250 gallon oil tank: what you actually have
There is no 250 gallon oil tank in the standard home lineup. Granby and Roth both skip that number. So if yours gets called a 250, it is almost certainly one of three other tanks, and a tape measure settles which one in about a minute.
Nobody builds a 250
Granby's verticals are 120, 138, 220, 230, 240, 275 and 330 gallons. Roth's are 110, 165, 275 and 400, and Roth names its models in liters, so a Roth 400L holds 110 gallons, not 400.
The sizes either side of 250 are the 240 and the 275. Granby charts a full 240 at 245 gallons and a full 275 at 274, and at 30 inches of stick they read 163 and 194. Pick the wrong column and you are off by 31 gallons.
What a 250 usually turns out to be
- A 275 named after its delivery ticket. This is the likeliest answer by a wide margin. A 275 computes to about 274 gallons full, but a fill into a near empty one takes 230 to 250 gallons: the vent whistle stops the driver with an air gap still at the top, and a little oil sits below the outlet. See 250 on enough tickets and you start calling it the 250. Why a 275 holds about 240 walks through the three numbers.
- A Granby 240, the narrow vertical. 23 inches across the oval, 46 inches tall, 60 inches long, 240 US gallons on the plate. Granby's own capacity chart runs that tank to 245 gallons, so a 250 guess lands close enough to stick. Read it in the 240 column of the Granby capacity chart.
- A Canadian 250, which is not 250 US gallons. In Canada, Granby sells an ECOGARD tank that suppliers list as a 250 gallon, 72 by 23 by 47 inches overall. Work those outside dimensions as an oval and you get near 300 US gallons, not 250. Read it against a US 250 table and every inch comes up short.
How to tell which one you have
Start with the width across the flat face of the oval. Width tells you which family the tank is in, and the length tells you the size.
- 27 inches across, 44 inches tall. The common family. 60 inches long is a 275, 72 inches long is a 330.
- 23 inches across, 46 inches tall. The narrow family. 60 inches long is the Granby 240.
- 23 inches across, 47 inches tall, 72 inches long. The Canadian 250, nearer 300 US gallons than 250.
Granby's capacity chart also covers a 230, a narrow legacy size it no longer publishes dimensions for, so a tape will not sort that one out. If the plate says 230, read the 230 column and not the 240. Near full the two run nine gallons apart, 230 against 239 at 44 inches on the stick.
| Tank | On the plate | Dimensions (inches) | Where to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granby 240 vertical | 240 US gallons | 23 wide × 46 tall × 60 long | 240 column, Granby chart |
| 275 vertical | 275 US gallons | 27 wide × 44 tall × 60 long | 275 vertical chart |
| 330 vertical | 330 US gallons | 27 wide × 44 tall × 72 long | 330 vertical chart |
| Granby ECOGARD, Canada | 250 gallons as listed in Canada | 23 wide × 47 tall × 72 long, overall | No chart here. Works out near 300 US gallons. |
The 240, 275, and 330 dimensions are as published by Granby, from the Standard UL-80 spec sheet. The Canadian tank's figures are overall dimensions from a supplier listing, not a shell drawing. Plate capacity is the nominal size, which is not the same number as a computed full tank or a realistic delivery.
The data plate on the tank end states the capacity outright, and the plate wins over any chart or measurement on this site. If the plate is gone or painted over, the width and length above will do. Every standard shape and its dimensions sit together in oil tank sizes and dimensions. For a step by step walk through on a tank with nothing readable left on it, see what size is my oil tank.
Why there is no 250 chart here
Every chart on this site starts from a manufacturer's published numbers, or from the shell dimensions those numbers describe. No maker publishes a 250 US gallon home tank, so there is nothing to start a 250 chart from, and inventing one would mean guessing at a tank that does not exist.
The Canadian 250 is a real tank, and we still will not chart it. The 72 by 23 by 47 inches a supplier lists are outside dimensions. A chart needs the shell: the depth the oil actually fills, and where the domed ends start taking volume away. Those numbers come off the manufacturer's own drawing, and we do not have it for this tank. If that is your tank, ask Granby or your dealer for the capacity chart for that model and use it as printed.
For any tank that matches nothing above, measure it and run the numbers through the tank calculator, which builds a conversion from your dimensions instead of borrowing someone else's.
Common questions
Is there such a thing as a 250 gallon oil tank?
Not as a standard home size in the US. The Granby capacity chart runs 120, 138, 220, 230, 240, 275, and 330 gallon verticals, and Roth works out to 110, 165, 275, and 400. A tank called a 250 is almost always a 275 named after its delivery ticket, a Granby 240, or a Canadian tank listed as a 250 that holds nearer 300 US gallons.
My delivery ticket says 250 gallons. What size is my tank?
Most likely a 275. A near empty 275 takes a 230 to 250 gallon fill and then the vent whistle stops the driver, so the ticket reads 250 even though the tank computes to about 274. Why a 275 holds about 240 has the full breakdown, and sticking the tank confirms it.
How do I tell a Granby 240 from a 275?
Measure across the oval face. The 240 is 23 inches across and 46 inches tall; the 275 is 27 inches across and 44 inches tall. Both are 60 inches long, so the width is the tell. Then read the 240 column of the Granby capacity chart or the 275 vertical chart.
Is the Canadian 250 gallon tank the same as a US 250?
No. In Canada, Granby sells an ECOGARD tank that suppliers list as a 250 gallon, 72 by 23 by 47 inches overall. A shell that size works out nearer 300 US gallons, so a US 250 gallon table would read low at every inch on it. Ask Granby or your dealer for the capacity chart for that model instead.
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