Possible Water in Oil Tank

[nin28]

Thanks for the help!

[Rich B]

Tanks are often tipped a little on purpose and the pickup line is positioned away from the lower end of the tank. Water will accumulate at the low end, and the pickup line would normally be up off the bottom of the tank at least a few inches. Moisture is usually present in an oil tank but shouldn't be much and should not be getting picked up. I would immediately inpsect the filter for signs of rust or water. You could remove the line from the inlet side of the filter and draw some fuel out of that line with a small hand siphon pump. I use one often at work and they are sold for less than $15 in various stores. I use it to prime diesel engine fuel systems and other uses. If your filter is clean and you are able to draw clean fuel from the line, your problem is with the furnace. Might need a nozzle or an adjustment on something. I have an old oil burner in my garage.....Thanks to it's quirky nature...I learned all about oil burners. I also take care of a 350,000 BTU waste oil furnace at work and it can keep me occupied for hours during the colder months doing various maintenance chores to keep it operating.......The fuel system is in need of cleaning often but that is understandable as it burns dirty oil......

[butler1227]

The k100 bottle you have treats up to 250 gallons of fuel, not water. Water treatment is one to one. So if you have say 1 quart of water in there you need 1 quart of k100. Also during the colder months that bottle treats up to 125 gallons. Hope this helps.

[nin28]

Boy I sure I hope I have less than a quart of water in the tank... but you never know. I'm assuming that the furnace is working fine and the filter is clean because I just got it inspected a couple weeks ago. Also, it runs perfectly when above the freezing. In addition, in order to get the water away from the fuel line I did tilt the tank away from it. Hopefully any water is now on the opposite end of the tank. I will try to remove the inlet line and check the filter for water. Thanks.

[cothomsrvllc]

As I read these blogs, I'm troubled by one thing: the pitch of the tank.

To make it clear, the tank should be pitched downward 1/4" per foot towards the fuel pickup line - not away from it. The tank label clearly states this. Besides the label, it makes sense that one would pitch downward thus allowing the water to collect at the fuel line and be drained periodically, preferably during the pre-season maintenance.

I have a kerosene heating customer who has chronic water in fuel issues (outside tank), for whom I have fashioned and installed a water trap between the shut off valve and the tank filter, just for this purpose.

Pitched the wrong way would allow the water to accumulate and eventually the tide would rise to the point of getting into the fuel line anyway...an event which naturally would occur at a most inconvienent time... like the middle of the coldest night, on a holiday, during a blizzard, with a house full of people, none of whom would be mechanically inclined, but one of whom would most definately be your mother-in-law! Water collecting in the tank and not being drained off, over many years, might even cause the tank to rust, causing more trouble.
This advice is compliments of Cottage Care Home Services, LLC., Nazareth, Pa.

[Goldfishing]

This product is gaining popularity for removing small amounts of water, especially in the Northern states.

http://www.h2ocontrol.com/productsWaterWorm.php