I have an oil storage tank for CH, which is in the way of a wall I intend to build. I intend to move the tank by buying a new doubled skin variety, siting it with all the pipes etc and then transferring at a suitable moment. How can I transfer the oil in the old tank to the new? They will be about 10m apart. I have googled for various types of pump, but they all seem to be permanent solutions and I only want a one off
Alex
Umm. It might be that a cheap model aircraft fuel pump will do the job.
Albeit very slowly.
I'd probably try a siphon for the first half tank.
Then run the rest dry. Or simply empty it into cans and tip in.
A cheap and cheerful 12volt caravan water pump will poke through a hole on top of the tank and with a suitable extension hose will shift the fuel for you without slopping all over the place as will happen with a bucket transfer. Try a car boot as a cheap source as the thing is unlikely to be much use for potable water afterwards.
A friend did exactly this a couple of weeks ago when his old tank eventually corroded through. When the level in the old tank ran low he put the pump in a bucket and ran the residual oil into that as the pump ran and he tipped the old tank to clear the dregs. Beware of transferriing sludge.
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Is the old tank strong enough to withstand some pressure? If so, you could seal the tank, connect a hose from the bottom of the old tank to the new and use pressure to effect the transfer.
Would a drill powered pump work with fuel oil? How viscous is fuel oil?
Cic.
Drill-powered pump from Machine Mart. The blue one for a tenner or so (not the little yellow one) is very good and suitable for fuels. Much better than the typical drill-driven pump.
Don't run it dry though! Dies in seconds.
I'd use something like:
(electric, obviously!) car fuel pump from a scrappy and some suitable hose would probably work I expect.
Or if the stuff's too thick for that, an engine oil pump driven from a suitable motor (mains-powered drill possibly, although you might want something a bit beefier if it'll be running for quite a few hours)
We've just switched from oil to gas and I gave our old tank to my Brother-in-law for use as a spare diesel tank on the farm. It still had around 100Litres of kerosene in it, so he transferred that to his own fuel tank using 10Litre Jerry Cans under the valve. Apparently didn't take that long and he was able to keep an eye out for any sludge that might have been in the bottom, not that there was that much anyway it seems.
There wont be. The valve is a little above the tank base. When I emptied my old tank, there was about 150 liters left in the bottom.
We tipped the tank to get most of it out and filtered it through someone's T-shirt IIRC.
Then left the tank open for a month to vent off the gasses and cut it up with an angle grinder.
Fuel oil is nasty thick black sticky stuff. How ever I doubt that this is fuel oil much more likely to be 28sec kerosene (paraffin), it's runnier than diesel (35sec).
Drill powered pump suitable for fuels is probably the best bet. A 20 l jerry can of fuel is quite a weight to hoik up to the top of tank to empty it in.
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I should have said 'heating oil' which is what the OP asked about. If this oil is thinner than diesel then a drill powered pump (of the better, more robust type) will shift this easily.
Cic.
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