On Thu, 3 May 2007 07:04:26 +0100, R wrote:

Contamination is is a definate.
Taste it.

He's going to water plants with it not drink it.

If you like the taste of it then imagine it in your food...

The normal soil bacteria will deal with traces of oil that get to the soil
without any trouble.

As a secondary question, is this heating oil the same stuff as
paraffin?

It's low octane/grade diesel.

That depends on the "heating oil". Modern pressure jet boilers use 28sec
oil which is parrafin, kerosene etc. Diesel, gas oil, etc is 35sec and
less volatile than 28sec.

28sec can be used in "parrafin" lamps/heaters but the smell might not be
as nice as refined lamp oil or oil made for heaters.

Personally, I'd get rid of it and look around for a 1000l carboy made of
nylon/plastic and se that in place of it

The OP doesn't state if this is an old steel tank or a more recent plastic
one. If plastic I'd drain as much oil out as possible and use drawing
water off from low down. There may be a problem with the oil on the
surface depending on how the filling arrangements are done. Where is the
overflow water going to go? Can the surface layer flow back to the normal
drain, as it can with a normal down spout butt filler?

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail