What can I do with my oil tank?

SligoEdo

We have a large oil tank with some oil in it on our smallholding. The oil burner was removed over a decade ago, so the oil has been sitting there for that long. Any ideas on how I can get rid of it (for free, or as close to free as possible)?

Also, any idea on how I could clean the tank out (as eco-friendly as possible) so I can use it to harvest rain water?

One other thing while I'm here. In the shed, there are about 6 glass demijohns with no lids/corks on them. They've been there for about a decade as well. Would these be ok to use if I wash them with hot water and maybe use one of those campden tablets in it? I wanna make some wine/cider/beer.

Thanks

iverjohnston

I would not advise to use this tank for water, will be almost impossible to clean properly. Also. is it plastic or steel? If its steel, could be on the point of rusting through. If there is much oil in it, I personally would get it into a 45 gallon drum, (without a top) and use as a wood preservative on fencing posts. stand a dozen posts in it for a few months. If you empty a steel tank, a metal recycling yard will take it.
What was in the demijohns? You dont want to poison yourself. Boiling water and soap should clean however. Repeat a few times. You could sell them, as some people like to use them as mini tropical gardens, planting minitaure ferns etc inside.

SligoEdo

It's a plastic tank.
Bugger. Seems a shame to waste it. It seems to be about half-full...so a least a few hundred litres. Never thought of using it as a wood preservative....I might pump some out to use.

No idea what was in the demijohns.....I doubt it would have been anything poisonous though.

Thanks for your reply.

iverjohnston

Well I guess I should have asked, are these the demijohns which stand about 30 inches tall, and about 30 inches across the widest point? or smaller? the big ones were often used in the chemical industry for corrosive liquids. You can always stick up the empty plastic tank on Adverts.ie or Donedeal.ie, has to be worth 70 or 80 euro to someone for a farm diesel tank. Drop me a line when the first batch of homebrew is ready!

SligoEdo

They're this sort:



A few of them did have corks/air locks with them, but they were cracked/broken. So I'd imagine they were used for making beer etc.

Good idea about the tank.

I'll send you down some elderflower wine

49801

U could cut the top off the tank and it would be big enough to take a whole bale of posts at a time loaded with a front loader. Make sure the posts are dry first!!!

scrips

SligoEdo,

We managed to get rid of our plastic oil tank (which, like yours, still contained about 300 litres of oil) about a year ago by offering it on Freecycle. Finding someone to take it was only part of the challenge. We then bought a handcart, and some oil drums from a Traveller. We decanted the oil into the drums, and used the handcart to get the oil drums into the car for transportation to my child's pre-school facility, to whom we had offered the oil in lieu of payment, which was accepted.

When we got our last delivery of oil before converting to solid fuel, the oil company promised us they would buy back any unused oil, but annoyingly they reneged on this.

You could perhaps pump the remaining oil out and sell it to a neighbour at a good price by today's prices.

SligoEdo

scrips wrote: »

SligoEdo,

We managed to get rid of our plastic oil tank (which, like yours, still contained about 300 litres of oil) about a year ago by offering it on Freecycle. Finding someone to take it was only part of the challenge. We then bought a handcart, and some oil drums from a Traveller. We decanted the oil into the drums, and used the handcart to get the oil drums into the car for transportation to my child's pre-school facility, to whom we had offered the oil in lieu of payment, which was accepted.

When we got our last delivery of oil before converting to solid fuel, the oil company promised us they would buy back any unused oil, but annoyingly they reneged on this.

You could perhaps pump the remaining oil out and sell it to a neighbour at a good price by today's prices.

The only problem is the oil is at least 10 years old....I'm not sure if it'd be any use for burning.

EP90

In the broadest general terms ‘oil’ doesn’t deteriorate. A free add in a paper will get the Land Rover enthusiasts round, they’ll use it in a mixture of diesel to run on. Or someone who produces their own bio fuel or produces used vegetable oil fuel. You might even get a few bob.
If you’re harvesting rain water for plant use and not as potable water then a good rinse out will suffice. If you can, I would flood and overflow the empty tank with rain water. Empty, and then add a bit of detergent in and a good squirt round with a hose jet. Drain again, refill and overflow until you’re happy. Probably a bit of smell to it for a while but oil is organic and will safely biologically breakdown over time.