Moving Oil Tank for new patio

suitseir

Hi,

At the end of the month work is starting on our garden to put down a new patio. Our oil tank is at the back of our dormer bungalow(out of view of kitchen window) so we want to move it to one side of the garden - access there for fill etc. is good as well.

We have a Stanley Oil Shire stove and this was installed when the house was built a few years ago. Just wondering, is there a required distance the oil tank should be for proper feed of oil to the stove. Central heating is separate. The relocation will put it approximately 20`away. We are on a large site so if this would cause any interruption in proper functioning of the stove, we would prefer to leave the tank where it is because the patio will be more to the side of the house with the paving continuing along the back of the house to the area where the oil tank is. Hope all of this makes sense. Would appreciate any helpful comments. Thanks

MickLimk

Am sure you'll get more accurate answers from the experts on here but my tank is about 25m away from my boiler and it doesn't cause any problems.

There are a couple of factors that will effect how long a pipe you can run. One of them is the size of the pipe itself (normally 10mm insulated copper?) and the other is the height of the tank, i.e. the vertical distance from the bottom of the tank to the burner in your stove. In water terms I think this is called the head height.

There may be specs for your stove that specify this but I'll bet that someone else on here will be able to give a formula that incorporates head height, pipe diameter, pipe length and flow rates (which is ultimately what you need).

stapeler

Distance isn't really a problem, my tank is about 60feet from the boiler and oil line is 8mm coated copper. Height is the only real concern and once you maintain a couple of feet heigh from outlet of tank to inlet of boiler you should be fine. Keep the oil line fairly flat to prevent any airlocks and put down a good concrete base to evenly support the tank to prevent any possible stress in the tank.

glineli

Is there a joiner so you can connect the existing pipe to a new pipe to add the length or do you have to connect the new pipe directly to the boiler?
thanks

You can buy inline pipe connectors from any diy/plumbing suppliers, just be sure to protect it as it will be exposed.

wreckless

Hi guys,

having worked with my dad who is a plumber, here is my advice.

As stapeler said, make sure to build a pour a good concrete base first for your tank. if the garden is flat , then u only need to have the base the same height off the ground as the old one was. the head height is still the same so oil will run througn the pipe anyway. Normally a 2 foot height is plenty.

Joinging the pipe is no problem at all, a 310 fitting or straight joiner is used to join copper pipes together, oil line copper is the white insulated piping and often its best to measure out how much ur going to need first, tape up one end and feed it through say a 1" black plastic piping to give it some safety in the ground from nature, i guess you will be digging a trench and laying it in it? this also helps if any work is done later on and some one puts a shovel into too deep, could burst the pipe and its a pain to fix.

now, how full is ur tank? i moved mine when it was almost empty. even then, there was still a lot of kerosene in it and was pretty heavy, get some help. put a few long planks of scaffolding timber against the side of the base and slid the tank down it, and then the opposite to put it back in to its new place.

its disgraceful the way some builders place tanks in gardens of new homes. :eek: there should be stipulation laid down first in the planning application that the tanks are in the back corner of gardens, they are such an eye sore in most cases and so many people move them its ridiculous!!

any more help , just pm me