Oil tank failure due to overfilling and overpressure

LISteve

We have had oil delivery, burner and tank maintenance contracts with the same company for seventy years. They replaced the burner twelve years ago. Ten and a half years years ago we were informed we needed a new tank. The oil company replaced the oil tank in December of 2012. (the previous tank lasted seventy years) The 240 gallon Grandby 202201 tank was manufactured 10-2012 and was the only option offered. We have had their tank assurance and maintenance contract on the tank since installation.

A month and a half ago, we were away for a long weekend. On Monday morning our security cameras alerted us to an oil delivery at 8:15 am. When we returned home around six pm we found the basement flooded with 130 gallons oil and an oil delivery bill for 99.7 gallons of oil. An emergent call was placed to the oil company yet it took two hours and multiple calls to get a technician to respond. The technician said the tank was leaking, and reported to his company. He connected a vacuum pump to the fill line and taped up the vent line. The oil company contacted the fire marshal and their sister tank and remediation companies to install a temporary tank and start the remediation process. I was immediately informed that the oil company had no responsibility and was required to sign agreements that I was to pay. As I had no choice, I signed and work commenced.

The Fire Marshal came said that the the tank had clearly been overfilled as oil was still dripping down the sides of the tank. Upon further investigation, the Fire Marshal found that the tank was also leaking from the bottom at the opposite end of the tank to the fill line. The Fire Marshal informed me that DEC would be informed and would require containment and cleanup of the significant oil spill.

Please refer to the photograph of the tank as found. Note the entire tank around the fill line is covered with oil. Not apparent in this photo, but the pipe dope on the fill line fittings above the union were also wet with oil. The gauge reads less than half full. There was no apparent oil on the ground outside at the fill and vent lines. The tank being covered with oil clearly indicates it was overfilled, yet the gauge being at less than half indicates that approximately 120 gallons leaked out of the tank flooding the basement adding to whatever oil was spilled by the overfilling.

The Grandby specifications for this tank explicitly state “Operation at atmospheric pressure only” and “Pressure tested at 5 PSIG”. It is my understanding that these tanks are not to exceed 5psi, though Grandby only specifies operation at “atmospheric pressure”. As an aside, NFPA 30 Sec 21.4.2.1.5 “Horizontal cylindrical and rectangular tanks shall not exceed a gauge pressure of 1 psi and shall be limited to 2.5 psi under emergency venting conditions.”

It is my understanding that delivery protocol requires the operator listening for a tank whistle which stops at approximately 90% fill of the tank at which point the driver must immediately stop the fill so as to not overfill and overpressure the tank. It is often explained that the 10% air left in the tank is needed for expansion of cold oil, but far, far more important reason is that gas (air) is compressible and oil is not. By having 10% gas in the tank, the compression or cushioning of the air helps protect the tank from excess pressure. Even though the tank is vented, it is my understanding that fuel trucks deliver as much as ninety gallons a minute at hydrostatic pressures as high as 100 psi.

The fill line pipe fittings are sealed with pipe joint compound. Two inch threaded fittings are rated well in excess of 100 psi, but the tank is only rated for atmospheric pressure. In the photograph oil has leaked copiously through the pipe fittings clearly requiring significant pressures to penetrate the joint and far in excess of the tank specifications.

I have not been contacted by the oil company at anytime despite my three quarter century relationship with them. I did, however, hear almost immediately from their sister company wanting to replace the tank. It is noteworthy that their temporary tank team stood the oil tank on its leaking end for no apparent reason other than destroying the evidence of cause and effect.

When I finally reached out to try to speak to the oil company, the only real response I received was from the service manager who said “let me get this straight, your tank failed and YOU’RE blaming us?” I await further response from the oil company, but so far they take no responsibility for the failure.

Multiple knowledgeable professionals (including me) immediately warned me not to let anyone remove the old tank until investigated thoroughly. Several professionals in the field including the DEC agent inspected the tank and all found it to be in pristine condition with no evidence of deterioration.

I apologize for the length of this post. I would very much appreciate any and all feedback on my situation and my understanding thereof.

HVACNUT

From here it looks like it leaked from the union on the fill.

realliveplumber

You need a competent attorney.

You should also call your insurance company.

jesmed1

Your oil company is entirely at fault. They installed what is still a virtually new tank, and they filled it improperly and caused the spill. By all means, get a good lawyer. This cleanup is going to cost a lot, and the oil company's insurance company should be forced to pay for all of it. Also write down the names of all the pros you said inspected the tank, and get their contact info for followup by your lawyer.

LISteve

What most of us do not know and I was among them, almost all homeowners policies exclude coverage for an oil spill under a “pollution or contamination” exclusion. I am informed that this is almost universally excluded and riders to cover are rare.

MaxMercy

HVACNUT said:

From here it looks like it leaked from the union on the fill.

It does, but it would be a pretty good coincidence that the fill union leaked at the same time the tank failed at the bottom, no?

LISteve

MaxMercy said:

HVACNUT said:

From here it looks like it leaked from the union on the fill.

It does, but it would be a pretty good coincidence that the fill union leaked at the same time the tank failed at the bottom, no?

Wether it leaked at the union or the threads, it would still need to be overfilled and develop sufficient pressure to leak from either place and that would overpressure the tank resulting in the tanks failure at its weakest point. The tank was installed and maintained by the oil company. If there was no overpressure and overfill, there wouldn’t be oil all over the tank and coincidentally the catastrophic failure of the tank at the same time.

MaxMercy

LISteve said:

MaxMercy said:

HVACNUT said:

From here it looks like it leaked from the union on the fill.

It does, but it would be a pretty good coincidence that the fill union leaked at the same time the tank failed at the bottom, no?

Wether it leaked at the union or the threads, it would still need to be overfilled and develop sufficient pressure to leak from either place and that would overpressure the tank resulting in the tanks failure at its weakest point. The tank was installed and maintained by the oil company. If there was no overpressure and overfill, there wouldn’t be oil all over the tank and coincidentally the catastrophic failure of the tank at the same time.

Understood, but I was wondering if the poster was thinking it *only* leaked at the fitting during the fill process.

What I'm surprised at is that it didn't leak from the sight glass/gauge. When I had an inattentive nozzle jockey overfill my tank, the only place it leaked from was the sight glass gasket. I found about three gallons of oil on the floor and a couple more in my driveway from the vent, and I found the whistle was flooded on the next fill when the oil company couldn't make a delivery (they denied responsibility).

Mad Dog_2

Very sticky situation. Not clear what let go to dump that much #2 in to the basement.  What was the issue with the bottom of the tank?  Properly tightened black nipples and fittings from the original install do not just loosen up.  A Hand-tightened Union under fill pressure could leak significantly though.  In any case, the oil company should be more helpful and work with you better than they have.  Unfortunately, situations like these cause people to go to gas...a bad taste in their mouths.  

I would isolate all outlets & inlets and do an air pressure test..see what blew.  Mad Dog 🐕 

EBEBRATT-Ed

Someone needs to look at the old tank to see if it was "over pressurized".
my understanding is that the MFG tests (or is supposed to test the tanks to 5psi). I know of a tank mfg that never tested any of their tanks. They are supposed to be operated at atmospheric pressure, hence the vent line.

Your comments about the truck delivery pressure are accurate. The driver if he starts filling and does not hear the whistle, he should stop filling. he also cannot leave the fill pipe while the tank is filling and must stop delivery when the vent no longer whistles.


To me what you have to decide is did the spill come from the leaking fill pipe? Or from a tank that started leaking because it was over pressurized.


If a tank is over pressurized the damage will be very apparent.........the tank ends will be bulged out. I have seen tanks that were over pressurized and if you see one there is no doubt.

If the tank was over pressurized the oil company is at fault in my opinion.

If the oil leaked out the fill pipe at the pipe threads or union why did it never leak before......something fishy

STEVEusaPA

I don’t think the tank was overfilled. If it were the sight glass would’ve filled and probably leaked oil. Doesn’t look like it did that.
Your insurance company and your lawyer need to get involved.

jesmed1

LISteve said:

Upon further investigation, the Fire Marshal found that the tank was also leaking from the bottom at the opposite end of the tank to the fill line.

That's a critical detail. That, and the fact that the tank was only half full after the leak, would seem to prove that the leak did not just come from the fill pipe union at the top of the tank.

On our Granby tanks, the "opposite end" to the fill line is where the feed line exits the tank. There's a threaded bung welded into the underside of the tank for the feed line coupling to thread into. It's possible when the tank pressurized, the pressure cracked the tank right at the weld line around the bung, as the heat-affected zone of the weld at the relatively thin tank wall could have created a weak point.

I'm guessing the oil delivery guy stepped away from the fill pipe for a minute, and when he came back he found oil blowing out the vent pipe. Then he went into damage control mode, taped up the vent pipe and put a vacuum pump on the feed line. Meanwhile, the tank had already ruptured at the bottom where the Fire Marshal inspected it, and continued leaking into the basement until the vacuum pump had pulled enough vacuum to stop the leak. By that time, about half the tank had leaked into the basement.

STEVEusaPA

LISteve said:

What most of us do not know and I was among them, almost all homeowners policies exclude coverage for an oil spill under a “pollution or contamination” exclusion. I am informed that this is almost universally excluded and riders to cover are rare.

As an owner of an oil company, I talk with a number of other oil company owners and spills/clean up/liability is something we discuss a lot. I can tell you your statement is not typical about homeowners' insurance and coverage.

Mad Dog_2

I agree..Driver may have wandered away to gawk at a Pretty lady 👩 or glued to his phone.  Mad Dog 🐕 

jesmed1

jesmed1 said:

I'm guessing the oil delivery guy stepped away from the fill pipe for a minute, and when he came back he found oil blowing out the vent pipe. Then he went into damage control mode, taped up the vent pipe and put a vacuum pump on the feed line. Meanwhile, the tank had already ruptured at the bottom where the Fire Marshal inspected it, and continued leaking into the basement until the vacuum pump had pulled enough vacuum to stop the leak. By that time, about half the tank had leaked into the basement.

Correction to my above post. After re-reading the original post, I see that the oil delivery guy was apparently unaware that he had ruptured the tank and went on his way. The oil company didn't come back and put the vacuum pump on until about 12 hours later. So if a total of about 130 gallons leaked, that's a leak rate of about 11 gallons per hour, which is 3 cups per minute, or one cup every 20 seconds.

Using a measuring cup and water flowing from a kitchen sink faucet, the water flow that fills 1 cup in 20 seconds is a continuous stream of diameter around 1/8" inch, maybe a bit more. Oil viscosity is different, so it will flow slower. So you might have a larger diameter stream for oil to get the same flow rate as water. But oil was definitely streaming out of the tank, not just dripping, with a stream diameter maybe the size of a pencil.

Mad Dog_2

Thats one job I WOULD NOT WANT...oil delivery or truck/bus  driving in NYC especially 🤔...Brutal...Mad Dog 🐕 

realliveplumber

What about the spot a pot guy?

STEVEusaPA

Another post where non-pros, or people with actual experience, chiming in on something they know nothing about.

WMno57

STEVEusaPA said:

Your insurance company and your lawyer need to get involved.

Agree with that.

Mad Dog_2

Pot guy??  Mad Dog 🐕 

LISteve

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone for their input. This is a subject to which I had no prior knowledge whatsoever. I am not in the business and have no relation to it other than as a customer. This has been an extremely stressful and difficult time and it’s even affecting our health. I have been trying to get a proper understanding of the issue and all your inputs are extremely helpful and important to me.

STEVEusaPA, thank you for your insurance input…it certainly was my assumption that my homeowners policy provided coverage, but I was informed otherwise and reading the policy exclusions seems to confirm no coverage. I was also informed that in NYS, insurance companies use a standard State Provided template as starting point for their policies which then need be approved by the state regulatory agency at that this exclusion is in the template that all insurances base the policies on. I was also informed that riders for such coverage were seldom available. I don’t know if this was NY State specific and I also do not know if this was all said to appease my utter disbelief that I had no such coverage. I will certainly investigate further thanks to your input and I will endeavor to read my policy much more carefully. I will admit to the foolhardy belief that because the policy was from a premium carrier it must be excellent coverage.

As to the circumstances, let me add: On Friday of that same weekend, we were in the boiler room to change a water alarm battery and there was no evidence of any oil on the tank nor any tell tale oil smell nor has there ever been for the ten years since the tank was installed. Three days later upon return and coincident to the oil delivery, the tank was “dripping with oil” from around the tank fill line area, but there was no discernible oil noted around the vent line outside…

EBEBRATT-Ed

@LISteve

When you look at the old oil tank was there any evidence of bulging? Or was the tank discarded?

I was an oil tech back in the day and used to deliver oil with the truck "part time" when we got overloaded or one of the drivers was out sick.

People think it is an easy job but it isn't and there is a responsibility to it.

Maybe because I only did it part time I was more attentive to it then others that deliver all the time but I never had a spill or went to the wrong house.

We had a driver once making a delivery to a high school #4 oil and they used to allow a copy of the loading ticket to be used for delivery. You get there open or crack open one of the manholes on top of the truck to let air in. Hook a 4" hose from the truck to the oil tank fill open a valve and let it rip. No running it through a meter just a gravity dump.


The mistake was the driver was sitting in the truck looking at porno (this was a night time delivery) so he couldn't see the oil fill mistake #1, mistake #2 sitting in the truck, mistake #3 trusting the custodian who was going by the oil tank gauge in the boiler room and mistake #4 not checking the tank level when he
arrived by sticking the tank

In your case your oil company owes you something. Either your tank failed (doubtful) or they over pressurized /overfilled.

Mad Dog_2

I'm with Ed..Mad Dog 🐕 

HVACNUT

MaxMercy said:

From here it looks like it leaked from the union on the fill.

It does, but it would be a pretty good coincidence that the fill union leaked at the same time the tank failed at the bottom, no?

We haven't seen a pic of a leaking tank.
I would love to see it though. 
Definitely an amateur job with the unions and couplings anyway. 

MaxMercy

HVACNUT said:

Definitely an amateur job with the unions and couplings anyway. 

What are you talking about? That's exactly how I would do it...



Uh-oh...

pecmsg

jesmed1 said:

I'm guessing the oil delivery guy stepped away from the fill pipe for a minute, and when he came back he found oil blowing out the vent pipe. Then he went into damage control mode, taped up the vent pipe and put a vacuum pump on the feed line. Meanwhile, the tank had already ruptured at the bottom where the Fire Marshal inspected it, and continued leaking into the basement until the vacuum pump had pulled enough vacuum to stop the leak. By that time, about half the tank had leaked into the basement.

Correction to my above post. After re-reading the original post, I see that the oil delivery guy was apparently unaware that he had ruptured the tank and went on his way. The oil company didn't come back and put the vacuum pump on until about 12 hours later. So if a total of about 130 gallons leaked, that's a leak rate of about 11 gallons per hour, which is 3 cups per minute, or one cup every 20 seconds. Using a measuring cup and water flowing from a kitchen sink faucet, the water flow that fills 1 cup in 20 seconds is a continuous stream of diameter around 1/8" inch, maybe a bit more. Oil viscosity is different, so it will flow slower. So you might have a larger diameter stream for oil to get the same flow rate as water. But oil was definitely streaming out of the tank, not just dripping, with a stream diameter maybe the size of a pencil.

Vacuum pump on the full / vent pipes?

jesmed1

pecmsg said:

Vacuum pump on the full / vent pipes?

I was quoting the OP, who said the tech taped the vent and connected a vacuum pump to the fill pipe.

HVACNUT

jesmed1 said:

pecmsg said:

Vacuum pump on the full / vent pipes?

I was quoting the OP, who said the tech taped the vent and connected a vacuum pump to the fill pipe.

No, he connected his soot vac to the fill pipe to pull a vacuum on the tank to stop it from leaking.

jesmed1

HVACNUT said:

No, he connected his soot vac to the fill pipe to pull a vacuum on the tank to stop it from leaking.

That makes more sense. OP called it a "vacuum pump."

EdTheHeaterMan

I had a case where a fuel tank split while I was delivering fuel. The vent alarm was whistling, I could hear it. The problem was that the vent was clogged to the point that the 80 GPM delivery volume was building up air pressure in the tank. The tank was old and it split at a seem as a result of the pressure. This was an automatic delivery customer that happened to be home that day. When I realized the delivery was taking too long, I closed the nozzle on the delivery hose and returned to the truck to see that I had delivered 287 gallons to a 275 gallon tank. The vent alarm was still whistling from the back pressure in the tank.

I knocked on the door and asked the customer if I could check the tank. I didn't need to look at the tank because is saw oil on the basement floor as soon as I opened the basement door. (PM me if you want to hear the rest of the story)

You don't need Hydraulic pressure to split a tank.There was still compressed air in the tank when it split. All you need is a blocked vent. You might want to look at the vent pipe to see if there is a blockage. The smallest amount of air can whistle the vent alarm. That little amount of air is not enough to vent the tank.

By the way, no oil ever came out the vent pipe during this delivery.

You may also want to look closely at the vent alarm itself If the whistle found its way past the pin that keeps it in place, then that vent alarm whistle could actually clog the vent pipe.



If the retainer pin broke off, the whistle can get logged in the actual vent pipe and then the pipe is restricted to the diameter of the whistle hole (about 1/4" Diameter)

jesmed1

EdTheHeaterMan said:

You don't need Hydraulic pressure to split a tank.There was still compressed air in the tank when it split. All you need is a blocked vent. You might want to look at the vent pipe to see if there is a blockage. The smallest amount of air can whistle the vent alarm. That little amount of air is not enough to vent the tank.

By the way, no oil ever came out the vent pipe during this delivery.

You may also want to look closely at the vent alarm itself If the whistle found its way past the pin that keeps it in place, then that vent alarm whistle could actually clog the vent pipe.

Interesting...in that case, who ended up paying for the cleanup?

EBEBRATT-Ed

There's nothing wrong with unions or couplings on the fill and vent. So the tank was changed 10 or 12 years ago. I don't know anyone who would want to chop the vent and fill out of the wall to pipe it without unions.

I do question the vent not being the same size as the fill but 2" fill and 1 1/4" vents were the standard for years. And the vent being smaller than the fill wouldn't have contributed to the issue in my opinion

EdTheHeaterMan

jesmed1 said:

Interesting...in that case, who ended up paying for the cleanup?

I'm sure that was taken care of by the oil company insurance company. This happened in the 1970's before all the EPA guidelines were in place for underground tanks, and oil spill were not considered a hazard as they are today. I do know that the customer switched to gas heat soon after that.

The guy who was the best man at my wedding was working in the trucking company's vehicle repair shop at the time. He was Dispatched with 10 bags of oil dry a pump and some 55 gallon barrels. He met 2 other service department technicians on the job and spent the remainder of the day, tearing out red carpet and pouring oil dry on the floor while the service men pumped out the tank. After work that day, he told me all about the customer and what a mess I made.

Needless to say, My uncle Joe was not happy with me. Just another reason for me to leave the family business.

jesmed1

EdTheHeaterMan said:

jesmed1 said:

Interesting...in that case, who ended up paying for the cleanup?

I'm sure that was taken care of by the oil company insurance company. This happened in the 1970's before all the EPA guidelines were in place for underground tanks, and oil spill were not considered a hazard as they are today. I do know that the customer switched to gas heat soon after that.

LOL. An elderly lady at our church recently had a major oil spill remediation project at her house. One day the oil delivery guy smelled oil and investigated. It turned out that the fill pipe went under some decking before it entered the foundation into the basement tank, and the fill pipe had rusted out over a period of years.

Here in MA, the Dept of Environmental Protection (DEP) required her to demolish her adjacent garage and dig out the contaminated soil. The garage was demo'd and a large hole dug beside her house foundation. The cleanup crew cut a large access hole in the house foundation, and had to excavate a large portion of her basement below slab level to a depth of 6 feet. Just the digging and soil testing took months. The friend who helped her manage the process with the oil company, the DEP, and the contractors told me when it was all over, the total cost was in the neighborhood of $500k. Fortunately the oil company's insurance took care of most or all of it.

In the OP's case, hopefully there isn't all that contaminated soil to remove, so I'm not suggesting it's a similar situation. But it is an extreme illustration of how bad these events can be.

Treebeard

After investigating dozens of UL80 tank failures for a major insurance company, I can say that something is not making sense. Some questions:
1. Where are you?
2. Who is the oil company's insurance company?
3. When was that photo taken in relation to the spill?
4. Can you upload photos of everything to imgur dot com and post a link here please? Include a bubble level on the top of the tank and each horizontal pipe, a caliper showing pipe diameters, the tank legs in contact with the floor or whatever they are resting on,
5. Can you post a photo of the delivery ticket (with PII blocked out)?
6. Can you post the video of the delivery as well?

A tank that is built and installed correctly should not rupture even when overfilled.
Some common causes of failure of new tanks are:
A. Incorrect installation. (On the installation company)
B. Poor maintenance. (Sometimes on the owner or maintenance company)
C. Tampering. (Usually the owner)
D. Moving old oil with active bacteria to the new tank. (Usually on the installer, but sometimes at the insistence of the owner)

The insurance company I work for WILL PAY 100% of a claim when there is the SLIGHTEST chance that their insured (the delivery or maintenance company) is at fault. Sometimes I'm surprised at just how far the insurance company will go to justify paying a claim. But, they also always pay my bill promptly and without argument.

Every investigation is a sad affair, and I'm sad this happened to you. I realize that it is very stressful and I wish you the best.

LISteve

Thank you very much. I am gathering the requested information.

Mad Dog_2

Pictures please...Mad Dog 🐕 

HVACNUT

Mad Dog_2 said:

Pictures please...Mad Dog 🐕 

Yeah. Let's see the leaking tank.

Dave Carpentier

Is there possibly any legal concerns with posting too much info on a publicly searchable site ?

STEVEusaPA

Dave Carpentier said:

Is there possibly any legal concerns with posting too much info on a publicly searchable site ?

I flagged the post and expressed the same concerns.

Jamie Hall

Dave Carpentier said:

Is there possibly any legal concerns with posting too much info on a publicly searchable site ?

There is indeed, and it's all accessible and will be discovered by the lawyers for the various parties. Generally pure statements of fact or description -- "there was a puddle of oil on the floor" or the like -- won't really be a problem. Any statement of opinion on cause or responsibility, however, and your goose is pretty well cooked.