Home heating Oil and off road #2

gaw wrote:If any of you do as I did and throw the oil tanks out because with coal I no longer have use for it, be sure to remove the fill pipe or at least do something to make sure it can’t be used. A few years ago a local oil company pumped oil into a basement because the driver went to the wrong house and the house had a fill pipe but no tanks. I think it had been converted to gas. After doing a Google search it looks like this happens more often than you would think.

That's been in the paper here a few times. Guy somewhere near Boston pumped over 600 gallons into the wrong house with no tank, right on the basement floor. The treehuggers went nuts.

I can bet the driver is now flipping burgers somewhere ...... imagine the bill for THAT delivery!!!!

I'll bet the guy who pumped that 600 gallons just heard about the 'reassignment surgery' the judge ordered for the convicted murderer. In Mass, he would be a fantasy judge...must be a friend of ..........
Hey, In Concord,NH a couple years back, a delivery guy did the same thing and when the 'newly' installed NG boiler fired....well, let's just say, no one was injured, but the fire totaled the building...where a brand new one sits today.

Who was it that said: 'Safety is no Accident!!' Was it Professor Murphy?

I have never run an oil truck but aren't they supposed to have a vent whistle to say air is being displaced in the tank? Shouldn't the lack of a whistle sound tell that something is missing? Mike

Problem is, the whistle only goes off when it's full ....... so if it doesn't go off, they keep pumping ....

stovepipemike wrote:I have never run an oil truck but aren't they supposed to have a vent whistle to say air is being displaced in the tank? Shouldn't the lack of a whistle sound tell that something is missing? Mike

A vent alarm is suppose to whistle until the level of the oil in the tank stops the air from flowing into the tube linked to the whistle. That should be about 3 inches from the top of the tank. If the oil is put in fast it will foam in the tank and give a false full indication. When I delivered oil I would stop for about 30 seconds to let it settle, then put it in slow until the whistle stopped blowing a second time.

Some old tanks didn't have a whistle and that is a problem. When you make waves and tell the customer than need to install a whistle they are a bit miffed and state that drivers have been filling for years without one. You will loose the customer if you get to pushy about it. On a tank like that your ear has to be right on the vent pipe listening for the foam to hit the vent. If you don't shut it off instantly when it does you wear it and there is NO topping it off. Spilling even a little causes nothing but trouble. NOT having a whistle is asking for a spill, especially if you have many different drivers showing up that are not familiar with the account.

Yes a lack of a whistle should alert the driver to that either the tank is already full or something is wrong and he should stop until he has it figured out. Pumping 600 gallons without a whistle blowing is idiotic.