Ashful]

Nah, they didn’t cut it open, probably too messy, I’d guess. They just put plugs in all bungs, carted it out whole, and put it on the truck to go to scrap.

I will say that the level indicator mechanism they pulled out looked like it was coated in crude. Can only imagine the decades of old sludge in the bottom of that tank.