Something is missing from this picture....THE TANK!!!!   Here is the story:  Whoever removed the tank over a decade ago (NOT Home Tank Service), neglected to remove the fill and vent pipes.  When an oil delivery truck showed up to the wrong house for a delivery....SPLASH.  What you see here is the floor covered in oil dry that the fire department put down to prevent any spread of the spilled oil.  Unfortunately this happens too often.  This homeowner bought the house after the conversion had already been done and he never knew the pipes were there.  

*IF YOU HAVE EVER HAD OIL HEAT, CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOUR PIPES ARE REMOVED ....PLEASE-

We were able to help the homeowner who's basement is pictured above and the oil delivery company is working with the homeowner to get things back in order.  This was a relatively minor spill, yet it still displaced and inconvenienced the residents for a few days.  

If your tank looks like this, you should probably give us a call!  The first tank that was put here was made of straw; and, the second was made of sticks.  Somehow, this third one remained standing despite the construction.  While we always enjoy a challenge, they are typically not so good situations.  Now, this space looks much better...ish.

Sticking with the magic theme, once I cleaned this tank out, this is what I found.  NOT THE QUARTER... the gap that the quarter is being slid into.  The quarter is in the seam at the end of the tank.  The seam had separated and oil was starting to seep out.  This tank had been neglected in a damp basement with a lot of storage items piles on and around the tank.  

Tanks, like most things, rot from the inside or rot form the outside.  The inside is harder to determine, which makes it more dangerous.  An occasional glance at your tank for wetness, dampness or rust can save the day and prevent a mess.  This homeowner caught the issue just in time!

So this is not a typical tank job for us, but I find it noteworthy.  We removed a rather frightening tank from the heater room of this in-law suite.  A new tank was installed, but the home owner did not want to see the tank.  With the wave of a magical tanking wand and, more importantly, a chic and cozy tank cover, we made this tank disappear!!


The snow is the first hint that I have been a slacker with updating the website, but the work comes before the frills.

Did you find the issue?  The two dark spots on either side of the tank!  The dark spots, where it looks like oil ran down the tank...that is where oil ran down the tank.  Older tanks can often end up with failures at the whistle, fill pipe or vent pipe.  When this happens, the system for filling the tank does not work correctly.  As a result, a tank may have more than the recommended 262 gallons put in it.  Why does a 275 gal tank only take 262 gallons?  GOOD OBSERVATION.  Room needs to be left for the oil to expand with weather conditions.  
And so we were called to do what we do best!

This home owner ruined a perfectly good Power Rangers saucer sled.  While this picture cannot show all the details, this tank, but this tank was being held in the air by the fill pipe.  Two of the legs were rusted through such that they were not touching the ground.  The shifting of the tank from the rusted legs caused pressure on the valve from the feed line.  This, in turn, caused the hole in the tank where the valve threads in to weaken.  The tank began to leak at the valve, and the sled was used to catch the dripping.  

We prioritized this job for first thing, but the homeowner let the dripping occur for weeks before calling us.  As a result, there was a lingering odor of oil in the house.  The smell will dissipate over time, but it could have been minimized.

I tried to clean the sled, but the top ended up more slippery than the bottom!

This was not my favorite day.  So the tank is inside a crawlspace under the house, and the only entry point is that small rectangular window that is partially blocked by the hot tub.  

The tank in this crawlspace was a "flat tank" which means that is lays horizontally instead of upright.  Flat tanks typically have more sludge in the them.  The tank came out is 8 pieces in order to fit.  My hindsight complaining aside, this job went very well.

Last month, we took on the tank that this pipe was the vent to.  As you can see, there is sediment in the vent pipe.  The cause of this was a ground level vent pipe that allowed water and dirt to run in.  The inside of the tank also had a significant amount of sludge which is what caused the feed line to clog and the burner to fail.  

Be sure to check your fill and vent pipes for exposure to water, dirt or foreign material.  Sometimes the pipes can also rust through inside the wall.  While you cannot see this, if the the pipes are rusted on either side of the wall, it is worth having checked.

This is a common tank arrangement for old tanks.  Although it cannot be seen from this photo, this tank is only touching the bracket stand on three corners.  When the person who disconnected the tank, cut the fill and vent pipes, the tank shifted on the stand.  Fortunately the tank was not too full and it did not get bumped or moved, because the weight shift could have caused it to fall off the stand.  The best opportunity for success is always to leave the tank in place and attached to all pipes until we, or another professional, can check for hazards.  

This particular tank was upright in a crawlspace with the top four inches exposed above floor level.  The trick was that the top four inches had a cabinet built over it.  The tank had two legs missing and another one was rusted through.  This job took longer that usual and I was exhausted afterwards, however, in the end, the tank is safely and cleanly removed.

The photo is the top of the tank that was grouted into the tile floor.

This was one of two tanks that we removed yesterday.  The first was fairly standard and it went smoothly.  

While this picture does not show the whole tank, it shows the comic relief of the job...the slug.  Yup, when we cut the vent pipe, a very large slug fell out and began "slugging" across the tank.  As it turns out, this tank was abandoned over forty years ago.  The vent pipe rusted through which not only allowed the slug through but it also allowed water through.  This tank was nearly filled with a water/oil mix.  This is one of the examples of why tanks should not be forgotten about or ignored.  There was over 200 gallons of waste liquid in this tank.  Fortunately it did not overflow into the basement or ground.  This job took significantly longer than most.  

PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!  Recently we were asked to remove a tank in a home that is being renovated.  When this tank was moved by contractors (not us), they did not realize that one leg was missing and one was rusted through.  Needless to say, the tank did not stay upright.  Fortunately it did not have enough oil to spill out the three holes on the top of the tank that they cut open.  

We were called in to remedy this situation.  OH YEAH...and both set of basement steps had been removed!  It took our A Squad to get the job done safely and cleanly.

As you can see, this particular basement has a bit of clutter.  Sometimes I question if I should remove a tank in a basement like this.  Am I helping or simply providing more room for more...STUFF!   Other than moving a decade or so of gathered belongings, we removed this tank with no issues.  Normally we ask for three feet of clearance on one side of the tank, in this case, we helped to make that space.  

Despite its best effort to hide and avoid removal, we located this tank in the basement of a recent natural gas conversion home.  Although sometimes we need to remove shelving to get to a tank, on this one we were able to work around it.

This is one of our recent tank removal jobs.  There was nothing extreme about this job.  The homeowner decided to covert to gas.

Given this extra space for comment, I would like to recommend that anyone with an oil tank take time to check the legs on the tank.  Since the legs are in contact with the ground, where water sometimes collects in basement, they can often rust.  When the weight of a full tank of oil is sitting on a rusted out leg, the potential for an emergency greatly increases.