Oil Tank Cleaning?
At what point should the Oil Tanks be cleaned?
One Tech. says it’s dirty the other says it’s not bad.
I am low on the oil level so I shut off tank No:1 and filled the rest in to tank No:2.
With a water hose and Zeep purple industrial cleaner and de-greaser I washed one out. Then with a wet vacuum cleaner I cleaned that tank out( I think so ). I don’t know if I goofed or not.
Now some one told me to put an extension nipple in to the outlet so that it reaches an 1/2″ to 1″ in to the tank so the crud stays on the bottom. Also should the tanks not have a pitch towards the outlet? We talking about two 275 gal.tanks sitting level vertical in the basement. since 1985. How long should they last, or when replaced?
Hilmar in NY State.
Replies
we had the tank replaced in our house a few years ago. It was original to the house and roughly 50 years old. It had just starting to seep from a rusty area on the bottom, close to the shut of valve.
When the guys cut it in half to get it out of the house, it only had about 1/2" of sludge on the bottom. They said that's about normal for a tank that old.
I questioned about setting the new on level or pitched to one end. They set it level.
Bill
I've never heard of oil tank cleaning. Our tank (vintage 1964) died last summer, when the oil dealer made a later than usual fill-up (the day before we were scheduled to leave for vacation). We were in the process of packing for vacation when I noticed a smell of 'kerosene' in the basement. Actually, it was a pinhole in the bottom of the tank. Being an avid DIY'er, we made an emergency trip to the local HD, bought an oil tank and all of the necessary fittings, and got it in just in time to leave for vacation.
In any event, I didn't find any significant sludge in the bottom of the old tank, and I was able to recover virtually all of the #2 heating oil, using a cheap drill-powered pump. A half-inch to one-inch of sludge sounds like a lot to me for a 40-year-old oil tank. I did install a new filter on the replacement tank, but haven't had any trouble since.
Bob