At today’s prices, it’s quite possible in some of the larger tanks to have over £1000 of fuel sat there waiting to be pumped out by an opportunistic scumbag!. Taking simple practical steps can help you keep what’s yours.
Please post your security advice here to help others protect their oil!
If you sleep within hearing distance of the tank, it’s worth considering noisy surfaces such as gravel around it, and creaking garden/yard gates are a bonus.
You could also try placing ceramic planters around the tank which you can drag out of the way easily in daylight for filling , but which would be noisy and timewasting for thieves at night. (These can also be clustered around pipelines to protect from accidental damage)
For the parts of the tank which the delivery man doesn’t need to access, thorny plants are another possible deterrent.
Another factor not so far mentioned is that if tanks are completely drained by thieves, it might need an engineer’s visit to restart and check the boiler, especially if the debris from the bottom of the tank has been exposed.
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For those interested in alarming their tanks I have had some success using wire-free house alarm systems. I put the control unit in the house and embedded a wireless door sensor inside a wooden gate. (You could surface mount it but it needs some weather protection). The sensor is powerful enough to transmit quite a long way across an open space provided the receiver is close to the house wall (say, just inside the window). Door sensors are easy to conceal, you avoid all the false alarms caused by PIRs and the batteries last for ages. They only really consume power when they transmit. I only replaced the battery once in 10 years.
In my case I didn’t use an external sounder, just relied on the internal buzzer to wake me in the night. In 10 years it only went off once. I caught a policeman poking around!
There are plenty of these systems available on eBay for £50 or less.
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reading these comments with interest – I live in a remote area of North Yorkshire and although we have not had any oil stolen the neighbouring farmer did have last year. I already have a continuous readout of my oil tank contents in my kitchen (calibrated in litres for my round tank) via an ultrasonic level device so I will be aware of any sudden change in level. What I will do next (when I get around to it) is use a float switch set at a low level connected via a relay control circuit to the 24 hr circuit of my security alarm c/w a switch to disable it should I choose to take the level down below my “alarm level”. Any electrician with a bit of control circuit knowledge will be able to knock this together. I already have a dog but it’s a Cocker Spaniel and the most it will do to any intruder is bark and piss on their shoes!
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I had my oil stolen 3 times, my solution was to buy a Rottweiler, problem solved! I have a great pet and great security! No one can walk past my driveway without me knowing forget about a stranger even trying to get into my garden!
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Purchase a shed slightly larger than the tank and construct it around the tank. You now have a shed and not an oil tank. If the crooks choose to steal your lawnmower they will find the tank instead and not be tooled up for nicking that. You can leave it unlocked for the delivery and ma\ke it as secure as you can against a break in.
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larry rosen Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
as an oftec registered engineer it is my duty to inform you that it is not now permissable to enclose an oiltank in an inflammable building.
(shed.)
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make a dummy tank and fill it with water, then they’ll contaminate the rest of their oil!!!
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Looking on the site to find oil prices and got distracted! Never occurred to me that the tank/contents were at risk even with our sad experience two years ago when our pet donkey was stolen from her stable in our garden (two dogs and they weren’t disturbed). The unspeakables came well prepared – cutters for the padlock and not only did they take Lottie but her 14′ oak 5-barred gate too. Please take a couple of minutes to have a look at http://www.freewebs.com/missingdonkey. She may be living near you and my family and I are desperate for news of her, thank you.
ps our tank is surrounded and shrouded by leyllandi (spelling?), fine until I’m ordered to cut them down!
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Hi all,
We have developed an oil tank alarm and is available online called OilSecure. Just visit http://www.oilsecure.com and read all about it. Buy on-line and when you check out enter the coupon code BOILER and you will get 15% off the OSA1001 or OSA1002. Coupon valid til 30 April 2009. Hope this helps you all looking for a solution to oil theft.
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Hello,
We have a very old oil fired boiler and tank and will need to replace it soon. Can anyone recommend a good system that doesn’t cost the earth and is economical to run. I’ve heard that condensing boilers are good and would save us the cost of istalling new water tanks too. Any advise gladly received.
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larry rosen Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
in passing remember that a combination boiler will save storage tanks but are better suited to less than 3 output systems as pressure drop is sometimes a problem.
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