Do you normally buy kerosene/Standard Burning Oil(SBO)/Regular Burning Oil(RBO), if so then you need to get an engineer in to make a nozzle mod for you to run it on gas oil/diesel. Running it for a very short time might be ok, but basically gas oil/diesel is less refined that kerosone/SBO/RBO so it will soot up from unburnt fuel without the nozzle mod.

Normally use the standard stuff... Its a bit desperate as we have two little nippers in the house and its gonna get chilly.

Is it not possible to go and collect a suitable oil in a smaller amount maybe ? They cant get a big delivery out to me for at least a week but I am local to them.....

Is it possible you have a ruptured line between the tank and boiler? Frost heave etc. Just guessing.

Checked it all and it looks fine, the lid was slighty open. Pretty much sure its been pinched..... 👿

Check it hasn't leaked. If it has you could be in all kinds of strife. The E.A. will need to know and you may have to remediate. RAW environmental are a good company to contact if you have had a leak. Household insurance will pay for this.

I know, the chap who normally drives the oil lorry told me about another driver who delivered 1000 litres to a big old house, turned out he had filled up the garden water tank by mistake. Which was then sprayed all over the garden. It cost his firm 30k to clear it all up !

I called the Police who said there have been lots of this recently with the fuel prices being so high.

I'll be fitting a lockable cap and sticking loads of barbed wire up just in case....

Where do you live if near the lake district can deliver tomorrow, no don't use Derv/gasoil as it will bugger the boiler. Sorry to hear it's been nicked .

Down south in Berkshire, thanks though Daleman.

You should be able to buy barrels of oil from your supplier (or try boilerjuice) - my BIL did the same a couple of weeks ago. Not cheap but would get you out of tight spot.

Boilerjoice have 500l min order....

I'll pop down the depot in the morn, Shame I cant use diesel.

Some garages sell 25ltr containers of heating oil too as a short term fix, but not many so phone about. Be careful not to let the tank drain completely otherwise you'll get air trapped in the pipe when its refilled

It might have been nicked, but how feasible is it for someone to siphon off more than about 50ltrs of fuel and take it away? Seen any bowsers loitering? tanker trucks hiding in the bushes?.... it really has been a bit cold of late, shocking how fast you can guzzle the oil. At least we can see the oil going - people with gas or electric heating are going to be getting some big surprises in the post soon. When you say you had a big delivery do you mean you had the tank filled right up? We had a 1000ltrs delivered about 5 weeks ago and we are pretty frugal with out heating but half of it is gone. We usually get through the same amount of oil in Dec and Jan as we do for the whole of the rest of the year.

1000ltrs about 4 weeks ago, normally a good 2/3 months worth. We also have two open fires so just use those when is very cold.

We have a wireless gauge thing which showed 7 (outa 10) the other day and it was in empty this morning !

You'd just need a tank in the back of a van or a bowser or something similar. turn up in the early hours, with a big wide dia plastic tube. I've syphoned the fuel tank from our boat with a smallish dia tube and it filled a 25l drum in only 2-3 mins. 500L might take 20-30mins. with some mechanised assistance it might be quicker. they may have been returning over a number of nights. 1000L would take quite some time to use on a standard domestic boiler.

If you can stick a brick or similar sized object under back of tank to lift 2"-3". Should give you a few days at very least. If do so make sure delivery driver knows it is propped up.
Always a bit sus when folk say oil been knicked, very hard to do without being seen or heard. Usually burst line or burst tank though you can normally smell it. Your case does sound a bit like a theft to be fair.

we're out of fuel too with a nipper, luckily its not that cold in Lincoln, we still have an oil filled electric rad heating the upstairs though that i borrowed from work. fingers crossed we can get some oil asap.

Don't use boilerjuice. They were on the front page of The Times. Report says its a right royal rip off leading to people paying 65% over the odds

Can't be that hard to nick it...Transit van plus one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1000L-IBC-STORAGE-TANK-PALLET-DIESEL-WATER-BIO-FUEL-/180601216936?pt=UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item2a0cabdfa8#ht_500wt_1156

Yep happened to my brother aswell- stole nearly 500 litres of oil. Thieving twits, could just rig it to explode if tampered with. They would soon get the idea/ not be around to try again!
With the explosion of oil prices it is going to become more common place unfortunately. Just got to try and take precautions.

It does sound odd I know but we live in the middle of knowhere, no neighbours and are often out. Its dropped too fast to be normal use, the cap was left half open.

Counting my blessing that they never found the bike shed (very well hidden, alarmed and built like a brick shint house)

Thanks Islander, Just propped it up and the boiler is up and running, Just hope it lasts long enough.

Chameleon78, aint it grim !

I like a **** ran out of oil on boxing day and my mrs was er savage to say the least
No chance of deliverys so I got some gerry cans and made a few phone calls
one supplier £35 for 20l in there containers
Western fuel http://www.westernfuel.co.uk/ 74p a ltr in own container

delivered price 65p a ltr (1000 ltr) once ordered additional collections at 65p

Anywhere else in devon is over 72p ltr

tanks are installed with a low end opposite to the boiler feeder pipe to reduce water/crap being drawn thru. If resorting to proping it, don't overdo it, you don't want to be drawing any crap thru the line.

This is a massive problem in rural areas and delivery lorries often get followed by the thiefs.

A mate of mine was trying to develop an alarm for fuel tanks which protected the caps and also set off if the oil level dropped too quickly - could have worked off a Watchman reordering type system but programmed to alert with too rapid decrease. It was going to cost a fortune to develop though and he had to stop doing it. The tank menufacturers didn't want to know either!

Sorry to hear your oil has been nicked, that's going to hurt in the pocket. Be careful when you refill it, they might wait till you have refilled it again. You can get burglar alarms that are wireless and can be adapted to provide protection of your tank (the alarm will text you wehn it's being tampered with). There are loads of DIY kits that you could fit yourself.

You now get a watchman type alarm that goes of if level drops quickly. Cant remember who makes them though. Old style tanks very difficult to secure with plastic lids and vents which can be easily prised off. Have plenty locked tanks on my round that I easily get into fill without unlocking.
Bunded tanks bit more secure though still can usually get into them as well.

If plastic tank will be on a level base and should not be subject to getting crap in it so picking it up shouldn't be a problem. You can collect oil normally from your supplier. Don't use diesel though as it will soot your boiler up like mad, and you need a different nozzle and to change the pump pressure. also if you have a balanced flue or low level flue then you are not allowed to use anything but 28 sec oil, and if it is a newish boiler then it may not run on it anyway and you risk doing some damage.

Just in case is it a bunded tank and has it leaked into the bund?

Doesn't sound like it mind.

Police + Insurance.

Your only chance is to get some barrels from the depot. Diesel might work but it might kill your boiler too.

We had 6000L's stolen over a weekend from our outdoor steel tank at work. They even smashed the wall of the catch tank so they could cut the outlet pipe off at the base and get out every drop. We now have a smaller tank inside the factory. These Tw*ts will nick anything. Security lights and a remote camera would be a good start. They will more than likely come back once you have refilled it. They did with ours. We learned the hard way.

i work for one of RAWs direct competitors, and fuel theft is a lot more common than you would think.

you really should be quite sure its been nicked before not contacting your insurance.
any heating engineer will be able to do a pressure test for you to check the integrity of the line between the boiler and the tank.

Most people we deal with just call their insurance, and get them to deal with it from the off, but if your avoiding making a claim to start off with, it may be worth getting a pressure test done.

the oil itself is probably covered by your insurance!

if your ok making a claim, give them call, they will send us (or raw) round and we will work out how much youve lost, and where it has gone.

not wanting to scare monger, but if its sitting in the ground it could end up in a few places you really dont want it.

in your mains water supply, against part of your property (it eats damp proofing obviously), or in the Ground water.
if the EA get whiff of groundwater contamination there is trouble.
you can check the likely hood of that by finding your property on the EAs "whats in your backyard" tool and looking at groundwater classification.

in answer to your question, no, you cant use diesel.

Thanks for all the replies.... I am sure its not leaking. The tank sits about a foot above the ground, I could easily see if its leaking from the tank. I can follow the pipe all the way to the house and its all clean, dry and looking fine.

I'll speak to the insurance chaps tomorrow.

I have had all sorts stolen from our out buildings before, they even took half a strimmer (I had removed the engine to work on it) Bloody &@%$ they are !

The bikes and house are secure (well, as secure as anything can be) and we have bloody big dogs. Thats why I think they would have come during the day when we are out, I would have heard the dogs otherwise.

Get some cameras on it

It's a tendency around my way, have clients who had their tanks drained, friend had his lorry drained, a remote mobile phone mast near me now has an lpg generator because the valley boys kept nicking the diesel, our red tank is now locked in a locked thing.

Apparently a panel van, some 1-ton tanks and pump are the going method.

Phone round - I got caught short and with a pair of 200 litre barrels a small fuel pump ( all borrowed from local farmer ) and the back of my landy I filled mines and neighbours tanks with 500 litres each - first few places didn't want to know about filling old oil drums though ! Paid 68p/l for 1000 litres.

They simply couldn't get the tanker down my drive in the snow
Sorry to hear it's beennicked mind ! If you were near by I'd offer my services to help !
The scum bags would need more than a tranny van round here !

The scum bags would need more than a tranny van round here !

You would need a tractor to tow it back out ! I assure you even several pikers pushing wouldn't get a tranny out our drive ATM !