Regional Talk > Connecticut Chat > [House&Home] Oil tank gage not working correctly, fix or ignore?

[House&Home] Oil tank gage not working correctly, fix or ignore?

Re: [House&Home] Oil tank gage not working correctly, fix or ign

reply to pandora
There are some additives you can put into the tank to help with sludge and whatnot. May be worth chatting with your oil company's service manager and seeing if that would help in this situation.
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I ski at Mount Snow

reply to pandora
Tank gauges aren't difficult to replace. Not sure where you are, but these guys should have them

www.litcosupply.com/

www.plimptonhills.com

Wildco Petroleum Equipment
155 Highland Park Dr, Bloomfield, CT zip code
(860) 243-1677

Commercial Heating SUPPLY
85 James St, East Hartford, CT zip code
(860) 290-8696

They usually look something like this

reply to pandora
Do what most gas stations do. "Stick the tank" Just get a 1x1 8 feet long or whatever, open the top vent and drop it in until you hit bottom. Now is the perfect time since they are full. Pull it out and mark that point (the wet/dry line) as 330 gal. 1/2 the distance and you're at 165.

Yes?
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Rich. My Website

reply to pandora
Since tank's cross-section isn't rectangular, I guess it becomes obvious why a 3/4 indication isn't 3/4 of the tank. It measures the height of the column...

reply to pandora
But you think they would have compensated for that in the size of the float.

Bro's correct: a float mechanism is a linear measurement device, yet it's measuring a calculus equation. At BEST, there's three places any system like this will be accurate: full, empty, and halfway. Everything else is a guess.

GA

reply to pandora
It would be very difficult to ever find a modern indoor or above ground 275 or 330 gallon US issue oil tank that didn't look almost exactly like this:



It could well be they are indeed standardized in size etc. at this point in time. I would assume the API & NFPA have something in writing in that regard. Not sure.

Anyway, the majority of the measurement is between the parallel sides. When they work correctly, the float gauges indicate what is relevant to the homeowner's inventory queries in let's say, 99.9 out of 100 cases. They are not designed to indicate exact gallons on board, but they will show within a few gallons, empty, 1/4, 1/2, and so on.

It wouldn't surprise me if the empty level of these gauges allows a few gallons near the bottom to avoid out of oil surprises, in the same way most speedometers indicate the speed a little faster then actual velocity so as to provide a cushion for operator error. Can't say for sure though.

No motor fuels or home heating petroleum tanks in good working order will pull oil directly off the bottom of the tank anyway. That space is reserved for condensation / water formation.

More boring oil talk: If I'm around the house when the oil truck arrives, I'll shut off the furnace until 10 minutes or so after he's finsihed pumping, just in case he stirs the water & sediment in the tank, cacking up the filter. Tank bottom contaminants in oil tanks are customary, & not unknown to the oil & HVAC industries. They just don't talk about it out loud very much because it scares the consumers. The US petroleum distribution system is built upon managing this tank bottom issue. It's when things go wrong that there is a problem. Every now & then a slug of significant water volume does get dispensed within oil handling practices. It is very very rare though. If one does receive a slug of water in a delivery that would cause problems - believe me - you will know it almost immediately. It's either a go or no-go type of situation that will cause a no-heat condition.

Back in the late 70s, I hauled tanker load quantities of various petroleum products. It used to be that I could stand on top of the tanker and see through the light honey colored heating oil all the way to the bottom of the tanker compartment. These days, 2 oil looks more like muddy water.

Pandora - if you're successful in only needing an annual oil tank filter change, that's a pretty good indicator your tank has little sediment to be concerned about. Whatever junk is on the bottom of the tank (if any) it usually stays away from the pickup tube.

If you require more frequent filter changes, you might consider switching to cartridge type filters much like a car's oil filter, as opposed to the traditional changeable internal element filter style. There are ways to clean these types of tanks, but I wouldn't worry about it if an annual filter change is doing the job.

One more warning -- If you decide to change your own oil tank filter, that little petcock on the filter's piping has a fire safety little trick to get it closed. If you don't close it just right, be prepared for a mini haz mat spill in your cellar. Don't ask me how I know this...

If you would like to spend some larger money, there are a number of oil tank inventory systems with an attached modem that will alert one to what's up. They are mostly in use by oil companies that want the utmost in automatic delivery efficiency.

that's enough coffee-typing for one post

I used to be of the belief that it is better to shut the furnace switch during deliveries for that reason.. but now I realize that's a good time to clean the tank a bit (if you have a two pipe system) because that sludge gets trapped by the $2 filter cartridge. Just change the filter and keep your tank a little cleaner.

Since the advent of putting dye in the 2 oil, I find I have to change filters much more often than I used to. I've seen filters go 8 years before they were pretty sludged up. Now they get that sludged in just two.