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How the oil is stored, the design criteria for tanks and containers, how they are located and protected, and the capacity of cans and pallets.
If you have an oil storage tank with a capacity of 201 liters or more, you must follow the rules for storing oil:
You must also follow these rules if you have oil storage tanks with a capacity of 3501 liters or more at home, including barges and houseboats.
If you do not follow the requirements of this guide, you may be fined or prosecuted. The EPA can also provide pollution control engineering notices to bring your tank farm up to set standards.
There are separate storage requirements for fuel oil on farms in England or Wales for agricultural purposes, such as fuel for tractors or to feed grain dryers.
However, if you store oil on your farm for non-agricultural commercial purposes, such as refueling a truck or truck, you must follow the business rules outlined in this guide.
Lubricant is a mixture of oil and other substances (usually soap) that is sticky unless heated. We can ask for fat to be stored on a drip tray, but we would prefer containers of less than 200 liters or indoor storage.
If you store any of the following substances that are not classified as oils or cannot be supplied in secondary packaging, you do not need to follow the rules:
If you are storing used vegetable oil, used cooking oil, or used synthetic oil, you must follow the directions in this manual.
If you store any of the following types of used oil, you do not need to follow them, but you should check if an environmental permit is required:
If you store oil in a building, you may need to follow additional fire safety precautions in accordance with the Building Code – contact your local council to discuss if this applies to your store.
If the building is on a farm in England or Wales, it must meet the requirements for storing agricultural fuel oil.
Oil depots at airports owned by oil companies are considered forwarding distribution sites. These rules do not apply to them, but they do apply to fuel depots at airports owned by airlines.
If terminal “service ships” sell oil directly to shipowners, they are not considered a place for further distribution. These rules apply to auxiliary vessels.
These rules apply to any of the following generators connected to a fuel tank with a capacity of 201 liters or more:
If your IBC barrel or container is marked with the United Nations letter “UN”, it will comply with design standards.
If your container does not meet one of these standards or does not have a UN marking and you would like to discuss whether it is strong enough and has sufficient structural integrity, please contact the Environmental Protection Agency.
You should locate your containers where the risk of impact damage is minimized, such as away from driveways, tank turntables and forklift routes.
Or you have to make sure that any impact will not damage the container, such as placing obstacles or bollards around the tank.
If you are filling the container through the remote filler pipe, you must use a drip tray to catch any oil that may have spilled during transport.
Remote filling is when you fill a container at a filling point outside of the secondary containment (the embankment or pan used to catch leaks from the container). When refueling remotely, the tank may not be visible from the refueling point.
If a bulk is used, it must contain 110% of the container’s capacity. If you don’t have a bulk, make sure your secondary container has the required capacity, depending on the type of container it contains.
An additional bucket container (usually a drip tray) must have a capacity equal to or greater than one quarter of the bucket it holds.
If a pallet can hold more than one bucket, it must hold one quarter of the total capacity of the buckets it can hold. This applies even if you only use the tray for one drum. For example, a pallet holding 4 separate 205 liter buckets should have a capacity of 205 liters, even if you only use it for one 205 liter bucket.
For fixed tanks, mobile containers, IBCs and other single containers, the secondary container’s capacity shall be 110% of the container’s capacity.
For example, if your container has a capacity of 2,500 liters, your additional container must have a capacity of 2,750 liters.
A secondary containment containing several fixed tanks, mobile storage tanks or IBCs shall have a capacity equal to the larger of the following two dimensions:
If the vessels are hydraulically connected, they should be considered as one vessel, so the capacity of the secondary containment should be 110% of the total capacity.
If the vessel is hydraulically connected but has separate secondary vessels, the capacity of each individual secondary dam or sump must be at least 110% of the total capacity of all vessels.
If you hydraulically connect auxiliary pans or catch pans together, you can calculate the total capacity of the pan or catch pan.
Embankments constructed from masonry and concrete may require plastering or coating of the interior surfaces of the bases and walls to make them impervious to water.
The Institute for Building Research and Information (CIRIA) has issued recommendations on how to build an embankment that meets these requirements.
Fill, drain and overflow pipes should be located to minimize the risk of impact damage, such as away from driveways, tanker turns and forklift routes.
In addition, you must make sure that they are not damaged by any kind of impact, for example by placing barriers or bollards around them.
Any pipes above ground must be properly secured, such as with brackets attached to a nearby wall.
If your fixed oil tank has a permanently attached oil distribution hose, this line must be placed in a secure cabinet that:
Whether the pipe is in a containment cabinet or inside an embankment, it must also have a tap or valve at the discharge end that closes automatically when the pipe is not in use.
A faucet or faucet should not be permanently open unless it is equipped with an automatic shut-off mechanism.
If your fixed tank has permanently attached vent pipes, taps or valves through which oil can pass, all pipes, taps and valves must:
In our opinion, shut-off valves or filters on stationary effluents installed outside of a common closed tank are ancillary equipment for downstream equipment, not vessels. So it might be outside the secondary shell. You must ensure that valves and filters are available for scheduled maintenance and emergencies.
In an installed secondary containment system, shut-off valves on single-wall, double-wall or double-wall tanks must be located inside the secondary containment.
If the vent pipe holding the tank and the tank itself are not visible from where the tank is being filled, an automatic spill preventer must be installed on the tank. This could be something that shuts off the oil supply to the tank when the tank is full, or an alarm or fixed tank sensor that signals when the tank is full to alert the person filling it.
If your stationary tank has a threaded or fixed socket fill point, this must be used when filling the tank.
Every time you fill the tank, make sure that the threaded connections or fixed connections are not corroded and free of debris.
If your tank has underground piping, you must ensure that the piping is protected from physical damage, such as:
If the pipe is made from corrosive materials such as steel or copper, you must also ensure that it is protected from corrosion, such as:
You should keep any permanent leak testing equipment in working order and test it at regular intervals – check the manufacturer’s instructions.
If you do not have permanent leak detection equipment installed, you should check underground pipes for leaks during installation, and then:
Mechanical fittings are fittings used to connect two or more separate pipes, such as compression fittings or threaded fittings.