I have a steel heating oil tank with a vertical 4ft x =BD" sight tube showing how full the tank is.
Unfortunately, the tube has become cloudy over time and is very difficult to see the oil through it.
I guess that my options are to clean it or change it.
Are either of these options ones that I can do myself or should I get a heating engineer to do it? Seems expensive to call out someone to fit a =A320 piece of tube.
I just wondered if anyone had a similar experience.
I would just buy a piece of clear plastic tube from the local hardware and fit it myself and I would expect to pay a lot less that £20.
I always keep the valve at the bottom closed. Normally I dip the tank to check the level.
Which is what I did.
I've just read mine, and discovered that the sight tube was too clody to read. So, like others, I just dipped it instead.
Or if you're mean enough and find that the tube doesn't clean up too well, reverse it so that the stained end is at the top and the clear end at the bottom :-) -- cost =A30.
John
hardware
I was going to do that but never got round to it.
As one should in case the sight tube fails and you deposit a few hundred litres of expensive heating oil onto the ground.
Top of our tank is a good 8' above ground level. One could dip it but it's easier to open the little sight tube valve and see the level. B-)
Or if it's like mine and mostly shrounded in a metal sleeve just rotate it in the sleeve. The cloudyness is where the light and oil has got to it. I think I did have to end to end it as well as the plastic had become to hard to form a proper seal on the spigot after being disturbed.
Good points. The alloy sleeve is merely a friction fit and easy to remove.
yes 3 weeks ago.
Alas, tale of woe, urgently needed to order oil but sight gauge was broken.
web checked suggested going rate for a replacement was c =A312-=A315, couldn't wait for delivery delay ruled out that option, so had to shelled out =A328 for an off the shelf one ex a heating stockist.
later discovered ToolStation have them for c. =A312
Also the old one had a lever valve (always on) at the bottom - new ones have a push button which has to be pushed to admit oil to the tube.
The tank here has a wheel valve between the tank & the gauge, so the gauge can be removed without loss of oil.
The large new nut (which came with the new gauge) for the bottom of the gauge was discarded as I decided to reuse the old nut. But that was stiff to remove. The new tube thread into the large nut needed sealing - I used a car gasket compound (Hemelite) - but prob most oil proof sealants would do.
The oil came with free advice from a cheerful delivery driver. Best refurbishment method is to replace the old tube with milk parlour tube available from agricultural merchants. He said that it doesn't discolour. He recommended sealing the tube to the nut at the foot with a jubileee clip.
HTH
Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. I will have a go at changing the tube.
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