Heating Oil Tank fuel line regs

Compression is only permissible for regs aiui.

Jim K

Whilst I do not know anything about oil regs, why is that? Solder joints are reckoned to be equal or better than compression in most other uses.

Whilst I do not know anything about oil regs, why is that? Solder joints are reckoned to be equal or better than compression in most other uses. /Q

Presumably because in a fire solder joints are deemed to be more at risk of letting go?

Jim K

Valid point and believable - but a little at odds with the gas regs that prefer solder joints (in inaccessible locations).

Gas has far smaller molecules thus can get through smaller gaps that may occur in a compression fitting. A slow gas leak into an enclosed space could get to explosive concentrations given enough time. Kerosene leaking into an enclosed space just makes it smelly and oily...

That of course makes perfect sense - but not why solder joints are (apparently) not permitted on oil lines, which makes less sense.

enclosed

See first quoted section. If a fire gets the pipe hot enough for a solder joint to let go or leak you are going to have maybe 2000l of parrafin available to fuel the fire. If the joint fell apart rather than just leak you have a 10 or 15 mm pipe that can deliver that parrafin quite quickly and it'll spread across the floor, down slopes, holes etc. And for the pipe to be hot enough for the solder to melt the fire will be big enough to ignite that parrafin.

A proper installation has a fire valve in the feed *outside* the building at the point of entry with the capillary sensor inside the boiler casing. So if a fire does break out the oil feed is cut off.

Thank you - that is a very full explanation - I see now...

Right.... So a 'proper installation' will have, between the tank and the boiler, the following:-

only compression joints supply line composed of white plastic coated 10mm copper piping A fire valve At least one replaceable in-line filter of some sort A tiger loop A manual isolation valve (at the tank base)

Is that the lot?

Water trap maybe? or is that assumed to be dealt with in positioning the tank draw-off point? I have had no experience with oil systems so just a suggestion.

Make sure the sensor of the cutoff valve isn't placed too close to the source of normal heat in the boiler. When we first had our new boiler fitted, it cut out unexpectedly and the fitter suggested the first thing to check was the reset for the fire cutoff - which it was! Next time he was passing (after it had cut out several more times, though I knew how to reset it by then!) he moved the sensor tube further along the inside wall of the boiler, further away from the radiant heat from the burner.

Outside...

Yes, personally I'd go for a glass bowl filter at the tank. This a) coursely (fine wire mesh) filters the fuel b) acts as a water trap. The last might not be important if there are *no* low points in the pipe work outside. Any water will collect there and in the winter freeze blocking the line. DAMHIKT. The coarse filter keeps dead flies out of the line and blocking/jamming open the fire valve. DAMHIKT but it's related to freezing.

Probably not required, we haven't got one and don't have any problems with bubbles/airlocks, even after a delivery has given the tank jolly good aeration. Read the fuel level straight after delivery and a day or or so later and the level will have dropped a cm or two...

Our tank outlet is *just* above the burner inlet so most of the time there is a couple of foot head to bleed air out when the flexable hose and/or paper filter are replaced. The wire mesh filter also means the paper filter only has fine stuff to filter out, so doesn't need replacing as often.

Yep, along with a push to read sight glass, if they are still allowed on new installations.

Eventually the level of water in the bottom of the tank will reach the draw-off point. I think that's what happened here with the "professionally installed" system with no filter or trap at the tank. Once the water level has reached the draw-off it flows out into the pipework, collects at a low point freezes and blocks the line. The lack of filter at the tank meant the line also had a fair amount of kak in it. Clearing the line of disturbed the kak and it clogged the fire valve. Great fun in 10" of snow. At least at that time the fire valve was inside... But I was at it for 6+ hours and kerosene isn't that benign when it comes into contact with your skin for an hour or twos...

Been there, done that & you can keep the damn t-shirt.

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We were told not when we had our tank replaced a couple of years ago.

allowed

So how do you check the oil level? Or a delivery person check that there is enough space in the tank for the quantity ordered? Unless things have changed since Jan the delivery nozzle is a manual one with a delivery rate of around 5 l/second (1 gallon/second), that'll make a heck of mess rather quickly...

Electronic thingies are not that reliable in my experience or particularly accurate and the read out isnt at the tank.

It has a mechanical contents gauge.

Ours has a device called a Watchman which is supposed to automatically phone up the fuel stockists when the level reaches a certain point. I don't recall it ever working properly so I just use a dipstick.

Ours too, and it works just fine. As well as a mechanical gauge.