That 2000 gallon tank was a life-saver. In the winter, no one will come down an unmaintained road with 30" of snow. No oil delivery driver would risk getting his truck stranded down here.
The second benefit is that when ordering large quantities, I can get discounts that small users can't. In 1999, I filled it up for 64 cents/gallon, about 20 cents cheaper than the daily quoted price. And if TSHTF, I can make it stretch for up to four years by keeping the thermostat down.
On top of that, if we upgrade our gasolene genset to a diesel, we would have a ready supply of fuel to run the generator in addition to furnace and hot water.
Ditchwitch is good if you have nothing but sod and a few small rocks no bigger than 20" to move. The ground here needs blasting to break up the ledge before digging. In some places, there are boulders, 40-60" in size, that need to be dug out and moved first. The other problem is the dense maple and oak tree roots that crisscross the grounds here. Two contractors said they'd need 'the large backhoe' to do this job.
Back when the well was being dug, the first week, the percussion digger was going through ledge. It was about the first 60' of the well dig.
Part of the buried conduit is, I'm sure, meant to be permanent. It just exits the ground at a point 13' from the corner of the house, where it connects to a meter on a tree. The rest was supposed to be done later, but that never happened.
The house has been perpetually under construction since 1966. What building permits?