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Oil tank slowly dripping from bottom

dermy22
dermy22 Member Posts: 5
in Oil Heating

Recently had HVAC technician replace oil filters as part of annual maintenance. Noticed very very slow drip of oil from highlighted section. When I say slow, I mean 1 “drop” per day. A drop is also an overstatement. I am wondering if the seal is wearing down on the pipe leading to this? Attached a few photos. Obviously would like to get this rectified before it’s a bigger issue. Is this something HVAC company I use should fix? A plumber? Heating oil tank company? Not entirely sure where to go from here.

When I run paper towel under the pipe, it has a bit of heating oil on it. The blue bowl is where it is falling into the ground. Just bought the house and this is the first time the boiler has been serviced in God knows how long and same for the new oil filter replacement.

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Comments

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,848
    edited January 5

    Well, it is not the tank so that is good. I would have whoever works on the burner fix it. If the leak is that small just keep a pan under it and have it fixed the next time you get service.

    Make your service provider aware of this and that they should have fixed it while they were there. Doesn't your oil provider have an oil technician?

    Your best bet is to buy your oil from a service provider who sells oil and has a service dept. They are the ones with the incentive to help you out. If you by oil from someone who only sells oil they may have a cheaper price but can't help you because they have no service dept.

    Larry Weingarten
  • mrcoder
    mrcoder Member Posts: 14

    You may have to pay for it, unless you can convince the HVAC technician that he/she owns this issue because "it was fine before the filter was replaced". You can expect some push back: "it was fine when I left", but you may get at least a discounted service visit.

    I notice the 1/2" Y joint is cast iron. It would be better to use a copper Y joint there, to avoid (minimize) dielectric corrosion. When dissimilar metals are joined, used a liberal amount of pipe thread compound, to keep the metals separated as mucghas possible. If this was me, I would replace the y joint, the 2 flare fittings to start with. Not necessarily the flare nuts and would not re-flare the pipes . Flare joints rarely leak.

  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 6,454

    What I see is the spin on filter can't even sit vertical, so forget getting a filter wrench on it. So the tech spun the whole assembly. As did every tech previously. As will every tech in the future. Have it piped properly so it can be serviced properly. And two oil lines but only one protected by an OSV.

  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 2,318

    All though I have not done it, I think the filter can be installed horizontally.

    As to concerns about electrolysis. It's not really a thing when piping oil. At least not in this case.

    If I was the one called back to this I probably would change all of the fittings. Oil has a funny way of finding its way out more so then anything else and I have piped a lot of different stuff.

    Thankfully this is a very small micro leak and doesn't seem to need immediate attention.

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