Need easy way to empty my heating-oil tank
Greetings. I'm brand new here. I have general mechanical experience. (I was a wheeled-vehicle mechanic in the Army.) I know just a little about my home heating system (hydronic, baseboard, with oil burner). My burner is not repairable, per two professionals who inspected it. (I will replace it with an electric burner.)
My oil tank is in my basement/crawl space. It started weeping, and I can smell it. I want to get it emptied into some plastic 55-gallon drums. It's an odd size, 225-gallon, and it's just under half full. I have two clean drums.
Can I easily, safely, use the burner's pump to drain the tank? Or, should I get a portable transfer pump? If I get a portable pump, should I hook it to the valve on the bottom-front of the tank (see photo), or should I drop a hose down in the fuel-gauge hole?
I'd be okay with draining it into drums in my basement/crawlspace; but, I think I'd prefer to put the drums outside. The copper pipe that goes through my foundation has the fill cap and vent just on the other side or the block wall, not even a foot above ground. Can I put a syphon hose through the filler tube or vent to drain the tank via a transfer pump?
Many thanks in advance.
, Lee
Comments
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Unless your tank is an oddball its probably 275 gallons. If you find a barrel supply company, you can get 55-gallon plastic barrels with screw in plugs. That would be the best thing.
You could use the burner pump but not practical it would take forever to pump that much oil.
I would just get a cheap water pump. Harbor Freight has one for $17 that you drive with a drill and get some cheap garden hose.
You may or may not be able to get a hose down the fill or vent pipe more than one elbow probably not. You should have a spare tapping on top of the tank you can take the plug out or remove the tank gauge and put the hose down there.
When you have the tank empty and disconnected MAKE 100% SURE to cut out and completely remove the old fill and vent pipes so no one can put oil in the tank or flood the basement
You can't imagine how many times that has happened and the clean-up cost is a number you don't ever want to see.
All the oil codes require the fill and vent to be 100% removed when disconnecting a tank.
Maybe you can find a garage that has a furnace that burns used waste oil that will take the oil. Don't make a spill the insurance co will not like it.
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Depending on where you live you have to dispose of the tank. How much of that can be DIY depends on local laws. So it may be easier, better, safer to get someone to do it. Especially if you are in a location that requires a permit and paperwork filed with the fire marshal/state, proving the tank was properly disposed and where. Some place require cutting tank in half where it sits, cleaned out and inspected/signed off before removal. So check first. My scrap guy pumps them dry, cuts them, yanks them out and helps me carry down a new tank for $500. Something to think about.
To do it yourself.- Remove supply/vent piping.
- Make up a 1” steel pipe dip tube, with an elbow and a NPT to garden hose attachment.
- Attach cheapo water pump at the steel pipe dip tube with shortest hose possible (you can get a 6” one).
- Run hose on outlet of pump thru hole in wall to the drum. Might want to run the ext. cord thru the hole to so you can shut the pump off.
Cheap pump probably gets you maybe 10-15 gpm.
You still have to get rid of the oil. Oil weighs about 7 lbs/gal.0 -
Electric boiler? In the northeast? Better check electric rates
To learn more about this professional, click here to visit their ad in Find A Contractor.0 -
Thanks for the swift reply and the helpful insights. Yes, as stated, my tank is odd and definitely is 225-gallon. I used it for 10 years, having numerous companies fill it, all assuring me they could get more than 225 gallons in when it was nearly bone dry, having literally run out of "oil". The most it ever took was 223.
I didn't realize the burner pump had the GPH right on it, and you're right, it would take a while.
This looks like a good value.Given that it is weeping, and I'm switching to electric, I was going to buy a locking cap for it ASAP.
I read a couple horror stories of basements flooded with "oil" from wrong-address deliveries.
Thanks, again.
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Thanks for the reply, @HydronicMike. I just looked into removal regulations and my municipality has none. They defer to state EPA, which is pretty minimal, too.
Ah, so your "shortest hose possible" recommendation is due to max head and max suction of the pump, right? Good info, thanks.I like the 30 GPH pump I referenced in a prior reply.
After doing some moderate research, for getting rid of the oil, I'm now thinking of this:
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@Robert O'Brien Valid concern, but 1. oil rates skyrocketed a few of years back under the prior anti-fossil-fuels administration, and 2. I never wanted to live off-grid. I hate dealing with deliveries, and someone trapsing through my yard scaring the daylights out of my exotic pets. I also hate the stink and mess of an oil burner, along with the annual cleanings. I suspect the electric burner will require annual servicing, too; but, it won't leave my house stinking of diesel fuel. Good riddance. I hated the percussive thud of the burner kicking on and waking me from a night's sleep, too. Then, when it shut off, I'd hear the flap on the stove pipe bouncing closed—waking me again. Ugh. I had no opinion of oil heat when I bought this house. I now dislike it plenty.
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then your going to love the Tick Tick Tick of your electric meter!
You’d better compare the cost of fuel and BTU/h.
https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating
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The noises and smells you mention all stem from a lack of proper maintenance. That may be the only kind that's available to you, but they're still not normal. Not much can be done about the deliveries though.
Not sure that an "electric burner" is a thing, either, unless you meant a gas (natural or propane) power burner. An electric boiler is a thing, but a little bit bigger job than a burner replacement.
Compare your current fuel cost to the equivalent electric cost. Every year or so we hear from someone in a panic about how to reduce their brand-new, thousand-dollar-a-month electric bill.
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Ah, yes, I used "burner" throughout my original post without thinking about it. It seems dumb to call a device that does not bring the water to a boil, ever, a boiler; but, I get that that is the norm. Yes, electric "boiler", which is not a boiler at all because it does no boiling.
I've had multiple pros, with excellent reputations service it. All complaints persisted.
You're pretty full of yourself, huh? I am more than willing to pay more for the cleanliness, quietness, ease of service, and on-demand fulfillment, versus deliveries. BONUS—I don't need a new tank, and I won't have a tank that rots, necessitating replacement due to accumulated moisture from the vent.-1 -
No need to be nasty. People are trying to help.
Just so you know oil has been around since the 1920s.
You don't like it and that is your right, but many do. Your problems are due to lack of maintenance. There is a shortage of qualified technicians
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your convinced
Good luck with your decisions.
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Nah, not too full of myself (although I am super awesome IRL), you just mentioned some things that oil doesn't normally do as problems, and people have been here in the past sobbing about thousand-dollar electric bills. If oil deliveries are a deal-breaker, and spending more on electricity than you're spending on oil isn't a hardship, there's no reason to stay with oil. But electric has it's own down sides.
And an electric boiler doesn't burn any more than it boils… 😉
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