Heating Oil Fumes.

[Meandering]

The copper pipes have been stolen, along with all the guts to the heating unit which is oil fed. The oil tank remains in the basement, and one 1/4 inch copper supply line from the tank to the gutted heating unit.

But the smell, phew.

As soon as you open the door it is strong and within 20 minutes is giving you a headache.

Can anyone venture how long it will take to get the smell out of the house once the heater is fixed?

I did not see any oil on the floor or outside.

So if you know how to fix the smell, or can venture how long it will take for the smell to dissipate, that would be helpful.

The carpets already need to be replaced, so that should help.

Thanks.


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[Mr Rex]

I'd suggest calling a local ServPro franchise or other fire/water damage type companies locally. They deal with smoke smells, mold odors, dog and cat urine etc etc. Likely to have dealt with oil smells as well. If the oil has entered the soil in the basement, could be big bucks to remediate, removal of soil etc.

 

[Meandering]

Thanks Rex.

I did not see any soak, and the fuel fill cap is outside the wall. Nothing on the ground indicated a spill, all vegetation was in tact. I will call anyway and see what they say.

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[JTip]

Oil leaks can be nasty.

Remediation is to excavate the basement floor, take the dirt to an offsite facility to burn out the fuel oil. Minor spills can dissipate over time but who can say how much oil was in the tank prior to the 'copper clean out'.......

It is not covered by homeowners insurance and can be in the tens of thousands to fix.

We had one claim back at the agency where our insured got his tanks filled. The weight of the oil busted one of the feet and it pinched the 1/4" tube you spoke of. 275 gallons leaked for several days into the basement.... It was bad bad bad.....

 

[dobie]

This one's a little more extreme than yours. Local house got an automatic oil delivery but homeowner had converted to gas and basement tank was gone.

Idiots left fill pipe in place and never cancelled oil contract. 200 gal in basement. Pumped it out and thereafter had to demolish home. Could never mitigate the smell.

 

[Meandering]

Other than the smell,

This is the only thing that could possibly suggest a spill.

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[Deleted member 128537]

I remember when I was a kid the oil man came to fill our tank. He turned on the pump and went to his truck. Problem; the pump didn't shut off automatically and we had 200 gallons on the floor in our garage and our wall was soaked with oil. What a mess.

The only way we could get rid of the smell was tear the wall out that had the oil on it. There was no way to remediate it.