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16 January 2009
Sound advice to protect your oil tank
Fuel theft is continuing to be a key concern for Police forces and despite the recent decrease in oil prices. This is issue further fuelled by the credit crunch and general downturn in the economy.
OilSecure are deeply concerned about the issue of oil theft and the lack of clear advice available to home-owners and oil users. We have recently communicated to all Police forces giving guidelines on the key ways to protect oil tanks and the various options available and the downside of many. This advice is as follows:
Advice: Fit a lock to the inspection cover / filler cap. This often results in the lock being cut or the tank being drilled which can cause many hundreds of pounds worth of damage as well environmental impact and unnecessary loss of oil.
Advice: Move the tank out of sight of a main road. This is a very costly exercise as it will
require the tank to be emptied, new pipe work to be installed, a new platform built in the new location and re-installation to be undertaken.
Advice: Disguise the tank / build a structure around it. This is very common advice but also the option that is most fraught with issues. There has been a lot of press coverage about building a structure around the tank to hide / protect it without due regard for the impact that this has. The Oiled Fired Technical Association (OFTEC), British Standards (
BS) and local building control should all be taken in consideration when advising this option.
Advice: Fit a PIR Floodlight near your tank. If the tank is in a remote location no electricity may exist and where it does exist installing floodlighting may only prove to light up the area for thieves.
Advice: Fit an alarm system on the tank. There is only one alarm (that we are aware of) that has been designed specifically to work on oil tanks, which is self contained, simple to install and requires no electricity...OilSecure. Once in place, OilSecure sensors are completely hidden within the oil tank and a siren unit is located away from the tank. Upon activation (when the tank is tampered with / caps are removed), the alarm gives an audible and visual alarm which we believe is the most effective means of 'raising the alarm'
Julian Farmer, Director OilSecure: “We are concerned about the issue of oil theft and that users of oil are aware of all the options available in securing their oil supply. Whilst many options seem as first sight good advice, we urge people to consider the implication of all advice on their own situation”.
End
Information:
OilSecure:
Tel.: 0871 21 00 104
Web.: www.oilsecure.com
E-mail: Click Here
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