Just wondering, are there any laws on what you can put in the oil tank room for those of us with oil heating? Our tank room has quite a bit of empty space which would be useful to put certain things in.
But just to add, seems yours is a totally different set up than here, VD. Mine and everyone else's I've seen here is I) the tank takes up every cm of the room, ii) it is not accessible unless you knock out part of a wall, i.e. only access is a climb through metal window more than half way up the wall, and III) no lights or electric.
Thus, by design they are limiting it to oil storage and nothing else, probably for good reason.
Ours requires inspection and cleaning, think every 10 years, by canton approved company. Assuming yours requires the same, probably best place to start is asking them as they are very familiar with such cantonal rules.
Set-up is the same, climb through metal window. But I want to store some stuff that is not often accessed and should be kept cool and out of rain and sunlight, so it's a good fit.
Maybe chemists can explain better. I’m just quoting courses from 15 years ago.
Well, stuff evaporates from fuel all the time: volatile organic compounds AKA VOCs. This stuff is not good for your health, so I wouldn’t store anything that would come close to me after spending some time in the fuel room https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quali…compounds-vocs
The house I live in now, had the previous tenant (family member of the owner) store a lot of gardening tools (simple wood and metal, nothing electric/with an engine), salt for the parking spots, various boxes and vases, chariot etc that they left in place when I took over. The room is warmer than the next door Carnotzet (wine cellar) and does indeed smell a little bit of the fuel so I wouldn't store clothes or food in there.
Doesn't perfectly answer your question (is it allowed to store stuff), but as there are regular checkups (one coming up) and regular top ups of the fuel tank (takes about a third of the space in the room), it would seem to be ok to store these above mentioned things at least here in Valais.
A Carnotzet is not a wine cellar. It is a convivial place to drink in the company of close friends. You can store some bottles in there for sure as it is underground and most likely suitable for it, in some instances, but the purpose of your wine cellar is to store wine, the purpose of your Carnotzet is to drink it.
Another non-reply from me: I don't know about what's allowed or not, and enough has been said about the room's conditions (everything stored there may smell of fuel afterwards). My contribution: in 10 years of having my tank room, it hasn't been inspected once.
Well, yes. When fit as such. Mine is split in two, one part is fully furnished with racks for wines, the entrance part has tables for enjoying the wine. Not all Carnotzet's are very convivial due to how they were built, I would say this one is not, and the owners Carnotzet is purely fitted for wines, no space for any drinking.
I suppose the thinking is if a flammable substance near the tank burns with enough heat, the tank oil could eventually get hot enough to self-ignite (257'C).
There's a lot of oil in a tank to burn. Probably goodbye to your house and maybe the neighbours too.