question for the stashers

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For those members who store a hundred or more quarts of oil -are there any ramifications for your homeowners insurance coverage? Most policies have clauses preventing the storage of hazardous, including flammable, substances beyond typcial household needs. I wonder how understanding State Farm would be of 50 gallons of motor oil if it were to be ignited in a house fire.
 
No worries. Motor oil is so inert plus I have no strong oxidizers in my house. A pop tart in my toaster is a bigger fire hazard than my 50+ qts of GC.
 
Better claim it.....seriously it is combustible, but unless there are accelerants around or other circumstances the room (garage) would be seriously toast in a fire long before the oil added to the fire.....it could be fun for the fire department when those 200 cases finally got going, though.
 
Well, I dunno. My house has 275 gallons of highly flamable #2 heating oil year round (minus what I've consumed). That's aside from all the paint and whatnot that is far more volatile then motor oil. For it to flash, you've got to have a developed fire already.


I do enjoy how everyone can spin anything into litigous peril, though. (that's not to say that you're wrong. I just like observing the thought processes in motion).
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The heating oil is without a doubt much more flamable but its stored in a legally mandated vessel.

The motor oil of course is not an ignition danger in itself, but would provide a source of fuel once a fire was ignited. So would wood for that matter or the gasoline in your car.

I do recall something in my policy about hazardous liquid storage, and just wondered if say 20-30 gallons of oil would be considered more than "normal household use". I have absolutely no love for insurance companines and would put little past them in their efforts to deny a claim.
 
Yes, I'm sure that there is some provision for hazardous material. I don't think that motor oil is defined as such ..but someone would surely attempt to stretch it to mean that. Hazardous materials tend to have strict legal definitions. For example, H2SO4 is not hazardous. Toxic, corrosive, dangerous to humans, but not hazardous. Even spent H2SO4 is not deemed a "hazardous substance" ..but it falls under different regulations in terms of stuff like transporting it. That is, virgin, it's DOT ..as a waste product ..it's DEP (EPA, whomever is in charge of environmental affairs in that state). Hexavalent Chrome is a harzardous material in Penna ..but not in Delaware and Md
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Essentially, regardless of whether or not something presents a hazard ..it's (typically, legally- usually) not defined as a hazardous substance. YMMV
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There's been some odd regulations adopted in the past 20 years (it seems like yesterday). The first was that you couldn't store more then 250 gallons of any fuel above ground. I assumed that all the 275 gallon oil tanks were grandfathered ..but, oddly, the kero dispencer at the local gas station (350) was not. Then, about the same time, the 5 year limit on getting "leak detection" for all below ground storage tanks (lotsa $$$)
 
quote:

Originally posted by Pablo:
I think the point here is, in the event of fire, save the stash!

Darn right! *** forbid, but if it ever happened I'm getting the wife and kids out, and going back in for the Pennzoil and AutoRX! Let the pet's fend for themselves.
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Let's see natural gas heating, for water and space. Some folks uae heating oil or propane. Lots more hazard than a hundred qts of lube oil.

Any how my stash is stored in an unconnected shop/storage shed. Along with my C2H2 and O2 bottles.
 
This thread reminded me of a post in another forum

Garden Web

wherein the poster seemed to think it was okay to store 80 gallons of gasoline in 5 gal Blitz cans at a distance of 100 feet and most everyone agreed with him that his plan was okay.

GrtArtiste
 
Motor oils have typical flashpoints of 400F+ and are classified as combustible liquids vs flammable liquids.

Fire Codes vary by regions, but in an attached garage, generally no more than 10 gals of flammable fuel storage and 10 gallons of combustible liquids is allowed per NFPA 30.

Maybe a member with fire department service can chime in on this subject.

JMHO, by the time the fire reaches 400F and your motor oil stash ignites, the fire department has nothing left to save & will allow the structure to burn to the ground.
 
The concern about a significant motor oil stash lighting up the night sky and insurance companies is probably a valid one. Flash points, NFPA, BFD, and Bovine Stuff notwithstanding, insurers have their own standards as spelled out in their policies. Loss of a home to fire would be a catastrophe under the best of circumstances - and that's assuming no loss of life. (Try to imagine five or six girl scouts going up in smoke during a sleepover with your daughter. Try to imagine their parents getting their hands on a copy of the fire department incident report. Now try to imagine those parents getting their hands on you...) That loss coupled with a claim rejection because of a fire department incident report of the presence of a flammable fluid in excess amounts would be twice as bad*. I've had that thought in the back of my mind what with my "puny" 79 quart stash. Gonna hafta change my oil more frequently than every 3,000 miles, huh?
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*Insurance companies can be and are sued successfully - but, it's never a given. Additionally, how many of us are realistically able to accomodate refinancing the purchase or building of a new abode during the course of what could be protracted litigation - especially if the lender on the previous residence is howling for his payments?

[ May 05, 2006, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by GrtArtiste:
wherein the poster seemed to think it was okay to store 80 gallons of gasoline in 5 gal Blitz cans at a distance of 100 feet and most everyone agreed with him that his plan was okay.

From a property insurance perspective, maybe okay, but I bet it violates his mortgage contract. Banks don't want the possibility of becoming hazardous waste site owners. Not that 5 gallons of gasoline leaked into the ground is going to make a hazardous waste site, but they specify no storage of such materials on the property beyond normal needs, or something like that. Of course, you don't stand to lose money with the bank as you would with an insurance company.
 
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