Water In Oil Tank Heating

The rust water and oil at the bottom of the tank create a sludge that can contaminate the fuel sup ply to your furnace.

Water in oil tank heating. Shorten the feed hose. These droplets form on the inner walls and as water is heavier and denser than most fuels a layer of water eventually settles on the bottom of the tank. If you have found water accumulation in your home heating oil tank then it is unlikely to be caused before or during delivery of the oil. Water can get into your home heating oil tank in a number of ways.

Usually the manufacturer of the oil tank will have specific instructions about the kind of water finding paste you should use. Because water is heavier than oil it sinks to the bottom of the tank. Water is delivered to the oil tank along with the heating oil fuel. Test the oil burner fuel unit fuel pump assembly to be sure that the fuel unit has not been damaged by water.

Rainwater ingress due to an ill fitting filler cap lose inspection lid corroded seals damaged vent a split or hole in the tank or the normal itself or more regularly through condensation build up. Clean the oil filter canister of water sludge rust muck as part of normal heating oil service or when you are removing water from the oil storage tank. Since oil has a low freezing point cold temperatures aren t problematic for oil unless they are extreme. Rainwater can get into your tank a number of ways including.

This is both a good and a bad thing. Water has a very low solubility in home heating oil and if present in a dispersed form would create a distinctly hazy product that would immediately fail to meet the specified criterion for the product required by the british standard to be clear bright. This is a good time to replace the screen found inside the fuel unit too. One way of detecting the presence of water in your oil tank is to use water finding paste.

Read on and you will see why i say that. Apply the paste to the bottom of a probing stick and lower it until it hits the bottom of the tank. Moist air cools down inside of the tank and causes water vapour in the air to form water droplets. This is not common but it is possible to get a delivery of bad heating oil that is water contaminated especially if the oil truck happens to fill up at the oil storage depot when an oil barge is unloading oil since during that operation water which is normally kept in the bottom of oil depot storage tanks may be stirred up.

The oil ends up floating on top of the water. However water freezes at just 32 degrees fahrenheit.