Whistle stuck or clogged in my vent tube

RobertL

In my buried 275 gallon home heating fuel tank, the last oil delivery had a non-existence whistle. I attempted to clean it with Fuel Right, dumped down the vent tube, followed by mineral spirits a few days later.
I then took a Shop Vac type of vacuum, and blew air through the vent and the tank alternately to no avail.
Problem still exists. Plenty of air is released, but no whistle.
Again, this is a buried tank.

My next possible step, since the top of the whistle is 38 inches from the vent cap, is to insert a live camera probe, with a small diameter rigid wooden dowel into the vent top, in an attempt to thread the thin dowel (or other rigid wire) through the center of the whistle, and push any gunk back into the tank...

Now I haven't seen a picture of a whistle, to ensure the tube in not blocked by any device, to prevent my dowel or wire to pass through it.

Any ideas on this situation?

STEVEusaPA

You can play around with it, but I don't think you can unclog it.
This is the second thread today where someone mentioned trying to pour something down there to unclog it. Never heard of it, never tried it, never would try it. But based on the construction of a whistle, I don't see how it would work.
If you have a fill pipe that goes straight down into the tank, no elbows, Instruct your oil company to use an underground fill pipe. It has its own whistle.

HVACNUT

@STEVEusaPA , the whistle fill pipe. Is that what they call a bazooka?

STEVEusaPA

Never heard it called that, but something like this
I actually use a 2' one on above ground tanks without a whistle. A lot of the older farm tanks only have 2 bungs, a pump in one, and a vent w/mushroom cap.

EBEBRATT-Ed

We used to call it a Scully fast fill. Don't know if that is the correct name but they are made by Scully

RobertL

OK thanks for your replies. How is the "fast fill" device sized?

STEVEusaPA

RobertL said:

OK thanks for your replies. How is the "fast fill" device sized?

Don't understand your question. Most delivery trucks have one onboard. The driver knows how to use it.

Do you mean, "How is it used"? If so, the pipe drops into the fill pipe on your tank. On the one shown, you pull the tube up until the little bump out (barely seen), makes contact with the bottom of the fill pipe on your tank. You drop the collar down to the top of your fill pipe and lock the wing nut. Fill thru the scully fitting, the pressure blows the whistle just like the whistle in your tank.
In the event it can't build enough pressure to blow the whistle (because of your other vent), I usually either wrap a rag around the existing vent, or i place a ziplock bag over the vent and close it. This is usually enough to make it whistle very loud.

BTW, like I said earlier, just tell your fuel company your whistle doesn't work and to fill your tank with an underground fill pipe adapter...they'll know (should know) what to do.

RobertL

Thanks Steve. Do to it's age, looks we are going to have this tank filled with foam or sand, officially abandoned, and install a 275 Eco above ground...

HVACNUT

> @STEVEusaPA said:
> Never heard it called that, but something like this
>
Yeah that's it. Bazooka must be a L.I. thing.

Paul Fredricks_3

We called it a bazooka in Connecticut too.

Had a whistle yesterday that wasn't working. Tried blowing it out with the shop vac but no luck. Took it apart and found the top of the tube had come off and disappeared. Possibly fell into the tank.

Steam_Starter

In regards to abandoning in ground...we had permits pulled and legally closed our 550 in ground..foam filled...about 15 years ago.

We are gong to list our house in the spring and both agent and attorney said yank the tank..so we did.

In today’s market buyers are very leery about abandoned UST’s. Our agent said it could knock thousands off the asking price and cause headaches down the line.

Knowing the stress we are going to run into selling and buying this, at least, gave me peace of mind. Now we know we wouldn’t have to deal with a (possible) leaking tank and soil contamination.

Looking back we should have just pulled it. Price delta was not overwhelming.

Just my humble opinion and $0.02

STEVEusaPA

Was that tank not completely filled with foam when you cut it open? (I though it was suppose to be).
How did the soil test around the tank?

Steam_Starter

@STEVEusaPA It was just about filled with foam. Not all the way. Why? That I can’t answer. I was away on biz when it was done. There were no holes in the tank and the soil tested clean, thankfully. Hole only opened up when inspector had crew beat on tank with sledgehammers after it was out. It was abt the size of a nickel. They sniff tested soil and also sent samples out..negative. It was actually funny to watch the inspector jump in hole and hand sample. He didn’t mess around...

Neighbors down the block had an unknown leaking UST for years that was so bad they had to rip up the street in front of the house to remediate. It was that bad... they thought the enormous Pacific boiler was just a fuel-hog.

We were lucky.

Steam_Starter

Honestly, looking at the pics I have on my phone now in more detail I am wondering if the tank was fully filled and the foam collapsed. It was soggy at the bottom of the tank with what one of the crew thought was water.

Notice how the foam on top is “smooth” and dark. Looks like at one time the tank was pressed up with the stuff and it collapsed on itself...

toothcleaner

How do I start a new thread on this forum. Thanks david

STEVEusaPA