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Re: 1966 heating oil tank
The sludge is only one problem with a tank that age. The main problem is internal corrosion. Since oil is lighter than water, condensation from changing temperature and humidity will settle to the bottom of the tank, which is steel and will rust. You cannot see this from outside.
A significant leak in an oil tank can turn your house into a hazardous waste site at immense cleanup cost. Most home insurers no longer cover this unless a specific rider is added to the policy. It's time for a new tank if you keep the oil burner.
bburd
Re: 1966 heating oil tank
Well the tank is 60 years old it probably does have some sludge. These tanks don't last forever so I would start saving for a replacement.
We can't talk price on here but I will just say I would get other quotes. Changing it during the summer is best to do a planned change over rather than an emergency one.
You could buy some oil treatment "HOT" is one brand you can look on line..
The oil line could be rerouted to pull oil from the top of the tank keeping the suction pipe 6" up from the tank bottom to buy you some time.
60 years is a good run for a tank. If no signs of it leaking I would budget for a new tank and run the one you have for a year or so.
Re: Radiant Floor Heating System – Is a 10°F Single Space - Same Zone Temperature Difference Acceptable?
That is not acceptable and you shouldn't let the builder make it your problem.
Re: Kodak Moment: Yet Another Oil Boiler that had been "maintained"
The cost of making a claim in the long term might be far more than just paying for it.
mattmia2
Re: Repair or Replace Aging Heating System with Gas Conversion Gun?
The primary control, shown in the last pic, is failing. One of the components in the flame-detection circuit has become unstable. We have a bunch of these burners in our customer base, and generally replacing that control with the current version solves the problem. The new version also has some diagnostic capability that can tell you why it locked out, can display the flame signal etc.
These burners run very well in W-M Gold boilers when properly set up, and I see no need to completely replace them.
I'd have a pro come in and replace the control, do a combustion test to make sure it's running properly, fix the leak on the fill valve or pipe above the measuring cup, check the expansion tank for proper air charge etc.
IIRC, the indirect tank is a re-branded Triangle Tube unit. The corrosion is coming from bad joints above the tank. Have them replaced and you should be OK.
Re: Radiant Floor Heating System – Is a 10°F Single Space - Same Zone Temperature Difference Acceptable?
Assuming you are referring to air temperature, no, that is not at all acceptable. A transfer plate type system will require a higher water temperature to put out a similar BTU per linear foot as concrete, so it's quite probable that the installers combined the two into one and do not have enough tubing/plates and/or are using too low of a water temp for the plate system. Either way, this is a design/install error and needs to be corrected by the designer/installer. They may be able to split it into two zones or even balance the flow to get each system to work as intended, but they may need to turn it into a dual temp system or even tear the floor apart and add more tubing/plates.
Upon reading this again, you refer to "thermostats" and "sensors" as if plural. If there are multiple sensors/stats, there can not be just one zone. Something seems to have been lost in translation.
GroundUp
Re: Mechanics Institute is Now Accepting Applications for the Fall 2025 Semester
This is the Finishing School in our region....Golden opportunity.....Mad Dog
Re: Copper to Pex in hydronic heating for DIY
In my opinion, you, as a first time pipe-sweater, have a far far greater chance of permanent success with sharkbites than you do with a torch.
Re: Main vent questions - newbie
Two #1s will likely be adequate. IMO you’ll probably see more success speeding up the venting on the far radiators and slowing it down on the near radiators than you will going crazy with the main venting.
Like others on here I’ve found the Big Mouth vents leak a lot of steam and I removed mine because I was losing 3/4 inch or so of water per week. Now I have two MOM #1s on each of my mains and lose basically nothing.
Tezak