Good thing we had a spare on hand. The mounts for the legs rotted off the tank.
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Full oil tank fell over. Good day today!
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Hopefully ya didn't loose too much oil.
I've seen a number of those go over, can't believe the the mounts on those don't fold when the tank is empty! The longer the legs and a little bit of ground shifting like when the frost comes out in the spring and over she goes. Unless it's on a slab with short stubby legs it's always best to add some additional shoring underneath.
Looks like ya got her under control with the pump on it , but yeah what a PIA!
Hey at least it's not in a finished basement, seen that before.
Home, down in the valley behind the Red Angus
Bad Decisions Make Good Stories​
Location: British Columbia
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Hey at least it's not in a finished basement,"A machinist's (WHAP!) best friend (WHAP! WHAP!) is his hammer. (WHAP!)" - Fred Tanner, foreman, Lunenburg Foundry and Engineering machine shop, circa 1979
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Dad buried a fuel oil tank when they built their house. Youngest brother played fuel delivery man with the garden hose and topped the tank off.
Led to a lot of colorful language that winter while Dad played furnace repair man.....and eventually a new above ground tank.
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Originally posted by mickeyf View Post
Wor$e than that is it leaks into the nearby creek. Have had some of those around here in the past few years. Also, 60-70 years ago, they thought it was great idea to bury them in the yard, not thinking they'd rust out eventually and contaminate things. If you buy a house here you have to make sure there is no buried tank, and if there is, have it properly and officially removed and signed off.
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There was a house near me that the people ordered fuel oil, the oil man went to the wrong house and pumped in a couple of hundred gallons. The tank had been removed but the fill pipe was left in place. the house was cleaned twice by a professional cleaning company, eventually they tore it down and built a new house.
Jon
SW MI
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Originally posted by Cheap Jon View PostThere was a house near me that the people ordered fuel oil, the oil man went to the wrong house and pumped in a couple of hundred gallons. The tank had been removed but the fill pipe was left in place. the house was cleaned twice by a professional cleaning company, eventually they tore it down and built a new house.
Jon
SW MI
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I once lived in a house with an oil furnace. The tank was inside- the furnace was a huge thing. I'm sure it was state of the art at the time. I got it filled when I moved in, and it cost me $250 back in '78 or so. That was as much as the rent, but I figured if it lasted 3 months it wouldn't be so bad. So- about 5 weeks later the tank is empty. All my past experiences with pumping oil into a container and bringing it in the house to pour into our two oil stoves came back to me.
Our neighbor had oil as well, same kind of outdoor tank, but his was plumbed in- ours wasn't. It was not fun in the middle of winter pumping the bucket, filling the stoves- three trips each time- then going off to school. I always smelled like oil. One morning after I had forgotten to fill the tanks the night before, there was ice in the toilet. I caught hell for that.
Keeping the stoves tanks free of water was no small feat either. I got pretty good at rebuilding the carbs, but it was messy. All the floor tiles behind the stove were curled up, and the glue was a sticky mess. Not my best memories.
I seldom do anything within the scope of logical reason and calculated cost/benefit, etc- I'm following my passion-
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Originally posted by reggie_obe View PostAt least it didn't crush in the side of the adjacent above ground swimming pool.
That is actually one of our bait holding tanks. I was cleaning it out getting ready to put it back into service. Glad I wasnt standing between the oil and bait tank when this happened. luckily I dont think we lost too much fuel. That pump I picked up from HF quickly to transfer the oil to the new tank. It works great! I was happy with how well it worked. I was also lucky i had a few buckets of cat litter on hand to catch the oil. For how bad it could have been I feel it all worked out as best as it could been.
Ive been curious though. Why are the legs of all these tanks around the same length? Is there a standard that these tanks have to sit off the ground? Why couldnt they be nearly set right on the ground? Condensation? I have always been worried about how unstable they seem on these legs.
The same tank has been there for 40 years though. If we get 40 out of this tank I wont have to worry about it.Andy
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Originally posted by vpt View PostIve been curious though. Why are the legs of all these tanks around the same length? Is there a standard that these tanks have to sit off the ground? Why couldnt they be nearly set right on the ground? Condensation? I have always been worried about how unstable they seem on these legs.
See NFPA 31, might be a real answer there.
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Originally posted by vpt View Post
Why are the legs of all these tanks around the same length? Is there a standard that these tanks have to sit off the ground? Why couldnt they be nearly set right on the ground? Condensation? I have always been worried about how unstable they seem on these legs.
I suppose that they come long to meet varying installation options. Most professional installers will cut them.
On a furnace that is fed by a pump (most are) legs just long enough to clear the radius at the bottom of the tank is all that is needed and much safer.The shorter the better, any longer than necessary and you are courting disaster. Without extra triangulation on the legs they can get scary unstable when full.
Most furnaces are either at ground level or in the basement so no need to raise the tank in most cases.
Many jurisdictions state that they must be at least a schedule 40 leg with a maximum length of 12" and on concrete pads, any higher and they must meet some lofty standard that I can't remember at the moment. These tanks can get very heavy when full (about 2200 lbs for a 250-270 Gal/1150 L. tank) so stability is important.
These are just standard pipe threaded legs so not hard to source or cut off if yours are too long.
Condensation and rust peroration is always from the inside out unless the tank is sitting with it's belly in the mud.Home, down in the valley behind the Red Angus
Bad Decisions Make Good Stories​
Location: British Columbia
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