Digsy Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I'm about (or was anyway) to change my nearly knackered steel oil tank for a nice new plastic one, but upon reading a few websites it appears tha the Government snuck a shedload of new legislation under the radar back in 2005 that means I probably can't simply put a new plastic tank in the same place as the old metal one, which (unsurprisingly) means it will go from costing a couple of hundred quid to an arm and a leg. However, the guidelines are very hard to interpret. Does anyone on here do this kind of work and could give me some help? Cheers in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONKEYmark Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 my partners father has a plastic oil tank in garden.can try get u any numbers or info if u need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Say nothing and get a new steel one made up, or bought. I was going to get one galvanized, but allegedly central heating oil eats the zinc... I don't trust the plastic ones, a nearby fire will melt them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Raven Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 WTF! I having a new system put in and il need a plastic tank, so whats the deal now then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 Say nothing and get a new steel one made up, or bought. I was going to get one galvanized, but allegedly central heating oil eats the zinc... I don't trust the plastic ones, a nearby fire will melt them. I don’t think you can buy the metal ones anymore, but I'm prepared to be corrected on that. As for the "plastic tanks versus fire" issue, read on… WTF! I having a new system put in and il need a plastic tank, so whats the deal now then? The deal now is that the powers that be have got all medieval on domestic and industrial oil storage as an environmental issue. The two main issues (as I understand things) are: 1) The owner of the installation is now responsible for making it envirnomentally friendly. This mainly concerns the likelyhood of spillage. It seems that if someone comes round to fill your tank and they spill any, then if it gets into an environmetally sensitive area (like a river or steam or even an open drain) then the owner of the installtion is criminally liable for the consequences. These are a four figure fine for starters, plus the cost of the clean up. All new tank installations have to be assesed by an OFTEC registered technician to make sure that potential spillage cannot get into any of these sensitive areas. If they decide it can then there are three options: One is to use a single skinned tank and relocate it to a safe area. Another it to use a single skinned tank and "bund" it by building a small wall around it (which itself has to comply with certain regs) to contain any spillage. The third option is to buy a bunded tank. This is a "tank within a tank". The inner tank holds the fuel you use, and the outer tank can hold an extra 10% (IIRC) of overflow. The problems with bunded tanks are that they take up a lot more room, so for a given capacity your tank suddenly get a lot more intrusive, and also they cost over twice as much as a single skinned tank (£700-£800 versus £300 for a basic 1100 litre job). 2) The other problem is that the rules and regs for siting the tank (regardless of whether you go bunded or single skin) have also changed. Tanks now have to be 760mm away from boundaries and 1.8m away from buildings, eaves, windows, flues, etc. If you can't fully comply with this, then you have to provide a fire barrier with 30minute protection around the tank plus 300mm in every direction. The building regs for the construction of tank bases have also changed, plus it is all notifiable work. You can do it yourself but you need to have it inspected. The situation I am in is that my tank (as well as the tanks in the houses on either side) are all 11 years old, steel, and therefore all probably knackered. Mine is sited within 1.5m of two open drains, right up against my kitchen wall, with a window on one side and a patio door on the other. The concrete base doesn’t comply with current regs (I suspect that it was never actually compliant as it seems to have subsided a little). So I'm looking at having to move the tank about 1m away from the house, nicely ruining the view of my garden from both the lounge and the kitchen PLUS probably having to buy a bunded tank. On top of that, I'll need to have a new base made which partly overlaps the old base. Therefore I'll have to take the old tank out before I can build it, meaning several days without heating or hot water. A job for the Summer, methinks. I'm going to call OFTEC this afternoon but I can see how it might go. They'll want to send someone round, who will probably be from a local firm who do this kind of work. They will immediately tell me I need a whole new tank install (hoping of course that they'll get the job) and send a report to OFTEC saying so - and I'll be screwed. If I keep schtum and sling any old tank in, some clumsy tanker driver will chuck oil all over my back garden and immediately cover his ass by calling his boss to say he's has a spillage on a non-compliant tank install - and I'll be screwed. What annoys me is that theye doesn’t seem to be any leeway given to peole in my (and my neighours') positon - who have been totally snookered by the bulider that put the old tank in, and yet still need to replace their tank. I'll let you know what OFETC say when I've called them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Can't you just get a copy of the steel one fabricated? Once you involve the pen pushers there's probably no going back, an army of officials will descend upon you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 Strictly speaking, there'no way that I can get someone to install a new tank (even a steel one if I could get hold of one) of the same design and in the same location. The design doesn't have bunding and the location is wrong for fire regs. I just got off the phone with OFTEC (no address given). They confirmed that in 199 (the year after my house was built) the guidelines for oil tank location changed from being voluntary to being legislation. Therefore the builder could have put the tanks wherever he wanted. Also, the responsibility for any cleanup has always been mine, so Ican't just let the current tank rust through and deal with it then. I'm going to call my local authority now to talk to their building regs people to see if the builder dropped a bollock back then, because OFTEC reckon the same legislation for bunding was already in place. Pretty annoyed about this. I can live with new regs that say you can't continue to build in a certain way, but to change the rules and then force the costs onto the consumer by the back door is just taking the mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now