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This seems like a silly question. Rocks in oil tank?
Azogro
Member Posts: 2
Hey guys and gals, weird not traditional question here.
Iv recently moved into a new place, and I have an old oil furnace from the 90s (ish)
Unfortunately my tank is buried so I don't have a good way of doing a tank inspection, without a new boreoscope.
I'm kinda chasing my tail with oil until I can actually verify that my tank isn't compromised. Etc. I'd rather not pay 500$ to find out my tank is cracked.
Finally to my real, and semi stupid question..... I keep getting lockouts due to low oil but iv still got 50+ gallons on my meter stick. I can put a few gallons in, an she'll chug along until it drops to a certain point around the 45-50 gallon mark, and then I can hear the siphon squeal of the pump drawing air, and then the lockouts start because of loss of flame.
I either think that the draw tube got old and snapped off into the tank, or the low point is just naturally like 2 feet from the bottom of the tank.
Would it be stupid to dump a bunch of larger gravel into the tank, to fill the dead space with something that wont break down with hydrocarbons and actually get to my oil?
I understand with the big picture, oil is oil, so just add more, and stop worrying about the bottom of the tank, and if that's the inevitable concensus.... well I get it.... but it's seriously maddening to have this issue with such a large amount of oil on hand.
Iv recently moved into a new place, and I have an old oil furnace from the 90s (ish)
Unfortunately my tank is buried so I don't have a good way of doing a tank inspection, without a new boreoscope.
I'm kinda chasing my tail with oil until I can actually verify that my tank isn't compromised. Etc. I'd rather not pay 500$ to find out my tank is cracked.
Finally to my real, and semi stupid question..... I keep getting lockouts due to low oil but iv still got 50+ gallons on my meter stick. I can put a few gallons in, an she'll chug along until it drops to a certain point around the 45-50 gallon mark, and then I can hear the siphon squeal of the pump drawing air, and then the lockouts start because of loss of flame.
I either think that the draw tube got old and snapped off into the tank, or the low point is just naturally like 2 feet from the bottom of the tank.
Would it be stupid to dump a bunch of larger gravel into the tank, to fill the dead space with something that wont break down with hydrocarbons and actually get to my oil?
I understand with the big picture, oil is oil, so just add more, and stop worrying about the bottom of the tank, and if that's the inevitable concensus.... well I get it.... but it's seriously maddening to have this issue with such a large amount of oil on hand.
0
Comments
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Yes rocks are a bad idea. For one, when the tank has to get removed, you're going to have to pay to have those contaminated rocks properly disposed.
Sometimes the draw tube just gets a pinhole at the 'runout' level. A boroscope isn't going to help.
Most jurisdictions require all underground tanks to be registered with the state, and a test shall be performed annually to make sure it isn't leaking.
Instead of worrying about rocks and dip tubes, you should seriously and sooner-than-later, get an above ground tank, preferably indoors, and get the underground tank properly abandoned. If it goes bad, it'll be real bad...i.e expensive.There was an error rendering this rich post.
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Makes enough sense. Thanks for the advice. I'll just take your word for it, and leave it alone. A few gallons of oil isn't worth the headache now or later. And it's a pretty inefficient means of heat for me. Just the easiest.
At this point, and in my environment, it will be cheaper and simply just more sensical to convert to a heat pump.
In all reality, I'm just doing quick aesthetic renovations, on a bunch of family homes. But this is a situation where the land out values the ancient homes by a 1000x
It's mostly just so buyers don't have to do walk-throughs on haunted caves into the abyss.
The reality is, anyone who would buy the land, will just start from scratch.
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If the "ancient" houses have no value; and it's all about the money -- a situation which, as a historian and restorer of ancient houses, makes me cringe and cry -- just bulldoze the whole show and dig up the tanks and remediate. Don't put any money into it.Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England1
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