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Moving an Existing Oil Tank

The oil tank is moved into the new basement utility room to make room for the basement playroom.

Clip Summary

Bob explains how the family decided to stay with oil heat, especially since their oil tank was recently replaced. Bond-Tite Tank Service moves the tank into the new utility room in order to make room for the basement playroom. Don Adams of Bond-Tite Tank Service reviews the steps taken to move the tank. First the oil was drained and pumped into the truck. Once drained, the connecting pipes were removed from the tank and the oil line was disconnected. Normally Adams does not recommend moving old oil tanks but he is confident in this case because the tank was installed by his company only two years ago. The tank is set down in a 25-gallon tank tray to catch any drips or leaks. The tank's legs are set so the tank is level. The pipes are reconnected to the tank. David Lodding of Lincoln Laboratory reviews how water condenses inside oil tanks and can lead to corrosion over time. The best way to prevent this is to put a liquid corrosion inhibitor into the tank. Tank Guard moisture inhibitor comes with a warranty should the tank ever fail.
Although our home owners had the opportunity to switch over to gas as a fuel, they decided to stay with oil, and one of the reasons is, they just replace their tank about two or three years ago.

So they had the fellows from Bontac, the company that installed it come out to move it from the corner where it was in the way of the new playroom into this location which will be just on the other side of a partition that goes up here in what is effectively our utility room.

And so not only they have they moved it, they've also provided this wonderful trough underneath, just in case there should ever be any problems.

Let's watch.

Before we move the tank, what we need to do is drain the oil from the tank, pump it out into the truck, and Vinny's doing that now.
He removed the plug from the top of the tank. He's gonna put a hole into the tank, and start pumping out the. The oil.

Once we get the oil all pumped out, then we'll be able to moved the tank.

Now that the tank is empty we're going to remove the hose from the tank, shut the pump off, disconnect it, and start removing the fill pipe and the vent pipe from the oil tank.
By doing that we need to unscrew the two unions from each pipe and remove sections of the pipe.

And then we'll be able to go to the next step which will be disconnecting the oil line from the tank to the burner.

Now we're going to remove the fill and the vent Pipe from the oil tank.
To do this we need to unscrew the unions on each pipe. Vinny is unscrewing one union now, and he is going to remove pieces of the pipe, so we can get the tank out of the way.

Normally we don't recommend moving old oil tanks.
But, we do know the history of this tank. We installed it two years ago. So, we feel comfortable about doing this.

We're going to set this tank in a tank tray. It's something the industry recommends today. On all new tanks, even retrofit old tanks.

It holds about 25 gallons and will catch any small drips or leaks that may occur over the years through fittings or tanks itself.

Once the tank is in place, we adjust the legs to make sure it's leveled.
The tank is pitched about an inch and a quarter towards the outlet. Now that the tank is in place, we need to connect the fill in vent pipe back to the tank. We also need to make a couple of cuts, thread some pipe and a couple of adjustments.

The last step is to connect the fill pipe and the vent pipe to the tank and into position.

Well most people don't think about it, but these tanks all condense moisture as

much as your gasoline tanks in your car would.
So, any oil tank over time condenses the moisture. The moisture falls to the bottom of tank, and it starts to attack the metal in the bottom of the tank.

So, sooner or later it's going to cause the tank to fail.
The best way to protect the tank, is to put a liquid corrosion inhibitor in the tank. This little bottle doesn't mix with the fuel oil, it only mixes with the water condensate on the bottom of the tank, and it helps to protect the tank from corroding.

It'll get mixed up with the turbulence as the oil is delivered and it will protect the tank. And if you use our tank guard, a special benefit is, that it comes with a warranty that will provide for a new tank, if it fails.
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