Yes, we have a watchman, and it seems to work well. Sad chap that I am, I note down every change, and have done for at least ten years. I imagine I would notice if it gave false readings, as I always know when I expect the reading to change.
We don't have a mechanical gauge, or any of the other gubbins discussed. The pipe exits the tank to an on/off valve, then underground to the house. There is nothing between the pipe and the boiler at the house end.
You want to get a coupling installed there pretty quick, then mate. That's going to leak like crazy.
How does it know the cheapest stockist to call?
Spread of phone quotes I got on the 9th Sept 38.60, 33.53, 33.95,
31.90 (ex VAT). Difference between cheapest and dearest on 2250 l £158 (inc VAT)...Onine sites gave 29.08 (but out of area), 32.15, 31.08, 30.26, 34.00.
We have a Watchman Alarm just in case we a get a visit. I read the sight tube every week and plug that into a spreadsheet to get an idea of consumption and project when we'll need more. Currently Mar 2017 but that will change in the next few months...
No great seasonal variation? We go from < 1 cm/week in the summer to
5 cm/week in winter. That's cm on the sight tube which equates to about 25 l. Winter used to be over 6 cm/week before we got the wood burner...So you have an U shaped line? Hum... not likely to freeze if it's greater than a foot under ground but could fill with water and restrict the oil flow. And no fire valve?
Yes, it brings it home to you how much we get screwed over for fuel now that crude is a quarter the price is was a couple of years ago, but the retail price here has only come off about 15% or so. Robbin' bastards!
/Yes, it brings it home to you how much we get screwed over for fuel now that crude is a quarter the price is was a couple of years ago, but the retail price here has only come off about 15% or so. Robbin' bastards! /Q
Yet heating oil is now half the price of a couple of years ago...
Jim K
Yes, huge seasonal variations. No sight glass, so I just use the Watchman readings which run from F (full) to 0 (empty). Last F reading was 16/06, followed by 9 21/06, 8 20/07, 7 02/08, 6 20/08 and 5 06/09. 4 will probably be this time next week.
Yes, always a danger I suppose, living in Aberdeenshire, but it has always been OK in the past, with plenty of ice and snow, and low temperatures.
Confess I had to Google fire valve to see what one looked like. Good news is yes, there is one, between the end of the copper pipe (from the tank) and the flexible hose to the boiler.
Wether the line gets ice blocked or water restricts the oil depends on how much water is in it. Without a water trap at the tank outlet once the water level in the tank reaches that level the line will slowly fill until one day... The water trap will probably also include a coarse filter which will keep most of the crap out of the line, which gets flushed down to the fire valve blocking it when you have to remove the water. Hopefully that won't be with 10" of snow on the ground and an ice day... I wasn't that lucky.
It really ought to be outside where the line enters the building.
Depends whether your tank oil level is higher than the burner. Oil will not flow uphill reliably. We have a Danish Heath-Robinson oil lifter device (oil tanks there are typically installed underground). I would
*not* recommend it. Next time it will certainly be a Tiger loop.
These days they tend to fit a Watchman and if you are daft enough a contract for your local expensive oil supplier to fill it when it gets low automagically but at a premium price.
In message , Martin Brown writes
Yes, my oil is supplied via contract, so I suppose I must be daft. Problem is, during periods of bad weather, those without a contract cannot obtain oil for love nor money. I prefer to be warm and daft rather than clever and cold.
Never had a problem. Local group clubs together to get a decent price.
United we stand and divided we fall. It might be convenient to have an automagically filling fuel tank but you pay through the nose for it.
The only snag is our tank has a bad habit of running low during the long Xmas break. However, the wood burner back boiler can also run the CH so by running that harder the rate of oil consumption can be managed.
It has ended up running on vapour more than once...
Yes, a local group has started here. I must investigate.
Most of the time, supply is not a problem. However, during a bad winter, main roads can be blocked preventing deliveries, or at least making deliveries extremely difficult. During the same period, demand skyrockets, of course, and the suppliers really do struggle to supply even their regular account customers. This is during periods when the council employ every JCB they can find to shift the snow moved by the ploughs. Snow is loaded onto trucks and dumped on local playing fields, or anywhere space is available and accessible.
During one of those periods, I contacted other suppliers and was told by some that they were not taking on any new customers, even account customers, and others said yes, join the queue, minimum 30 day delay for the first delivery. We can empty a full tank in that period.
We have an immersion heater, open fire, three bottled gas fires and numerous electric heaters for emergencies :-)
Not IME.
You may well have more severe weather than here in North Yorkshire. The longest we have been cut off for is about a week in winter 2010-11 I think. The main problem are spots where where deep drifts accumulate.
Usually they clear our narrow road within a couple of days since one of the snow plough drivers lives on it!
Maybe worth having a bigger tank then. Mine will last about four months from full in winter and the whole of summer. I log monthly consumption.
I agree that it isn't a good idea to ring up wanting fuel in the middle of a cold snap but then I try very hard not to be in that position.
No electric generator? We need that to keep the CH pump and boiler running when the winter storms take out the electricity. Otherwise we end up with lashings of very hot water and one heated room.
Depends where you happen to be. Doubt the problem exists south of Perth.
Winters 9/10 10/11 some of the roads around here where closed for weeks. But they do try and keep the road to Brampton/A69/Carlisle/Newcastle open for emergency access, we only have one fire engine and ambulance both on the retained basis. One fire engine can't put out a house once it's well alight, needs two or three... Ambulance could possibly keep you alive until the Great North Air Ambulance could air lift you out. But that can't fly at night or when it's blowing (which it does quite a bit in the winter). Guess they could call an RAF S&R Sea King out, I think they can fly at night and in far worse conditions.
trucks and
Don't you have snow blowers? The one around here works wonders:
Cut off as in no road access at all even the ploughs are stuck doesn't last long 24 hours tops. Might still need a 4x4 and winter tyres though.
Must have a small tank was my thought as well. Ours is a nominal 2500 l and we buy 2000 l a time. That'll last a similar 3 or 4 months in winter.
So do I it doesn't take much to track consumption, project for when levels will be getting a low and watch the actual weather trend. Worst comes to worst I have a couple of drums that I could take to the local oil suppliers 4 miles away (walk and drag on sledge if neccessary). That's assuming they have some dregs left in the bottom of their storage...
Small genset is essential IMHO. When an ice storm took out the 11 kV distribution in several places including snaped poles, we were off supply for 36 hours plus. It wouldn't have been very comfortable without being able to run the CH and it would have stayed uncomfortable for several days afterwards as the 30 odd tonnes of passive stone through the center of the house would have cooled down significantly.
I believe the oil can dissolve the solder. Though I did once install one after a suggestion from a local installer.
You can have flared joints which I believe are preferable
Which should be outside the property.
Only used on single pipe systems where the burner is above the bottom of the oil tank (maybe by some margin).
Most (all) oil boiler installation manuals will tell you what has to be done.
Also because if you needed to repair a solder joint in a pipe that was already in use, you'd need to drain the oil out and clean the pipe thoroughly to get rid of any traces of flammable oil before letting a blowtorch anywhere near it.
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