From the Bell Island ferry terminal up the hill to Hogan's Pond and St. Thomas, we replace and remove heating oil tanks on the steep, windy lots this town is built on. Free written estimates, licensed and insured, and a 24/7 line for expired tags and leaking tanks.
Portugal Cove-St. Philip's is a town of steep driveways, big rural lots and older homes that still heat with oil. Whether you're above the ferry terminal in Portugal Cove, out along St. Thomas Line, or down a lane in St. Philip's, there's a fair chance your tank sits outside on a slope taking the full force of the wind off Conception Bay. That's the kind of setup that ages a steel tank faster than the date on the tag suggests.
Harbour Tank Co handles oil tank replacement, removal and fibreglass upgrades across the whole town, from Beachy Cove and Portugal Cove to Hogan's Pond, St. Thomas and St. Philip's. Every job starts with a free written estimate, and removal of the old tank is included with every replacement. If your HOST tag has expired or the delivery truck has just turned around in your driveway, our 24/7 emergency line at (709) 800-3117 is there for exactly that.
New 200-gallon steel or fibreglass tanks installed on sloped lots and in basements across Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, with the old tank hauled away on the same visit. Painted steel is $3,200 installed and fibreglass is $3,850, and both prices include removal of the old tank.
Once a tank is disconnected, NL regulations give you 30 days to empty it, remove it and restore the site. Outdoor tank removal is $500, and basement removals in the older homes around Portugal Cove and St. Philip's are quoted case by case.
Salt air off the Tickle and freeze-thaw on a hillside are hard on steel. A fibreglass tank doesn't rust, and its registration can run for decades instead of the 10 to 20 years an outdoor steel tank is allowed.
Refused a delivery in January with the wind howling in off the bay? Call our 24/7 line and we'll get an installer to your door and a new tag on the system as fast as the road up to your place allows.
The town climbs from the water at Portugal Cove and St. Philip's up toward Thorburn Road and Portugal Cove Road, and most homes sit on rural-residential lots with the tank outside on a concrete pad or a steel stand at the side of the house. Ground moves on a hillside. Every freeze-thaw cycle shifts the stand a little, and a tank that's gone out of level puts stress on the fittings and the bottom seam.
Then there's the salt. Homes near the shore, above the ferry terminal or along the Beachy Cove side, get fog and spray that strips paint and starts rust in the legs and the bottom of the tank long before the tag date. Under NLR 60/03, an outdoor single-wall steel tank gets a maximum of 10 to 20 years depending on its gauge and where the outlet is, but the coast doesn't always wait that long.
When we come out we check the stand, the legs, the fill and vent piping and the tag date. If the tank is sound, we'll tell you so. If it isn't, you get a free written estimate that covers the new tank, the installer's licensed inspector tagging and registering it, and removal of the old one.
Every registered oil tank in Newfoundland and Labrador carries a metal HOST tag with a six-digit number and an expiry stamped like 7-2028, which means the tank can't be used after the end of July 2028. Delivery drivers have to check it, and under the regulations they can't fill a tank without a valid tag. That's the phone call nobody in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's wants in February.
A refused delivery on a windy hill overlooking the Tickle isn't a small problem. Our expired-tag emergency line runs 24/7 so you reach a real person, and we'll get an installer out to replace the tank and have it tagged so the truck can come back. If you've got a heat pump and only burn oil as backup, a 100-gallon tank at $3,100 installed may be all you need.
The smart move is to find your tag before the snow does. It's usually on the tank itself or on the fill pipe. If the expiry is within the next year, book the replacement for the fall while the driveway is still bare and a truck can get up to the house.
Insurers and real estate lawyers around St. John's routinely ask for confirmation that the tank is registered before they'll close or renew. In a town with this much older, oil-heated housing, an expired or unregistered tank turns up on plenty of listings, from the original homes near the ferry to the newer subdivisions off Thorburn Road.
If you're buying, ask for the tag number and expiry before you make an offer, and build the cost of a replacement into your price. If you're selling, a fresh fibreglass tank with a long registration is an easy line in the listing and one less condition on the deal. Our oil tank replacement cost page has the full breakdown.
Converting to electric or a heat pump? A disconnected oil tank still has to be emptied, removed and the site restored within 30 days under the regulations. We do removal and disposal as a stand-alone job so the old tank isn't sitting on the lot when the inspector or the buyer shows up.
Yes. Most of the town is hilly and the installers are used to it. They'll look at the existing pad or stand and, if it has shifted or cracked, set a level base before the new tank goes on. On lots where the truck can't get close, the crew carries the tank in, and removal of the old one happens on the same visit.
A 200-gallon painted steel tank installed inside or outside is $3,200, and a fibreglass tank is $3,850. Both prices include removal and disposal of the old tank. Removal on its own is $500 for an outdoor tank, and basement removals are quoted case by case. Either way you'll have it in writing before any work starts.
Call (709) 800-3117 at any hour. Under provincial regulations the driver can't deliver without a valid tag, so the fix is a new tank, tagged and registered by the installer's licensed inspector. Once that's done you call your fuel company back and the truck returns. In the meantime, turn the thermostat down and use a space heater if you have one rather than trying to run the furnace on the last of the oil.
All of it: Portugal Cove, St. Philip's, Hogan's Pond, St. Thomas and Beachy Cove, plus the homes along Indian Meal Line and St. Thomas Line. We also cover the neighbouring towns, so if you're just over the line in Paradise, Torbay or Conception Bay South, the same free written estimate applies.
Free written estimates. Emergency calls answered around the clock.
