Internal oil tank

[Last Plumber]

This may be just the part of the world I'm in but I can't remember in my working life, seeing an oil tank inside a property before. ( commercial property) I know it's allowed but there are rules.
This one is face to face with the boiler ( 2 foot max away).
steel tank, no bund, no fire chamber/compartment, no ventilation I can see and no fire valve !

has anyone else seen the like ?

 

[Best]

Yes. Worst one I know is a bungalow with garage at end. Small metal oil tank of about 1100 litre just above the boiler on purpose built walls in rear of garage. Been like that from the 1960s.

 

[Last Plumber]

Yes. Worst one I know is a bungalow with garage at end. Small metal oil tank of about 1100 litre just above the boiler on purpose built walls in rear of garage. Been like that from the 1960s.

Sounds a similar sized tank.
The burner needs a new pump but it's around half price of a new burner.

If I end up replacing the burner I'll fit a fire valve, new filter and oil line but what about the tank installation?

It's been in for donkeys years but should it be updated
i.e. Is it a legal requirement or a recommendation

 

[Best]

I am guessing, - but think that oil tank should be removed.
Contact OFTEC and ask them what the regs will be. Croppie should also know as he does commercial.
Any work you do obviously should be done with plenty of paperwork to state oil tank is a danger. Personally, I wouldn't do any work to the boiler until I spoke to OFTEC and building control

 

[SimonG]

Recommendation only unfortunately. Document it and cover your a$$ that's all you can do. Last one to touch is responsible.

Probably 95% of the oil tanks I visit don't meet the current regs. Must cost me an extra box of biro's.

'Customer advised :- blah blah blah'

 

[Dotty]

Day tanks should have all kinds of features including the bund.

The most important one is a fire valve which opens in the event of a fire and dumps the oil back into the main tank.

 

[lame plumber]

one wonders if anyone working on oil is oftec qualified and know the rules judging by the questions asked at times

 

[Last Plumber]

Day tanks should have all kinds of features including the bund.

The most important one is a fire valve which opens in the event of a fire and dumps the oil back into the main tank.

Thanks for that Croppie but This isn't a day tank it's the main oil tank.
Emailed Oftec today cos phone line busy.
No reply as yet.

 

[Last Plumber]

one wonders if anyone working on oil is oftec qualified and know the rules judging by the questions asked at times

Is that a dig ?

 

[WHPES]

Yes I have a customer with a steel tank in a garage with the boiler alongside it. Its been there for about 40 years. Customer knows if anything needs to be upgraded then a compartment will have to be constructed which means the garage would have to be sacrificed meaning nowhere to put the car (there is no drive as it is directly onto the road and there are double yellow lines along the street, and there is no garden to put the tank in as an alternative). Another customer once had a boiler and tank next to each other in a hay store next to a stable. That was the first job I was asked to sort as their insurance company did a survey when the bought the property.

 

[DaveyHep]

Regardless of the OFTEC regs, if its a commercial installation then the owner has additional responsibilities under the HASAWA and various Fire Safety Regulations.
They have a statutory duty to ensure that risks to their employees and members of the public are as low as is reasonably practicable.
Installing a new tank and a fire valve seems very reasonable to me.
Saying it was kosher when it was installed wouldn't stand up in court if there was a fire.

 

[Last Plumber]

Regardless of the OFTEC regs, if its a commercial installation then the owner has additional responsibilities under the HASAWA and various Fire Safety Regulations.
They have a statutory duty to ensure that risks to their employees and members of the public are as low as is reasonably practicable.
Installing a new tank and a fire valve seems very reasonable to me.
Saying it was kosher when it was installed wouldn't stand up in court if there was a fire.

I agree. Spoke to OFTEC Tech. Pretty much what I thought and what a few before said.
Document it, advise the owner etc.

There have always been rules regs and plain common sense where things like this are concerned. If I had seen it 30 years ago, I would have thought it a bad installation and its not something I would have ever done myself.