Vent alarm

Trudster

I've been told I have to put an alarm on my tank in order to get a delivery.my problem is form occupants painted pipe and I can't get it to budge,can I put the new vent where the Gage is on the tank,vent alarm does have a Gage also.

STEVEusaPA

You probably have a second gauge because the first one doesn't work.
If you put a vent alarm where the gauge used to sit, you still have to properly pipe it and terminate to the outside. And now that you have 2 vents, there may not be enough pressure for the alarm to whistle. I guess you could pipe in the new one, terminate it to the outside, and cap off the old one.

I'm confused as to how the pipe being painted prevents it from being removed.
Assuming it was piped in steel and not copper, get a pipe wrench and a long steel pipe to use as a cheater. I literally just changed one 10 minutes ago.

If I don't understand you correctly, post some pictures.

HVACNUT

Yeah unless its copper or PVC, which it should be neither, start unthreading outside and work your way in.
If the stand alone gauge works then you replace the combo VA/gauge and put a new vent alarm in its place.

Jellis

More power! paint or no paint, it will come off with enough force.

Intplm.

I'm guessing the oil company is telling you, you need a vent alarm/vent whistle.
That's good because you should have one to help prevent spills from happening due to the possibility of over filling causing an oil spill, and it lets the delivery person know that the tank is full to stop the delivery.
You can abandon the current vent and install a combination vent alarm and gauge.
To make things easier, you can cut and cap, or plug the vent pipe just inside the building. If your tank has multiple taps, you can use one of those to install the combination vent and gauge. Then install the rest of the vent from the new combo utilizing the original hole through the house.

Anther thing you can try is, if you can finally unscrew all of the vent pipe. You might find that you have a alarm whistle installed but is blocked with sludge.
Clear and clean the sludge from the whistle and reassemble.

But if you end up pulling it all apart. The best thing to do, and if it was me. I would go all new at that point.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I would just remove the old stuff and re-pipe with new and do it threaded. Scully does make a vent alarm with a compression type connector however that can be installed with no threading if you have room for it. Not sure if they make a compression type with a gage

Jellis

be careful, compression fittings are against local code here for oil tank piping.

SuperTech

Extreme leverage advantage defeats thick paint every time. You just need a bigger pipe wrench.

HVACNUT

Eat your Wheaties. The breakfast of Caitlyn Jenner.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Jellis
compression that for the fuel lines. The Scully products are all UL approved and a speciality thing. Compression doesn't apply to that