Oil leak help!

bri007

Hi, we noticed a lot of oil has escaped from out oil tank today, seems to be a lot of it on the grass and around the tank. I am not sure if it's coming from the pipe going into the tank or the tank itself. I am wondering what would people recommend. I reported it to the insurance emergency line but they won't ring back until tomorrow. I have isolated the valve for now.

Anyone any experience of this happening, and if so how did they get on with the clean up etc, was it expensive? And doesn insurance cover it.

To make matters worse one of the neighbours kicked off a bit this evening saying the smell is very strong!

Stressed to say the least. It's my parents home and they are not in a position to take it on so I will be trying to sort it out for them. They are quite old.

Thanks

Rew

bri007 wrote: »

Hi, we noticed a lot of oil has escaped from out oil tank today, seems to be a lot of it on the grass and around the tank. I am not sure if it's coming from the pipe going into the tank or the tank itself. I am wondering what would people recommend. I reported it to the insurance emergency line but they won't ring back until tomorrow. I have isolated the valve for now.

Anyone any experience of this happening, and if so how did they get on with the clean up etc, was it expensive? And doesn insurance cover it.

To make matters worse one of the neighbours kicked off a bit this evening saying the smell is very strong!

Stressed to say the least. It's my parents home and they are not in a position to take it on so I will be trying to sort it out for them. They are quite old.

Thanks

There is normally a valve right where the pipe leaves the tank with a long handle pull that for a start. Without knowing where the leak actually is impossible to know if that will stop it but get a heating engineer out ASAP you losing more money the longer you wait as the oil drains out of the tank. As for the spill its self you now have contaminated soil that should really be dug out and replaced or its going to stink for a long time.

Mrs OBumble

Call the same plumber who does the annual servicing of the boiler. They should be familiar with the property so be able to fix the issue.

Chemical Byrne

Just shut off the valve, sure! Simples.

Get a plumber to fix the leak then.


But are you sure it's a leak. It would be odd for an oil pipe to leak just out of the blue to that extent without having being damaged.
It could be possible that someone was robbing oil from your tank and spilled a load of it by accident.

jmayo

bri007 wrote: »

Hi, we noticed a lot of oil has escaped from out oil tank today, seems to be a lot of it on the grass and around the tank. I am not sure if it's coming from the pipe going into the tank or the tank itself. I am wondering what would people recommend. I reported it to the insurance emergency line but they won't ring back until tomorrow. I have isolated the valve for now.

Anyone any experience of this happening, and if so how did they get on with the clean up etc, was it expensive? And doesn insurance cover it.

Insurance as far as I know can cover it.
You need to cehck policy thoroughly.

They used to have a list of clean up companies that handle these cleanups.
If you need one let me know and I will PM you details.
They are based in Leinster, but cover entire country.

Not sure how expensive it will be.
But the bigger the spill the more expensive.
Also it is bigger problem if it has seeped in next door.

Claw Hammer

You need to get a proper insurance loss assessor on the job as well as a solicitor, engineer and chemist. The oil will spread on the oild table and go into the foundations of the house and possibly neighbouring houses. It is expensive to clean up. There are companies who offer to bio-remediate but this is often unsuitable. I have been through the mill with this and it is horrendous.

pwurple

Holy majooly get that sorted ASAP. Or sooner. The amount of damage an oil leak can do is absolutely massive.

Oil tank leak at a neighbour's house completely destroyed their foundations. They are in rented accommodation for over 9 months now getting the structural repairs done. And don't even talk to me about the insurance, what level it covers and dealing with assessors.

Limit the damage.