Pressurising an oil storage tank

[Martin Brown]

There is something wrong with the tank take off point then. A tiger loop should be able to lift oil from the tank to any reasonable height.

[Cursitor Doom]

Possibly, but I can't help wondering if there's a clogged filter somewhere along the line I might have missed thus far. Anyone know how many filters (if more than one) there are twixt tank and tiger loop and where they typically lurk? My tank's on an overgrown embankment and it's extremely hard to see the whole run of the exit pipe before it goes underground for the driveway...

[Cursitor Doom]

Good point, but 8" above the bottom seems rather generous!

[newshound]

Not actually so unusual for big lube oil tanks, although these normally have sloping bottoms with a drain point for water at the bottom.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Seen plenty of plastic tanks with UV-instigated cracks all over the top.

[Dave Liquorice]

No. B-)

It's the nature of the material though, it's soft and will give then relatively gracefully fail. Unlike a brittle material that will just suddenly break.

[Martin Bonner]

I think the suggestion is that you should have ordered the fuel a month or so before the fuel was due to run out - that way if they take a couple of weeks to deliver, it doesn't matter.

[Cursitor Doom]

Not quite so simple, I'm afraid. If the fuel company can't fit a min. 900 litres into this 1200 litre tank, then they bill me at a higher rate. And given this problem with the last 8 inches subtracts from that 300 litre margin and the fact that their delivery times vary considerably, getting the timing right is a fine art!

[John Williamson]

The plastic used can get fairly brittle when exposed to UV.

[Jim K]

/ The plastic used can get fairly brittle when exposed to UV.

--Tciao for Now!

John./Q

And how long will that take then?

Jim K

[John Williamson]

About as long as a piece of string.

[Chris J Dixon]

So, your next calculation is to work out how many times you have to overpay to make it worth replacing the tank. To make it more interesting, also factor in a figure to represent the inconvenience of no fuel available.

Chris

[Cursitor Doom]

Can't see what could be solved by replacing the tank.

[John Williamson]

The new one should be larger, giving a bigger margin between empty and paying the small delivery surcharge. If it were, for example, 200 litres bigger, then you could order fuel that much earlier and not have to pay the surcharge. You would also have a bigger buffer in case of delivery problems.

[Tim Streater]

When we were looking at this house with a view to buy, it had an old metal tank which we thought we'd replace later. Moved in, to find a new, but smallish, plastic tank as the metal one had developed a leak. Unfortunately they didn't consider calling us about it - I'd have certainly chipped in to have a larger one put in.

As it is we usually run out in the winter.

[Jim K]

/ John Williamson wrote: >

You'd really reckon manufacturers would use UV stabilised plastics for outside oil tanks wouldn't you?

Jim K

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

It's something that struck me as quite dumb, but the process takes long enough that people just accept it and replace the tank (I reckon up to ten years or so). I've seen too many of them now and if I had one I'd make sure that from day one it was painted on top and/or sheltered from direct sun.

[Dave Liquorice]

Well our Titan tank is about 17 years old and exposed to full sunlight, no signs of any degradation. The same cannot be said for the label with details of how it's supposed to be supported, size, maker etc, that is now not much more than some plain white flaky bits of plastic.