Oil Fired central heating problem

[babybanks]

Hi all, I have seen a few posts with lots of information about oil fired central heating systems so am hoping someone could help me out. I have the sneakiest feeling my ex has sabotaged my oil fired central heating by putting something like sugar in the tank. How would I go about finding out if he has? Its still trying to kick in but stops again after about 3 seconds. (i was turning down the main thermostat the turning it up again) other than that it was fine up until this morning....

cold babybanks :(

[Robert]

In article , babybanks writes

1) Open front door 2) Walk to oil tank 3) Look at funny looking plastic tube type thingiwingy sticking up at one end of tankiwanky. 4)If funny looking plastic tube type thingiwingy show no juiciwoosy in tankiwanky phone oil supplier. 5) If funny looking plastic tube type thingeiwingy show juiceiwoosy in tankiwanky phone service engine from yellow pagiwages.

[Robert]

I had an identical problem about 18 months ago with my ex. The fix was to introduce 3 teaspoons of Allisons dried active yeast into the oil storage tank. You can get it from Tesco - it's not organic but seems to work OK. It's very important how you do this. You mustn't just chuck it in as it can remain un-dissolved and find its way into your burner with undesirable results. What you need to do is draw off a quarter pint of Kerosene from your heating tank and put it in your airing cupboard for a day or so until it achieves a temperature of 68.8 deg C . Next add 2 teaspoons of sugar to the kerosene and of course the 3 teaspoons of Allisons dried active yeast. After about 20 minutes you should have about 1 inch (2.55 cm) of froth on top of the kerosene. Now is the time. Add the brew to your central heating tank via the filler cap. You now have to wait for about 2 hours whilst the yeast converts all the sugar in the tank into alcohol. You should now have a tank of sugar free kerosene that has the special added advantage as determined by NASA during deep space probes.

[Rob Morley]

Are you sure there isn't water in the tank? Seems more likely to me.

[babybanks]

There is no way any water could have gotten in, the unit has been pretty much sealed since the last filling (over 8 months ago) so wouldnt that have shown up sooner? Also one of the neighbours is sure they saw him loitering about on wednesday so i figured that would be about the right time for it to start playing up.... also I love the dried yeast technique but will have to make sure that it is whats in there first :( Bloody ex's - a right pain in the butt :(

babybanks - still cold but got the woodburner raging now :)

[Robert]

Seriously then - if you have a tank full off kerosine contaminated with sugar then you have a major problem. It will cost a serious amount of dosh to dispose of a tank full of the stuff but you really have no other option. You need to talk to the company who supplied the fuel who should be able to organize it for you. - sorry.

[Grunff]

Utter crap. If the tank has a significant amount of oil in it (anything more than a few hundred litres), you'd need a very large amount of sugar to make any difference to its burning behaviour.

If it only has a small amount of oil in it (100-200 litres), filling it up with oil will dilute the sugar to a point where it'll make no difference to the combustion.

I thought the OP was a troll - just in case it isn't, i very much doubt that anyone's added sugar to your oil. I think you have another fault. How much oil is there in the tank?

[Dave Liquorice]

Condensation inside the tank slowly builds up in the bottom of the tank, eventually it'll start to be drawn off with the oil.

More likley you are out of oil after 8 months, we can just about do 8 months over the summer and thats 2000l of oil. Just ordered another 2000l after the last top up late Sept. Check the level. BTW you may need to open a valve at the bottom of the sight tube to get the current reading. Sight tubes should not be routinely left with the valve open in case they fail and leak.

[babybanks]

The tank is still 1/3 full could be even up to nearly half full. I did the little valve next to the gauge and it only went down by about 1cm. I also have one of those radio controlled monitoring thingys which is still saying "5" which I can only assume is still loads left. I shall be getting one of my heating people on board today hopefully so it should be all fixed soon with a bit of luck... Thanks all babybanks

[robgraham]

I suspect you mean '68.8 degrees F'. Having seen your later email I do wonder whether this is a troll but I do like the concept.

Rob

[Rob Morley]

But you reckon it might have sugar in it ...

I really don't think a bit of sugar in the tank is going to make much difference to how well it burns - it will mess up a petrol engined car but an oil burner is rather different.

You're supposed to stop that once you've split up.

[Robert]

Utter crap - Sugar does not disolve in kerosine. It will settle to the bottom of the tank in a layer no more than 10mm deep. It doesn't matter whether there is 100 litres or 10000 litres in the tank it DOES NOT GO INTO SOLUTION you plonker.