string.split() "Out of memory exception" when reading tab separated file

Question

I am using string.split() in my C# code for reading tab separated file. I am facing "OutOfMemory exception" as mentioned below in code sample.

Here I would like to know why problem is coming for file having size 16 MB?

This is right approach or not?

using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(_path))
{
  //...........Load the first line of the file................
  string headerLine = reader.ReadLine();

  MeterDataIPValueList objMeterDataList = new MeterDataIPValueList();
  string[] seperator = new string[1];   //used to sepreate lines of file

  seperator[0] = "\r\n";
  //.............Load Records of file into string array and remove all empty lines of file.................
  string[] line = reader.ReadToEnd().Split(seperator, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
  int noOfLines = line.Count();
  if (noOfLines == 0)
  {
    mFileValidationErrors.Append(ConstMsgStrings.headerOnly + Environment.NewLine);
  }
  //...............If file contains records also with header line..............
  else
  {
    string[] headers = headerLine.Split('\t');
    int noOfColumns = headers.Count();

    //.........Create table structure.............
    objValidateRecordsTable.Columns.Add("SerialNo");
    objValidateRecordsTable.Columns.Add("SurveyDate");
    objValidateRecordsTable.Columns.Add("Interval");
    objValidateRecordsTable.Columns.Add("Status");
    objValidateRecordsTable.Columns.Add("Consumption");

    //........Fill objValidateRecordsTable table by string array contents ............

    int recordNumber;  // used for log
    #region ..............Fill objValidateRecordsTable.....................
    seperator[0] = "\t";
    for (int lineNo = 0; lineNo < noOfLines; lineNo++)
    {
      recordNumber = lineNo + 1;
      **string[] recordFields = line[lineNo].Split(seperator, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);** // Showing me error when we  split columns
      if (recordFields.Count() == noOfColumns)
      {
        //Do processing
      }

Answer 1

I use my own. It has been tested with 10 unit tests..

public static class StringExtensions
{

    // the string.Split() method from .NET tend to run out of memory on 80 Mb strings. 
    // this has been reported several places online. 
    // This version is fast and memory efficient and return no empty lines. 
    public static List<string> LowMemSplit(this string s, string seperator)
    {
        List<string> list = new List<string>();
        int lastPos = 0;
        int pos = s.IndexOf(seperator);
        while (pos > -1)
        {
            while(pos == lastPos)
            {
                lastPos += seperator.Length;
                pos = s.IndexOf(seperator, lastPos);
                if (pos == -1)
                    return list;
            }

            string tmp = s.Substring(lastPos, pos - lastPos);
            if(tmp.Trim().Length > 0)
                list.Add(tmp);
            lastPos = pos + seperator.Length;
            pos = s.IndexOf(seperator, lastPos);
        }

        if (lastPos < s.Length)
        {
            string tmp = s.Substring(lastPos, s.Length - lastPos);
            if (tmp.Trim().Length > 0)
                list.Add(tmp);
        }

        return list;
    }
}