There is about 75 gals of old heating oil in an old 275 gal oil tank in my basement, I would like to avoid the high cost of the Oil Co so before moving the tank, I need to pump the oil up 8ft and out into poly containers for disposal. How can it safely be removed? Is there an inexpensive hand pump or an electric pump I can use?

Please answer here or on this page i have a form box to type the answer into -Thanks

PIC

http://rochester.topcities.com/house/repairs.html

 

wont any oil company there just come and take the oil if you let them have it for free ED

 

The oil company doesn't want the old oil. It would cost them more money to pump it out than they would get by selling it.

Forget the pump and the lines, this sounds like a mess (at best) or a disaster (at worse). Drain the tank from the existing spicket into 6 gallon cans and carry it up the stairs.

When no more oil comes out, tip up the opposite end of the tank about 10 inches or so to get the rest of the oil out. (there will still be about 10 or 20 gallons in it that will not drain on it's own) You will need to disconnect the vent and fill lines first to do this.
Good luck.

 

You might consider advertising in a local free paper and let someone come and get it. Some people will burn anything. Look back a few weeks, I think there was a guy here who was going to try mixing motor oil with heating oil to extend his supply. Someone may jump at the chance for the oil and the tank. Just stay around to be sure they don't turn your basement and driveway into a superfund site.

 

Thanks for the answers. The problem, brewbeer is the spigot is at floor level and how do you get a bucket under the tank? I have heard of an oil pump before;,, if theres any more ways i could do this please answer

http://rochester.topcities.com/house/repairs.html

 

Well if you don't like my last idea, I'll try a new one. I have a pump that I use for crappy oil. It is meant for water but I have been using ir for oil for over 10 years. The hoses you use will also be trash afterwards. If you are willing to buy a washing machine hose and a cheap garden hose, I will look in my Home Depot book and make a recommendation on a pump for you. You can just clean the pump out with dish washer detergent afterwards and use it again for whatever you need it for. One key is not to get a pump that will pump way too slow. Like a drill pump. It will take forever. Did you say that there is a valve on the bottom of the tank? If so, does it have a pipe thread on it? I can give you a parts list to get it hooked up to a hose and you will be set.

Let me know if you are up to the expense and I'll proceed.

 

The spicket is at floor level? That IS a problem. (my old tank is on 16" legs)
How many inches between the spicket and the floor? Is there any copper feed line still attached?

You could let the oil flow out into shallow pans, and pour the pans through a funnel into a 6-gallon can, but you are going to need at least 2 or 3 inches for this to work.

If you have any of the copper feed line left, the remaining oil in the tank will push the oil up the feed line several inches, perhaps as much as a foot. You will be able to get more of the oil out, but that won't get it all. But once you are down to 10 or 15 gallons, and you have the fill and vent pipes removed (then plug the holes with the correct fittings), you will be able to lift the tank onto blocks (carefully !!! brace it so it doesn't roll over !!!) so that you can get enough height to get all the oil out.

 

Ok I am going with the pump idea to empty the tank as much as poss. What kind of pump do you have Kfeild, gal/min rating and all that. A smaller pump will be fine, I can get everything else needed, i figured a waterpump could do it. Heres a pic of the tank

 

http://rochester.topcities.com/house/repairs.html

 

Get a cheap washing machine hose and a garden hose adapter for the oil tank valve. Make sure you don't get a 3/4" pipe thread adapter. It looks alot like a garden hose thread but will probably leak. Get a cheap garden hose for the discharge and throw it away when you are finished with it. Get the $7 drill pump. I looked at everything else HD has and they are all over $100. Forget that. The drill pump is said to move 200gph with no lift so if you keep the run as short as possible, you should do OK. Don't forget to pump some soapy water through the pump when finished so that oil doesn't come back to haunt you later.

The pump I use is a sprinkler pump and it kicks butt but you are not on someones clock when doing your job and only have 75 gallons to boot. That pump was around $150. You could buy the drill and the pump for less than that.

Good luck.

 

Just a question, what happened to my thread about oil tank removal?? I was expecting a reply but the posts are gone.?? One strange note: a search for "tank removal" yeilds the following headers:

Oil tank draining and removal. beernuts Heating & Cooling 9 91 01-25-03 02:21 PM
by KField

UST Should I Remove? marcdm Heating & Cooling 16 156 01-17-03 05:59 PM
by GregH

Oil to gas conversion cmcnj Heating & Cooling 7 59 11-18-02 03:55 PM
by cmcnj

Residential Oil Tank Removal\installation Bob M Heating & Cooling 3 57 03-20-02 01:42 AM
by fjrachel

Removing Fuel Oil Tank??? jwadamson Heating & Cooling 3 74 02-22-02 10:41 PM
by jwadamson

Oil Tank Removal NIcO Heating & Cooling 2 53 02-13-02 02:55 PM
by TheZman

boiler pressure a2 Heating & Cooling 1 68 01-26-02 11:56 AM
by PDF

Removal of abandoned oil tank lsorensen Heating & Cooling 0 20 10-12-01 05:27 PM
by lsorensen

Heating oil tank removal David Whittemore Heating & Cooling 11 138 09-06-01 06:53 PM
by mommydi

However the messages cant be accessed and aren't found in the general message population for heating and cooling -- WHAT IS GOING ON??


I also still need the pump info..


http://rochester.topcities.com/house/repairs.html

 

It's on the page behind this one. Look down at the bottom right of this page. See the numbers for other pages?

 

beernuts:

I brought your thread to the top and merged the latest thread.

 

Ok all thanks for the help, and the messages back. I didnt know adrill pump could do so much, Ill post any unforseen problems if encountered.

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