In Our Backyard
by Peter Moulton
On the whole, it has been a mild winter for Maine residents. Although some big storms came early, we had plenty of time and plenty of warning to shovel our roofs before the big rain came. However, we are not through with winter yet, and there is plenty of time for falling ice and snow to snap off the oil filter on your outside home heating oil tank and let the expensive contents spill onto the ground. So look at your tank and make sure it has a sturdy protector over the oil filter.
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) responds to over 450 home heating oil spills a year at single family residences. March is the month with the most spills, and the number one cause in March is termed “Accident – Physical Damage”. This almost always means snow and ice falling off the roof and damaging the oil filter that sticks out from the end the tank, allowing a leak or a spill. Ask your licensed oil technician to install a filter protector to protect both the environment and your precious investment in heating oil. The filter protector sits over your fuel filter like those mini A-frames some folks put over their favorite ornamental lawn plants in the winter. It’s the same idea, just a little different shape. You can see what they look like by going to the website www.mainedep.com and clicking on “Filter protectors”.
Snow and ice falling off the roof and breaking or damaging the oil filter and its associated piping is the number one cause of spills at single family residences for the first four months of the year, and it also makes the first four months of the year the ones with the most spills. However, overall, the number one cause of releases (22 percent) is from internal corrosion in your tank due to water and sludge build-up. It’s best to ask your licensed oil technician to inspect your oil tank and perform an ultrasonic thickness test on your tank to determine if it’s getting too thin. This can easily be done during the annual cleaning of the furnace or boiler.
By the way, overall, “Accident – Physical Damage” is the number two cause of releases at 18 percent.
The third leading cause of releases is from overfills (15 percent). Ask your licensed oil technician to check that you have a vent whistle, which stops whistling when the tank is full. This will alert the fuel truck driver to stop delivering oil and prevent oil from spraying out through the vent pipe and onto the side of your house and onto the ground. This is especially important on inside tanks because the fuel truck driver cannot see the gauge, and the sound of the vent whistle stopping is the only warning the tank is full.
For a more detailed (but still quick and easy) spill prevention checklist of your tank system, call the Maine DEP at 1-800-452-1942 and ask for the pamphlet “Is Your Tank in Shape?” Remember. We want your “March Madness” to be about basketball, not experiencing an oil spill in your backyard.
This article was submitted by Peter Moulton, an environmental engineer with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management. In Our Back Yard is a column developed by the DEP. E-mail your environmental questions to infoDEP@maine.gov or send them to In Our Back Yard, Maine DEP, 17 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333.
