What to do with a leaking oil tank?

My wife has been complaining about the smell of petrol around the house over the last few days. It started when a tiny bit of petrol leaked out of a petrol chain saw that we’d borrowed from someone to cut through some thick branches in the back garden.

But with the chain saw sitting in the garage, it didn’t explain why the smell was lingering around.

Now I’ve got as much sense of smell in my nose as I have in my little finger, so I wasn’t about to turn bloodhound and sniff out the source.

Turns out that the oil tank has developed a crack in it. Maybe during the hot weather? And it’s been oozing out home heating oil for the last few days.

Phoned Hylands Fuels - our usual oil supplier – since their number was stuck to the back of the tank. And that’s where I come back to the post’s title.

Question: What to do with a leaking oil tank?

Answer: Clean it with kitchen roll and rub a dry bar of soap into the crack. It’ll stem the flow of oil.

The longer answer involves phoning the manufacturer of the tank (based in Portadown) and ask if they’ll something about it under the 10-year guarantee. You’ll want to find the tank’s serial number that’s stamped into the plastic near the lid. That helps them work out the age and model of the tank.

Any minute now, the engineer is due to turn up and look at it. (Update: he did.) I’ll let you know how our domestic emergency resolves. I bet he brings gaffer tape with him!