I'm hopeful that someone can help me with this problem. We are in the
process of getting our basement waterproofed. We need to move our 275
gallon oil tank away from the wall far enough so that the guys can get
close enough to the wall to jackhammer out the cement. So, our dilemma
is, "how do we move this oil tank?" We really only need to move it
about 3 feet straight out from the wall. There are four legs
(approximately 9 to 12 inches that are welded to the tank) supporting
the tank. We have considered floor jacks, which appear to be our
present line of thinking. Jack up one side, then put a piece of wood
underneath, then jack up the other side and put a piece of wood
underneath. Do this until we can put a piece of wood with some casters
on it, etc. You get the idea.

There is about a 1/4 tank of oil in the tank. We're just wondering if
anyone has some other "easier" way of moving this tank. Like I said,
it only has to come out about 3 feet from the wall.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Penny

wrote:
I'm hopeful that someone can help me with this problem. We are in the
process of getting our basement waterproofed. We need to move our 275
gallon oil tank away from the wall far enough so that the guys can get
close enough to the wall to jackhammer out the cement. So, our dilemma
is, "how do we move this oil tank?" We really only need to move it
about 3 feet straight out from the wall. There are four legs
(approximately 9 to 12 inches that are welded to the tank) supporting
the tank. We have considered floor jacks, which appear to be our
present line of thinking. Jack up one side, then put a piece of wood
underneath, then jack up the other side and put a piece of wood
underneath. Do this until we can put a piece of wood with some casters
on it, etc. You get the idea.

There is about a 1/4 tank of oil in the tank. We're just wondering if
anyone has some other "easier" way of moving this tank. Like I said,
it only has to come out about 3 feet from the wall.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Penny

I did approximately the same job years ago - same size tank, about 1/3
full. Turned it 180 degrees with two bottle jacks. That was only
possible because the legs were not welded to the tank but had some
movement. Method was jack until the legs on one end just cleared the
floor, manually shift the two legs as far as posible (only about an 1"
per shot), do same at other end. Sounds like a slow job but progress
is amazingly fast.

In your case, since the legs are welded, it would try it with
automotive type floor jacks - the ones with wheels. One on each end and
only jack enough to clear the floor. Once all leges are clear you
should be able to pull it. If the tank tries to tip, it can only go
until a leg hits the floor. Have one person on each jack pluss at least
one to steady the tank. Mve it SLOW - you don't want any momentum to
speak of built up or you could dump the tank on a quick stop. Be sure
that the contack point of the jack saddle is spread out. You do not
want a "point" contact or anywheres near one. You might have to cut a
"saddle" matching the tank curve out of 2X material to do that.

Harry K

Your crib idea is good, but time is of the essence and since we are not
that great with carpentry issues, moving the tank is underway as we
speak utilizing a floor jack and pieces of wood. The tank does not
appear to be more than 15 years old, at best guess. There is a
positive shutoff and plumbing is not an issue as my better half has
that under control.

Thank you so much for your input!

Thank you for your post. Movement of the tank is underway as I type.
So far, we have been able to jack both ends up and put 2x4 pieces under
them. We have screwed casters (strong enough for 1000 lbs) onto some
2x6 (double rows of casters). Tomorrow we will attempt to jack up the
tank and slide the caster planks in place and try to actually move the
tank. In looking at the wood that we jacked the legs onto, there was
no impression left, which seems to me that the weight is either
distributed rather evenly, or the tank is not as heavy as we thought.

Thanks again for your post. This is certainly a slow process. Not
sure in the long run if it would have been better to pay a
"professional" to do it, but that would have cost us $700 to have
someone move it!!! So, for less than $50 in parts and tools, we're
trying it! Could be a disaster, but I'll let you know if it works.

On 19 Feb 2006 20:10:51 -0800, someone wrote:

....Could be a disaster, but I'll let you know if it works.

That's optimistic!

If the tank is 1/4 full that would be less than 70 gallon. Fuel oil
would weigh less than water but more than gasoline so I'll estimate 7
lbs. per gallon until somebody looks it up and posts the real number,
so that's less than 490 lbs. plus the weight of the tank itself which
isn't all that much, those things aren't built mush heavier than they
"need" to be.

So all in all the thing as-is (1/4 full) weighs in the same range as a
Harley Davidson. Not trivial if it was lying on top of you, but not
all that frightening in terms of pure weight either. Four guys should
be able to lift it up clean, and easily lift/drag it a few inches at a
time across a concrete floor. (Two people working on one end would be
able to move one end at a time, but that puts a big strain on the
tank.)

My worry would be springing a leak from putting a strain on the tank,
so the more it could have been emptied beforehand the less risk. But
it really doean't sound like that big a job.


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

I would empty the thing before I tried to move it.
(just my two cents)