Storing fuel safely on your property is a number one concern for those using home heating oil or for those storing large amounts of fuel. To store fuel, bunded tanks should be used, and these can include plastic or steel bunded tanks. Here at Compass Fuel Oils, we are leading fuel oil professionals, delivering a range of high quality fuel oils across the UK, in bulk and barrels, within just 1-3 days. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about the advantages of a plastic bunded oil tank.
What are the advantages of a plastic bunded oil tank?
There are a number of advantages to choosing a plastic bunded oil tank for your domestic heating oil. These include:
- Being more lightweight- plastic tanks are naturally more lightweight than steel ones which means that they are much easier to move. As result, they can be cheaper to deliver, install and move to a different location if needed. This can be more practical for a home setting when compared to a steel bunded tank.
- Good insulation- plastic is a natural insulator and this means that the transfer of heat will be much slower, helping to protect the contents of your plastic bunded oil tank.
- No rust- unlike metal oil tanks, especially steel tanks, plastic tanks will not rust. For steel tanks, rust can form and fill the bottom of the tank, corrupting the heating oil stored within as well as clogging any filters. In addition, the legs of steel tanks also have the potential to rust and become damaged, which could result in the steel tank being unbalanced and tip over,. This could cause a lot of damage and become costly to replace the oil and repair the damage. Using a plastic tank reduces the risk of this occurring.
- Plastic has pliability- most bunded plastic oil tanks do not have any seams, which means that they are less likely to split or fail. In addition, plastic has the ability to regain it’s natural shape and as a result, any deformation can be corrected.
Comparing steel tanks to plastic tanks
If you’re not entirely sold on a plastic bunded tank, you might prefer a steel tank. A steel tank can bring a number of advantages and benefits itself, so let’s compare the two:
- Storage capacity- Steel tanks can store heating oil in much larger capacities than plastic tanks. In fact, steel tanks can often hold up to 120,000 litres! As a result, if you need a lot of heating oil, a steel tank can be the best option. This can also allow you to take advantage of cheaper oil prices when they come up in the market and bulk buy your oil.
- Security- steel tanks are much more secure than plastic tanks as these are more difficult to move without equipment, and are extremely difficult to break into, providing increased fuel security and keeping the risk of fuel theft to a minimum.
Steel tanks can be superior
Ultimately, for storing your fuel safely, steel bunded tanks can be the best option, though there ae some advantages to plastic tanks. For more information about our steel fuel tank hire, or to arrange delivery, get in touch with the professionals today, here at Compass Fuel Oils.