i know quite a few people on here have oil heating so thought i’d ask…

moved into a house a year ago with oil heating, and having just had it filled up i started wondering what the lifespan of a plastic oil tank is. Mine seems to have a date stamp of 1999 on so getting on for 13 years old. Its pretty well shaded from the sun, but what do i look for to see if its getting towards the end of its life… or is there no way of telling until it just springs a leak?

Its a single skin job so obviously want to avoid it failing, but on the other hand a new bunded tank + installation is going to cost at least around £1500 so i dont want to replace it unless its necessary.

I don’t know the answer, but have the same sort of tank. I just get 500L at a time so that if it does leak or get nicked, my losses are less. 500L only just reaches the seam which I assume, possibly incorrectly, is the most likely point for it to split.

cant see installation being 1500.. tanks (2700 litre are about 5/600) and installation about 300 evenb in difficult positions.

I would say it is coming to the end of its life, modern tank should be bunded/double skinned. Have dealt with two leaking single skin tanks in the last month, horrible mess and can be costly to clean up.

totalshell – where are you looking at tanks? All the sites i’ve looked at so far are over 1k for a 2000l bunded tank

Pigface – do you work in tank replacement / clean up? Whats best these days for replacement, plastic or steel? Most seem to be plastic so i’m guessing steel is falling out of favour?

Build a simple bund around it, that way at least you’ll still have the oil if/when it splits?

Pigface – who’s best to go to for a new one? Oil supplier, plumber, something else?

Sorry guys I work for the Environment Agency so only see them when they have gone wrong. Oil suppliers can be a good place to ask, farm supply stores another good source. Have a look at the E.A. website for advice about fitting them etc.

We always have a rash of incidents this time of year, worst I went to was a tank lost 1500 liters 😯 we had reports of oil in a stream and couldn’t find the source for about a week. A mill house was the main suspect but the owners said they hadn’t lost any oil. After a week they fessed up after having run out of oil, the foundations of there extension was now awash with oil that was permeating the house. A company called RAW did the remediation, cost over £250,000. Insurance paid and the home owners weren’t so arrogant when we were helping them as they were when telling me they didn’t have a leak.

Doesn’t sound good. Cheers anyway.