Oil tank fuel system

zeke

At what point do you replace the filter?

jdl

Oil burner fuel system

I have a SlantFin Boiler with Beckett burner operating off an underground tank with a flow through fuel system returning unused oil to the tank.
I'm having the underground tank abandoned in favor of an above ground 275. The new tank will be 2ft. above the elevation of the burner and about 15ft. away. What determines if I should continue to use the two tube system or change to a single delivery tube only? Thanks,Jdl

Leo_14

Two Pipe

The two pipe system flows the total amount of the fuel the pump is rated for, a single pipe only flows what the nozzle is rated for. Your filter will last longer or be stressed less on a single pipe system. If the return pipe were to fail you could possibly pump the whole tank of fuel onto the basement floor. Initially you will pay for twice as much copper line, copper isn't cheap today. All I service is oil heat and over 90% of the systems I service are one pipe with no oil supply problems.

Leo

Norm Harvey

Agreed.

I can only add,
Ask your contractor to install a spin on filter with a vacuum gauge.

jdl

Thanks for the feedback. What is the purpose of the vacuum guage?

John@Reliable_14

What is the purpose of the vacuum guage?

The vacuum reading will tell you when a filter change is needed. The vacuum "reading" is telling you the amount of restriction in filter, this will save money by not replacing a still good filter.

Robert Kushner

If the new tank is in the interior of the building, single pipe is fine.
Be sure to remove the bypass plug out of the fuel pump. If the new tank is outdoors, keep it 2 pipe from the top of the tank, this will keep the oil from jelling on very cold days.

Norm Harvey

I replace the filter at every yearly service anyways. I like the gauge as another trouble-shooting tool.

But to answer your question, that depends on what the normal vacuum is.

For example I have one customer with an underground tank, and lines that drawns over 10 inches of vacuum on average. This tank is a problem tank with high high oil consumption, so whenever the homeowner sees the guage drawing around 15 inches thats when I get a call to replace the filter. Invariably the filter is filthy. I'm promised that we will be putting a new pair of 330's in the basement to replace the underground, but thats been a promise for 3 years now

Jim_139

2-pipe

I would respectfully disagree with that setup. I've lived at two different places that originally had a 2 pipe system with outdoor tank and serviced many with similar setups. In very cold weather problems cropped up with parafin buildup in the filters. I changed them to 1-pipe with a Tiger Loop in many cases. Others were basically gravity systems and didn't really need the return so just removed it.

The Tiger Loop gives the oil time to warm up before being burned and I've had no problems in the last 11 years. Previous owners at my current residence had 2-pipe setup with heat tape and problems every winter. but they weren't my customer then so it didn't get resolved then.

oil-2-4-6-gas

1 pie is better for outdoor tanks

the 1 PIPE SYSTEM is better for outdoor tanks --the less oil it has to heat up the better -- 1 pipe with tiger loop will give the oil a little warming time --