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Lost 1300 ltrs of oil


lendahand
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Last winter I lost 1300ltrs of oil straight into the ground. The cause, frost froze the glass bulb contents and it popped off. It could easily have been my red diesel but it just happened to be a full tank of heating oil. It has taken a specialist firm nearly 6 months to recover most of this out of the ground: basically they dig bore holes every where and then come over each day for a couple of hours and skim a few litres off the top of the water table, pump it out to a bowser then seperate it again: oil being heavier than water of course. The expense was enormous: covered by our insurance. Enviroment agency was involved from day one, but it was put down to an act of God and things did'nt get nasty.

But what worried me was that the guys who recovered most of the oil said, it was an extremely common problem at the moment, where gangs roam the countryside looking for yards with tanks (nice guys I know) simply drill a hole in your tank of diesel, heating oil or such and take what they want then let the rest that they don't want drain into the soil. Reason for my tale is, though, my problem was the frost, if possible bund your tanks and be on your guard maybe only half fill them. I would'nt want anyone else to experience this.

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this isnt a big tank problem but here is an idea. fill a drum with half red diesel and half water and leave it near/next to your tank. the water sinks and it looks like diesel. persons taking said drum will usualy be found a mile down the road in a broken down vehicle.

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this isnt a big tank problem but here is an idea. fill a drum with half red diesel and half water and leave it near/next to your tank. the water sinks and it looks like diesel. persons taking said drum will usualy be found a mile down the road in a broken down vehicle.

 

even better, use a drum that has had diesel in it, search for blackcurrant cordial on the big auction site, u know what im thinking!!!!, we did it, laughed for days, then had some tyres slashed!!!! tyres are cheaper than injection pumps!!!!!!!!!!!

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we had a job lastyear removing a couple of trees so ground could be excavated to remove spilt oil, a tank that had been empty and disused had been filled by mistake by a tanker driver, the tank was just about to be removed so had pipes sawn off before it had been filled, the worst bit was shell oil co refused to acknowledge the incident and after going through courts we were called to site to start felling before excavation over a year after the spill, nuts eh? imagine the distance oil can get in a year on a steep banking..:thumbdown:

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even better, use a drum that has had diesel in it, search for blackcurrant cordial on the big auction site, u know what im thinking!!!!, we did it, laughed for days, then had some tyres slashed!!!! tyres are cheaper than injection pumps!!!!!!!!!!!

 

both would work better if you were only on site for a day or 2. i remember seeing a broken down white gippo van just down the road. im still smirking now.

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Last winter I lost 1300ltrs of oil straight into the ground.

 

 

That's a lot. A few years ago my father-in-law had 2000L of heating oil delivered to a 1200L tank. The driver was 75 yards away at the lorry instead of at the point of delivery.

The final bill for the insurance co. ran to 6 figures. The remedial work involved removal of soil from a hole 30'x30'x9', dumpertrucked 50yds to skips - then the same amount of replacement soil brought in!

 

So for a 1300L spill I can only guess at the work involved.

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we stuck anti freeze in our red last winter, just as well too.

 

this year due to issues in the gulf stream we are predicted to experience the coldest winter for 1000years, you have been warned!

 

Stock up, on everything!

 

Crikey: I've not read that, last year was pretty bad. I've got guys complaining about the cold now, sort of Ian Lavender fashion. We better all stick some layers on. As for the anti-freeze I've not thought of that, good tip must get some.

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