Temporary Oil Tank

[Keith 66]

Why wait until its nearly empty & phone up? My parents in lancashire were on a top up deal, they had a nifty little radio transponder gauge on the oil tank when it fell to about 25% full it automatically contacted the oil company who turned out & filled it up.
Of course i didnt know this until after mum died when clearing the house i was coming down the hill & see an oil tanker outside.
"What you doing mate?" i ask, He cheerily replies "Just topped you up mate". There you go 600 litres i didnt want!
And so two weeks later I am leaving the now empty house & the insurance company tell me that if unattended i cant leave the tank full.
Now at the time heating & diesel oil thefts were rampant in the area & the risk of a big spill into the rspb reserve next door was high.
So it was phone the farmer down the road & tell him help yourself Happy Christmas! He went round with an ibc on a trailer & emptied it.

 

[bletchmonster]

As suggested above, a truck tank works well.
Due to space and aesthetic ssues our cottage only has a Iveco daily plastic tank for the heating. Holds 75 plus litres. works well.
I
keep meaning to wire up the fuel gauge sender to automate wife nagging, bring home a drum of oil, mechanism!

 

[Onoff]

Isn't the heating on in the pub - problem solved.

The only heating in the pub is an open fire in one bar and woodburner in the other. That's it.

 

[dobbslc]

That's still warmer than the house is! And you get beer!

 

[Onoff]

Why wait until its nearly empty & phone up?

I'll give you her number and you can ask.

 

[Onoff]

That's still warmer than the house is! And you get beer!

I often take a bag of logs up. Not having a wood burner etc.

 

[8ob]

As suggested above, a truck tank works well.
Due to space and aesthetic ssues our cottage only has a Iveco daily plastic tank for the heating. Holds 75 plus litres. works well.
I
keep meaning to wire up the fuel gauge sender to automate wife nagging, bring home a drum of oil, mechanism!

I was thinking ( dangerous ) You could cut a three port valve into the line, it could then be used to run the boiler off either tank and used to fill the reserve tank when the big one is topped up. Save a lot of mess and faffing about.

Bob

 

[Onoff]

I'm actually considering opening up the fireplace here and putting a small woodburner in. The chimney was removed years ago and taken down as far as first floor level. Go into the loft and there's just a paving slab over the "hole":

 

[Onoff]

There used to be a chimney here but it was removed. Not by me. You can still see the 4 different shades tiles.

Planning to convert the roof from hip to gable ends so if I did fit a woodburner that'd complicate the detail.

 

[reb78]

That shouldn't be that hard to run a flue up through?

 

[Beanwood]

Just get on FBMP and someone will be selling heating oil in 20 litre containers- buy 2 and put them in the existing tank??

 

[gaz1]

put wood stove outside and build it into a shed then pipe through into the house and run certain rads off of it so they become core heat rads

then you have both oil boiler and wood stove gravity fed central heating

use boiler in the morning when up use the wood stove if you have free wood its what ive done

 

[Morrisman]

Would it be worth rigging up a reserve tank that automatically fills when the main tank is filled that you manually switch onto when the main tank gets low? Or even a reserve tap like on a motorbike? If the reserve was large enough for a few days it would give you enough time to order before running out. Myself, I would probably let her suffer the cold, she might just learn from it

If they still run out with a 2500 litre tank I can’t imagine how having a tiny amount extra is going to change anything. The problem here is not the logistics of storage, but the lack of brain matter in the one doing the ordering.

Sounds so typical of my ex-wife, she was given ample funds to live on and waste, pish up the wall, live a life millions of Filipinos dream of, but she couldn’t manage to pay an electric or telephone bill on time. Or put fuel in the car etc.

I’d come back from working offshore and find the phone didn’t work. Or there were threatening letters from the electric supplier. Then the ex wife would be swearing blind she’d paid the bills, how there must be something wrong etc etc, always an excuse. It got to the stage I was paying simple household bills on line, from my ship, just so we didn’t get cut off at home.

Of course, when I finally pulled the bin and divorced her, left her sort herself out, she was almost immediately declared bankrupt, despite selling our £150k house and pocketing all the proceeds……

 

[Onoff]

That shouldn't be that hard to run a flue up through?

I guess not. Up through the chimney breast initially then in "free air" within the loft space and out the roof through an appropriate cowl.

Aren't there stove regs that such work should be done by an approved installer?

Getting off track here!

 

[cheb]

If there was one then surely you're just repairing it. The stainless twinwall is very easy to install.

 

[reb78]

If there was one then surely you're just repairing it. The stainless twinwall is very easy to install.

Exactly the way I would look at it.

 

[Onoff]

Had the trellis off around the tank. Cut the squashed / damaged pipe pipe back and refitted with a new olive then shouldered the tank up and wedged. Bled it by sucking through at the fire valve then the pump with a gearbox sucker thing. All fired up.

Just came in after checking everything and I swear to God she'd wedged the cat flap open again She is her mother!

 

[addjunkie]

Go into the loft and there's just a paving slab over the "hole":

View attachment 484056

I had to read this a few times to decide if it was your Mrs or the chimney!

 

[gaz1]

id be screwing that cat flap up and when she complains it wont open you could alwasy say well i caught you wedging it open so cured it once and for all

though your cat will knock itself out when it tries to go out

then she will get warm by moving to let the cat out the house

 

[Cobbler]

When we moved into our bungalow, it was March, freezing cold & we found a 9inch square hole in the back door. Apparently the next doors dog had chased the cat through the flap, the flap was too small & the dog came out the other side wearing it round its neck. First job, square of plywood……