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Cutting up steel CH oil tank
QUESTION:The Scottish autumn is moving in. The nice new plastic tank is in
place. The oil company are poised to deliver.
But I need to connect the tank and to do that I need to get the old
steel one out of the way. It's a big bugger - 2500 litres - sitting on
two breeze block walls in a corner of the house. No possible access
for a crane or forklift - it's going to have to come out of there by
hand for the 50 yd trip to the roadside where my friendly local
council will collect it for free.
So I am thinking about cutting it up. Oxy-acetylene seems like a
fairly poor choice in the circumstances, but how about a BFO angle
grinder? I can drain what remains out of the tank, but there are bound
to be a few puddles of diesel left - discharge a foam fire
extinguisher into the tank before cutting?
ANSWER: For your information: Recently had a large explosion in our village
when a bunch of cowboys cut up 2 Main Central Heating Oil Storage
Tanks (steel) that used to feed the whole village. They used Oxy
Acteylene and Angle Grinders. There was a residue of oil in one of the
tanks that vaporised. The whole lot blew up and it is lucky no one was
killed. There is, I believe, a Health & Safety prosecution pending.
Dont do it without consulting your local Fire Safety Officer. Do it
wrong and you could kill yourself.
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