oil tank question

scott75

Sorry in advance for the long thread. I posted a thread a week or two ago and was told I should replace my oil tank. I still don't think it's possible but was informed on that thread that the vent should be the same size as the fill. Mine is not. Fill is 2" and vent is 1". Didn't know why they should be the same size till yesterday. Someone told me when my tank is being filled, it could explode because of the pressure difference. Is this true? If so, would this be an explosion or a tank rupture? My tank is a 36" round by 60" long. I have (2) 2" taps and a 1" tap. The fill goes into one of the 2" taps, the oil lines come out of the other 2" tap to the burner, and the vent is out of the 1" tap. I decided I could change the vent to the other 2" tap and put the oil lines into the 1" tap. Problem is, how would I seal around the lines into the 1" tap to not get the oil smell coming out of the tank? Any suggestions would be appriciated.

Boston Boiler

Your vent pipe MUST be eaqual or larger than your fill pipe
with a 1 1/4" min. Changing it to the 2" tap is what you need to do. I don't know if you can find something for your
oil lines to hold them in the 1" tap at a supply house but I'm sure a metal shop could easily fabricate something to hold the line or lines in the hole.

BB

scott75

If fill/vent needs to be 1 1/4" min then I don't know why they even ever made a 1" tap. Is this new within the last fifty years or so?

Weezbo

the vent for 2\" is 1 & 1/4\"

however the oil companys truck now has a Faster pump in its neverending battels to get the oil out ....:) so what one really needs is for the driver of the fuel truck to slow the roll on the pump not lock the hand fill and jump back in the truck ...we had a 2"vent on our week tank and the driver jumped back in the truck...i came off break saw a two inch gyzer shootin out the tank about 6 -8' above the tank ok. ....so ...i go see where is the guy ...having a break coffee and dough nuts in the break room...i mention it to the dude who figures i evidently must be wrong ,drunk or on drugs....finally he gets off his dead butt and i follow him around to the tank............

Boston Boiler

Scott

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was in MA. 527 CMR
4.03 (5) (f) 1 1/4" min.vent with the fill not being larger than the vent. Tanks in MA have to be stamped commonwealth approved. Post your state and maybe someone from your area
can help you.

BB

old oil man

oil tank


Must be an awfully old tank, but if you must continue to use it install a 2" ventalarm and new 2" vent line terminated adove your fill line. Some questions: Is this tank located in your basement? Is the bottom of the tank level with or above the burner? If so you could use asingle line system with a 1" x 1/2" double tap bushing in the 1" opening to install your suction line.

Firedragon_4

Let me start by saying that I'm in MA,

where it has always been 'code' that the fill be equal to or larger than the fill. Under NFPA31-1997 it was changed to 2" all around by the LFC, enough said about that fiasco, it's back to the 'MA way'.

But, be aware that in NYC the install MUST be 2" fill, 1-1/4" vent and in the old days it was 2" and 1". Many installs on LI were done this way due to that FACT!

Essentially, oil truck drivers, the pros anyway, are not stupid. They know that they MUST shut off the Scultrol with small vents, anything else is a looking for trouble. I started driving oil in 1967, it was the first thing I was taught after engaging the pump and feeding the meter.

Unless the tank is upgraded don't worry about it, the deliverer has the problem not you as a homeowner.

scott75

I know code is different everywhere, but I wouldn't think having an undersized vent causing a dangerous situation would be acceptable in any state. I am in PA (but from MA originally, how is everything up there?) and the bad thing about PA is, although there is code, no one needs to be licensed for anything. So HO really has no protection. My tank is in the basement and the bottom is maybe an inch or two (I think) below the pump. But I just had a revelation!! I can put a short 1" nipple in the 1" tap, put a 1" x 2" reducing coupling on the nipple and then I can screw the standard 2" cap (I forget what you call it, you know, with those compression fittings built in) into the coupling. I don't understand what you mean about terminating a 2" vent above the 2" fill. Would it just tee off above the fill line?

Firedragon_4

Hi Scott, we miss ya man!

So you're down there in outlaw land ay??? I feel sorry for ya you poor thing ;-) !!!

What PA code??? NFPA 31? I'll bet ya there's fewer than 100 copies in the whole state, hehehehehehe! Try looking up the PA code for oilburners, what a joke!!!

If you want confusion and no licensing that's NY, if you want oh my God, no licensing and we always did it that way, that's PA.

Anytime you want to come home, please, we need ya man!

All kidding aside that's a tough place you went to!

scott75

Firedragon, where are you in MA? If I hadn't mentioned in this post, I've been in the field for 6 months, company doesn't do much with hydronics, I haven't been to school. I just get on the job training, by someone else who isn't licensed. I plan on moving out of PA in about 4 more years (hopefully back to MA) and probably wont be able to get another job. This state is sad and pathetic when it comes to licenses. The poor consumers! At least they can be assured that the barber cutting his hair has one. I hope other states don't know how bad we are. I don't need a reputation to follow me.

Firedragon_4

I'm in Arlington, MA

and trust me if you come back here, get licensed and do a good job we'll forgive you and forget you ever worked in the land of the lost!

I was down there this year after a long spell. The single biggest thing I heard was what you are saying. Of course, it figures, guys who go to schools and seminars and visit websites know just how bad the rest are.

I had a young man in one class that became so confused with what we taught him he challenged me in class. I told him not to believe a thing I had taught him.

Later, in the lab he not only found out much of what he had been taught by others was totally wrong, but he's proven more since then. I've heard from him a few times since then and recently moved him to another firm. I truly believe that a real oilheat professional MUST be state licensed for it to matter.

scott75

I saw on a MA web page that in MA you need to be licensed for oil burners, gas fitting, pipe fitting, plumbing, electrical, refrigeration (over x amount of tons, I forget how many), but I didn't see a license for AC techs. Did I miss it or are we the Rodney Dangerfields of the skilled trades?

ps. I have in-laws in Arlington. Too bad it's a dry town.

Firedragon_4

A/C and refrigeration

are considered the same here. A similar example is that we actually carry a Certificate of Competency in oilburners, but it's really a license. We have three major grades, light, heavy and unrestricted and need the Pipefitters if we touch an oil line to a burner over 1,000,000 Btu's.

Yup, Arlington's dry, but we have a lot of wetness around us. Both Lexington and Cambridge have more liquor stores on the town lines than you can imagine.

Where do your in-laws live? I'm in the Heights.

scott75

But don't you still only need the Refirgeration license if you are working on systems over X tons? They live on Hathaway Cir. I think that is in the Heights. I don't recall what part of Arlington the Heights compomises. There is no bad part of Arlington. Anyway, Hathaway Cir is: Travel Westbound on Mass Ave, left on Park Ave, then make a right somewhere (this part of Arlington always confuses me), maybe on Oakland, Hathaway is back there somewhere, near a school I think.

Firedragon_4

Yup, it's one

of the loopholes that may be closed soon.

Your in-laws are practically neighbors. I live the other way on Park Ave at the foot of the Heights. Lowell St., near the reservoir.

scott75

Better to be on Lowell St. then in Lowell.

ernie_3

hey...wait a minute

Lowell, the Mill city, is up and coming. The Real Estate market is hopping. I happen to love Lowell. My wifes from there. Met her when I was in colege. I also live in Arlington Ma. Don't disparage a city because of its diversity.

scott75

Sorry Ernie, didn't mean to offend. It's not the diversity, put the appearance of the city. Haven't been through there in four years anyway. I hope it is starting to improve. I grew up in an old factory city as well, Holyoke, MA, which Dan's daughter recently posted a thread asking for support. That city is similar in many aspects to Lowell. I remember when I was a kid and people would say that Holyoke and Lowell were the armpits of the state.

Firedragon_4

Oh yeah, well I

was born and raised in Fitchburg and I really thought that title was ours!!