oil tank

[panelbeater]

so very unhappy bunny here,had oil delivery last friday as wanted to fill tank up ready to start next winter.
had a shock as filler came and told me the tank has some cracks to upper bit so managed to go and look and yes sure enough there are some. but not deep.
i said they are sun cracks and not cracked through,does not metter he said i cant fill it but as you are low and disabled i have put in 200ltr to give you time to sort it.he gave me the print out and a a4 size paper with faults ticked condeming the tank.
as i was annoyed i started to look at tanks and tank replacement places.
i am not able to do the job now but i did put that tank in to replace the bigger steel one that was here when i moved in in 90.
i think the plastic one has been used for about 15 years
i was shocked that now the plastic tanks only come with a 2 year warrenty,unless its a bunded one that i cant get through my side alley and as i have no water stuff at end of the garden i only need a single skin one.
i got phone numbers off web to ring around for total job prices,and remome old tank.
so far 2 peps have got back to me and 1500 for one and 1320 for another but in steel not plastic as it seems plastic is not wanted any more.

i do have the option of going to gas as its in the box at front of my house never used and still on 00000 so had one firm round big one swale heating from sittingbourne but my oil boiler is only 7 years old.
ouch, so went on web to find smaller local firms and one is coming today so will try and get another round to give me somethink about.
being as i have got a lot more immobile my brother says go gas then i do not have to get parking out front for oil lorry and keep access to tank.
i can see his point.
at my age i wont have to do any more changes,i hope.

i did think about leccy but have been advised that house is to big so a nono unless i have another mains feed or 3 phase put in so out of the question.

oil so cheap at the moment but it has been costly at times over the years,was 9p when i moved her.

[solarman216]

I would go gas mate, no question, Rick

[panelbeater]

waiting for 3ed gas chap to come today so will give me a range of prices,got 2 so far and about 300 between them.

[macabethiel]

When my parents were alive they had Oil fired Central Heating for most of their lives as they lived in very rural areas. Like you it started off very cheap but prices just kept on creeping up. When Gas became available at their last address they had just replaced the boiler so they stayed on Oil until they died.

I've always been on Gas since I left home so I naturally like the convenience of never running out of fuel. We had a Condensing Boiler some four years ago and it was a genuine 35% cheaper to run than the previous gas boiler. In the last 2 years we haven't saved more than 10-15% in bills as we feel the cold more in our old age so we have it on all winter 24/7. We just turn the room thermostat down when we go to bed!

It looks as though emissions will eventually spell the end of Gas central heating that's probably 20 years away. I know one person who has changed to Electric Central Heating using hot water not the old Economy 7 Radiators. It was he tells me no dearer than his old Gas heating was - I know very little about his system. He has since moved and stuck with existing Gas boiler.

[solarman216]

Electric heating does no more than shift the pollution from local to the power source, Rick

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by solarman216

Electric heating does no more than shift the pollution from local to the power source, Rick

Like Electric Cars its just moving the exhaust pipe.

[solarman216]

Ted sorry but still not true re the renewable's proportion, the cost of producing wind farms for example far out weigh what they produce, and as for PV, much the same applies, the cost of the production is only part of the scenario, the cost of disposal at the end of their life also needs to be factored in, Rick

[panelbeater]

got all prices in now 3 of each,no point in keep getting them.
i phoned around for tank prices and non said they needed to come and look for an exchange tank.
i did not know that when i ask a trader to come and price on sites they have to pay about £15 to get my detailes befor they get them,in my day it was a bit of comission i paid if i got the job.
tank replacement is 1320 steel,1500steel,950 plastic.
replace boiler is 2978.00,2550.00,2250.00.all same boiler.
the last 2 no vat is charged the first has496.33 vat so take that off and its 2481.67.
big desision.
i still need the tank emptyed and taken away and will get a price for that as it adds to cost of going to gas.
the lower cost gas one is from a local gas safe reg and his customers rate him.
i will ask him how much a yearly service is as well to keep the 10 year warrenty safe.

[solarman216]

When you consider that the cost of most boilers is below £750 one has to wonder? but of course I have no idea how much pipework is involved for the boiler change, most guys charge around £100 for a yearly service so makes the 7 or 10 year jobbie worthless, Rick

[terranosaurusdoug]

I charge around £50-60 for a service max.

[panelbeater]

i have looked on line and the boiler i want is 950 to1150 plus vat he might get it a bit cheaper though,first service after 1 year is free there after 50 but bound to go up.
as for pipework its all there they just need to shorten it as is all the wiring and condencer pipe.
there is no pipe from meter so at a guess its about 50foot in 28mm droping to 22mm for boiler,taking away old tank he said will be 120 extra.
its upto a 2 day job so he will be earning but then he is not doing it free so i think i will go for the local chao at the lowest qt as his father deals with oil and will sort tank outand dispose it.

[terranosaurusdoug]

What boiler you wanting?

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by panelbeater

so very unhappy bunny here,had oil delivery last friday as wanted to fill tank up ready to start next winter.
had a shock as filler came and told me the tank has some cracks to upper bit so managed to go and look and yes sure enough there are some. but not deep.
i said they are sun cracks and not cracked through,does not matter he said i cant fill it but as you are low and disabled i have put in 200 ltr to give you time to sort it

Makes one wonder in hindsight if a simple cover over the top might have stopped the uV degradation that led to the cracks unless it was a design issue in the first place and the cracks are load related. A friend of ours has a fuel oil tank that has a sort of segmented look to it. He has virtually completely hidden it from view in a couple of years with a hedge - to hide it from passing tea leafs.

If there are no leaks would some king of repair not be possible using matting & epoxy resin or something designed to repair the material it is constructed from?

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by macabethiel

Makes one wonder in hindsight if a simple cover over the top might have stopped the uV degradation that led to the cracks unless it was a design issue in the first place and the cracks are load related. A friend of ours has a fuel oil tank that has a sort of segmented look to it. He has virtually completely hidden it from view in a couple of years with a hedge - to hide it from passing tea leafs.

If there are no leaks would some king of repair not be possible using matting & epoxy resin or something designed to repair the material it is constructed from?

They are made from some sort of blown plastic, and the one I had was that sort of plastic that nothing stuck too. Even labels would only stay on for a few weeks, and then just lift off. They are very strict about them, no repairs are allowed

A friend had the "level pipe" come unattached at the top, and fall to the ground just after it had been filled up. He blamed the company that filled it up, and of course they denied it, but called the environment agency. It had leaked about 2000 litres by the time he spotted it. The EA came out, and basically dug the entire area up, took away 5 tipper lorries of contaminated soil, going down about 10 feet, then re-filed the hole. The bill was £60,000!! It took nearly a year, but he finally successfully got the company that filled the tank to admit fault and pay up. Problem was, they were the only company that served where he lived, so after that he had a real hard time getting fuel deliveries.

[panelbeater]

worcester bosch 27ri