Heating Oil

[33ching]

This might be a stupid question to those in the know but I have not done much work with heating oil so I thought I better ask first. A friend of mine who is a builder (lets just say he acquired) heating oil on a job he was doing. His oil tank is full at the moment so he is storing the oil in sealed containers until he needs it. He asked me about the oil needing to breathe as like all tanks his has a breather inlet but I told him that was just to allow air in as the oil leaves to go to the boiler so the tank does not compress. Is this correct or will his containers need breathers on them as I was not sure if the oil expands and retracts with the heat etc and I don’t want to be the cause of any misfortune due my misinformation.

 

[dontknowitall]

I'm not sure the powers that be would appreciate this type of storage.

When I trained I was advised when working on oil storage tanks to ask the oil delivery company to bring an empty lorry so they can siphon out the oil and store it correctly.

As to answering your question, some form of ventilation is required. Again it's in the OFTEC rules.

If you're installing a new oil tank there are loads of rules to conform to and you need someone who is OFTEC 106(?) qualified to sign it off. If the customer later asks an OFTEC registered technician to service their boiler, the technician is bound by OFTEC to check the oil storage and supply and report misdemeanours. If he/she doesn't they are in danger of losing their qualification and if it happens to coincide when an inspector is checking up on the service engineer there will be major problems for the owner of the property.

Sorry to be a rule book doom monger (probably easier to say nitpicker!) but the fines from the environment agencies, etc can be quite tremendous for the owner (or installer) of the property if these rules are not adhered to.

And then, stupidly with all this red tape, anyone is allowed to service an oil boiler with no qualification and an unregistered boiler engineer isn't obliged to check the oil supply!!

Daft, aint it!!

 

[bobpape]

I note that Plumbfix have elected to ask for proof of membership of OFTEC before they
will supply oil appliances to individuals,
In the same way as they only sell "gas safety critical" parts (their terminology) to GSR
members,
Whats in it for them, one wanders

 

[Plouasne]

Anybody heard of the "demand" for an approved "flame trap" to be fitted to domestic oil "28 sec" kerosene oil storage tanks, on the vent bend of the tank