odd question regarding old oil

[penfrydd]

I'm about to put in a new tarm. However. I've got about 350 gallons of oil in an old underground tank that's at least 10 years old. I don't expect to use much oil once the wood is hooked up.

Should I a) burn the oil in my boiler b) burn it in my tractor? Which has the larger injector orifice? Doesn't oil get some sort of bacterial growth after a while? Can't I just filter the stuff, if it is a problem?

One of you guys has likely done this in the past, either with success or with failure. Both serve to teach...

Thanks

 

[SteveT]

This doesn't exactly answer your question but may give you another option. The companies that change out oil tanks have a truck to suck the old oil out of the tank and filter it to remove contaminants and water - they then return it to the new tank.

Maybe a local oil tank contractor could be hired to clean up the oil for a reasonable price and return it to the existing tank. That way you'd have fresh oil despite the age.

 

[EricV]

I work for a state environmental agency and when I saw "old underground tank" I got real nervous.

If you call in a company and the tank has leaked at all, and I'd bet it is, then you have an environmental cleanup that could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

I recently one with a guy personally that had several tanks in his back yard he didn't even know about. $260,000 later it's cleaned up.

Most all underground tanks are illegal now in residential situations.

In my opinion you need to be real careful with that tank and it's contents. Empty it as soon as you can, even if you have to dispose of it at an oil recycling place. If it's ten years old it worthless anyway.

 

[Chris S]

I bought a home in jan 08 with a gas boiler and an old oil boiler next to it. The gas was installed in '72 as was the gas boiler. We found the oil fill pipe in the spring when we were cleaning the gardens. The tank had approx 350 gallons of oil in it. I put Cetane boost into the tank and an electric fuel pump with a cartridge filter ( like an automotive oil filter but bigger) and a 1 micron SS filter. I pumped the oil into my tractors & burned it all up, leaving a few inches in the bottom of the tank.
Then I called the environmental contractor & removed the tank which surprisingly was in very good shape, not a pinhole & the inspectors agreed the soil was clean.

The tank removal cost me less than the oil I took out of it was worth- digging it myself that is.

I would rather burn the oil in an oil burner than a tractor. My thinking is that an oil burner & what can go wrong with it is a lot cheaper than a diesel engine. That being said, I would not transfer the oil into a new tank and risk contaminating a new tank with old oil ( bacteria) I would put new oil in the new tank, and figure a way (55 gallon drums) to burn off the old. As for the last 4 inches in the old tank- pay the environmental company to take it away it's more trouble than its worth IMO.

I hope you're as lucky as I was
Chris

 

[Redox]

I would agree that running it through an oil burner is less problematic than a diesel engine. Fuel injectors are far more precise than a $10 nozzle.

Old oil isn't necessarily bad; even if it gets infected with bacteria. The bacteria can be killed with an algaecide and the resulting mess filtered out with a suitable filter. It should burn just fine after that.

My father finally did something about the 500 gal tank that was located under his stone front porch. His oil company had a contractor suck out the oil, test it for leaks and pack it full of inert material. It was certified by a state inspector and abandoned in place. The amazing thing was that it was about 60 years old and didn't leak. Whew, load off my mind! Now we have to hide a 300 gal above ground tank somewhere.

Chris

 

[deerefanatic]

I say suck that oil out, filter, fill tank with dirt and forget about it........ And shut up........

If you stay there the rest of your life, all's fine.. If you sell a good number of years down the road, you can play dumb and say you've always burned wood and propane and didn't know it was there........

 

[Redox]

I say suck that oil out, filter, fill tank with dirt and forget about it........ And shut up........

If you stay there the rest of your life, all's fine.. If you sell a good number of years down the road, you can play dumb and say you've always burned wood and propane and didn't know it was there........

That's what he (father) is doing with the old gasoline tank next to the driveway. The house has been in the family since the late '40s and nobody saw a thing...

Chris

 

[EricV]

I say suck that oil out, filter, fill tank with dirt and forget about it........ And shut up........

If you stay there the rest of your life, all's fine.. If you sell a good number of years down the road, you can play dumb and say you've always burned wood and propane and didn't know it was there........

Yep, what I was getting at

 

[Chris S]

The problem with "out of site out of mind" is that home inspectors are looking for tanks, banks are insisting tanks be removed prior to writing a mortgage, insurance companies are sure to be in on this too. I've heard of "them" looking for tanks with metal detectors, and probes.

The point of all of this is that currently in my area anyway it is fairly easy and inexpensive to mitigate an oil tank within the current laws. As time goes on this will probably change making it more expensive & more closely watched. For my $850 I'd rather have the piece of paper in the file and on record with the town that the tank was properly removed & disposed of than years later have somebody tell me what I have to do. In some cases it is very difficult to remove a tank, but is still worth it to have a contractor clean it and properly abandon it, for peace of mind for ourselves, and for those we will be leaving it to.

Some see this as a burden, but keep in mind if you have a leak, or a suspected leak the DEC can order a cleanup on your property and they don't pay for it, you do. They also don't shop contractors, they guys they call come in big trucks with lots of equipment and big hourly rates.
A friend I work with was involved in a gas spill which was either from some dumped gas (less than 2 gallons) or from a leaking fuel tank on a car. The NYSDEC put filter systems in 6 houses to filter MTBE from well water for several years, the total cost was over $100,000. The homeowners insurance on 2 of the suspected properties shared the cost. If you have contamination that can be traced to your property, homeowners insurance will pay the cleanup for your neighbors, but not your cleanup unless you buy insurance specific to this.

An ounce of prevention.....
Oh & never dump out old gas

 

[deerefanatic]

Ok then I'd still remove it and keep quiet...... heck, if you got some strapping teenagers, dig it up, drain it, haul it off to the scrapyard and give the boys the money as an incentive to keep quiet......

This "enviromental" stuff is such a farce... Just a way to suck money out of already over-taxed americans.... Why should they care if I have a leaky car in my driveway when the oil companies dump millions of tons of waste into the oceans, etc every year...........

 

[Chris S]

In our area the tank is not considered haz mat- the scrap yard will take them with a 18" x 18" hole cut in the end.
You must feed your boys better than I do, no way me & my sons could lift a 500 gallon tank!