Your oil company refused the delivery. What to do today.
A refusal is the dealer's decision. It is not a finding by the state or the fire department that your tank is unsafe, and a different dealer who comes and looks can reach a different answer.
Start with the gauge
Before anything else, go look at the tank. The gauge is the clear plastic vial on top with a disc floating in it. At a quarter, a standard 275-gallon tank has about 60 gallons left. A house burns roughly five to seven gallons a day once it is in the twenties and thirties outside, so a quarter is a week to ten days.
If you are at a quarter or under, call now and say so: (781) 325-8378. If the gauge has not moved in weeks, it may be stuck. How to check it, and how to measure the tank without it.
What the dealer is worried about
When a delivery ends in a spill, MassDEP's guidance to oil companies says the company that made the delivery bears part or all of the responsibility for the cleanup. State law also holds the property owner responsible for the cleanup, whoever was at fault. A 2001 MassDEP survey of homeowners put a typical cleanup at $20,000 to $50,000. A dispatcher who has never seen your tank is being asked to take that on over the phone, and the easy answer is no.
The 30-year figure people quote is not a legal deadline. It comes from MassDEP's homeowner guide, which says indoor tanks generally do not last more than about 30 years. Dealers have turned that sentence into cutoffs of their own, and each company's cutoff is different.
Ask which of three things it is
Ask the company that refused you to say which of these applies, in writing if they will.
The first is the oil line. If the copper line from the tank to the burner runs along the concrete floor or under it, state law has required a protective sleeve or an oil safety valve since 2011. That is a small repair, not a new tank. The state's own estimate at the time was $150 to $350. What the rule says and how to tell what you have.
The second is the tank's condition. Rust blisters along the bottom, a damp stain on a seam, oil on the floor under the filter, legs that have shifted. Tanks rust from the inside out, so by the time it shows on the outside the steel is thin. A dealer who refuses for this reason is right to.
The third is the birthday. Nothing is visibly wrong. The tank is older than the company's cutoff, or there is no date on it that anyone can read. This is the case where a dealer who comes and looks can give you a different answer.
The whistle
Outside, next to the fill pipe, there is a second pipe. That is the vent. Where the vent line leaves the top of the tank there is a small whistle. It sounds while oil is going in and stops when the tank is nearly full, and the driver hears it through the vent pipe. That is how he knows to shut off the hose. MassDEP tells homeowners to check every fall that the whistle is there.
Most companies will not fill a tank that does not whistle, whatever its age. If your last driver said he could not hear it, that may be the entire reason for the refusal, and it is an inexpensive part.
Getting oil this week
The dealer on this line still delivers to older tanks after looking at them. When you call, have four things ready: the size of the tank if you know it, where the gauge is reading, which reason the other company gave, and when the burner was last cleaned.
Someone comes out and checks the bottom and seams of the tank, the legs, the fill and vent pipes, the whistle, the gauge, and the oil line and its valve. If it passes, they deliver. If the line needs a safety valve, that is usually done on the same visit. If the tank is finished, they will tell you and quote a replacement.
Ask on the call about today's price per gallon, any minimum, and how soon the truck can come.
If the answer is a new tank
Get the price in writing, and make sure it includes pumping the oil you still have into the new tank and hauling the old one away. The installer needs a permit from your town's fire department before the work and an inspection after. The town pages on this site list each fire prevention office and what it charges.
Once the line and valve are right, you also qualify to buy oil leak coverage on your homeowners policy, which most policies do not include unless you ask. The details are on the 2010 rule page.
If there is oil on the floor
Stop. Do not run the burner and do not order a delivery. Call the fire department, then the MassDEP release line at 888-304-1133, which is answered around the clock. A spill of ten gallons or more has to be reported within two hours.
If you rent
Unless your apartment has its own tank and your written lease makes you buy the oil, no oil is the owner's problem to fix. Either way the tank and the oil line are the owner's to repair. What the code requires and who to call.