We have ‘used’ 600 litres of heating oil in 8 days!

lohr500

Good move to free off the stopcock. If there are no signs of leakage around the tank or the boiler then I fear the leak must be along the pipe somewhere underground. With that much oil leaking out though, it is surprising you can't smell it.
Have you had any digging work done around the oil tank, or between the oil tank and the house? Just wondering if the pipe has got damaged by digging, rather than through corrosion. 

Qyburn

You should consider running a completely new pipe end to end if you have any doubt about it.

To give an extreme example of the environmental impact they spent £450K trying to clean up after an oil leak at a local school, and have now given up and closed the school after it was estimated at least another million would need to be spent.

cannugec5

Update:
Heating engineer came out and declared our system f***ed!
He could fix the boiler ( on/off switch) 
He could NOT put a new oil line from the tank to the boiler as apparently the tank no longer fits legislation- as far as boundaries etc. It was fine when it was installed, but is no longer ok. So, we need a new tank but it cannot be on the existing plinth. He could not find another place in the garden that would be ok. Which leads us to investigate just where a tank could be legally positioned now. It looks like the front garden - not great in terms of visibility and theft! 

The heating engineer threw the suggestion of Air Source heating into the mix. We are waiting for an appointment for an assessment of our house for an assessment of Air Source Heating. This could be the way forward, and I’m all for helping the environment. However he did say just the assessment could take 6 weeks…
in the meantime we are without heating. 

I have ordered 2 oil filled radiators with thermostats. I hope they will help. Our electric fire in the living room has no thermostat so just heats and heats. Husband does not think to switch it off. I have got to be in control and proactive with this entire situation. 

 

So, we are back in the position of a very cold house in winter, and I’m scared witless about our electricity usage. By coincidence we have an appointment next week for a smart meter. I’m now thinking watching the IHD spinning is going to send me into a terminal depression!  

Reed_Richards

Is it worth getting a second opinion?  There is no obligation to do anything about an existing oil tank that no longer complies with regulations  If the boiler isn't working, how could he identify if there was a problem with the oil line or not?  Sounds to me like someone who just did not want the job.

Qyburn

I think that's correct. If the tank in non-compliant I'm pretty sure you aren't obliged to bring it up to current standard, unless the tank itself is being replaced.
Get another opinion.
Sounds like this guy was no help about where your oil had been going either.

magickmagpie

I'm fairly sure you do not need to replace a non-compliant tank with one of the current standard unless you are actually replacing the tank. My boiler and tank etc get checked and serviced every year and I still have a single-skin plastic tank (as does my neighbour). When the tank needs to be replaced, it will be with one up to modern standards. Also, a friend lived in a rented house 2 years ago and had a small leak from the underground pipe that ran from the tank to the boiler (noticeable by the smell in the garden). Her landlord's heating engineers replaced the pipe and left the single skin oil tank in situ as there was nothing wrong with it. You definitely need to get a second opinion.

Effician

Did the heating engineer pressure test the pipework from tank to boiler to confirm 100% you have a leak?  you only say he wouldn't put a new line in, as Lohr say's very odd that with with that amount of leakage you can't smell it.

matelodave

What sort of tank have you got, if its bunded then a leak in the main tank will leak out into the cavity and seem like its been lost although its been retained in the bund. That might explain why you cant smell any oil - 600 litres is a hell of a lot of oil to lose and would contaminate the ground around the leak area and stink.

As some have said above, perhaps a second opinion is called for with a proper investigation of the pipework, tank and even the boiler.

ccluedo

Op said earlier in thread that it's not bunded tank tho that would explain a lot. 
I agree tho with those suggesting a second opinion establishing where the oil is going. 
I had a leak under floor many years ago unfortunately whilst on holiday. The smell was obvious when I returned and even after the clean up it remained albeit in a lesser strength for a very long time.
I really think u would know about it if it was an internal leak. 

cannugec5

Reed_Richards said:

Is it worth getting a second opinion?  There is no obligation to do anything about an existing oil tank that no longer complies with regulations  If the boiler isn't working, how could he identify if there was a problem with the oil line or not?  Sounds to me like someone who just did not want the job.

There is no obligation to replace the tank. But it’s over 20 years old. It would be crazy to put in a new fuel line and then next year ( or whenever the tank fails) be back to square one with not being able to replace the tank in the same position but with a lovely new (and expensive) fuel line that would then be in the wrong place. 

We have lost over 700 litres of oil. The leak finally stopped once they forced the stopcock shut. That is clear to us the pipe was leaking somewhere underground. There was not at any time any smell whatsoever. 

We do not know the actual route the fuel pipe takes. Logic would have it going by the shortest route. However this does not appear to be the case. Oddly at the tank end the pipe goes backwards under a boundary wall. (When our house was built the owner owned both properties.) Digging up to actually find the old leaky pipe will not help us, but would only confirm what we already know and at great expense. 

The heating engineer does want to help and could potentially work alongside the Air Source Installer, if that is what we go with. They have worked together on other properties. However we need a full property assessment first.