Excerpt from April 2011, Fuel Oil News | ||
We have heard the words “quality control” regulating everything from oil burners and boilers, to furnaces, and controls. However, what about the fuel oil that many of us have watched spiral upward in price to $100 per barrel? By the time this article leaves the press, the retail could be at $4.00 per gallon or higher and business owners will be focusing on receivables more than ever. On the subject of oil quality, I would like to share an actual oil related conversation that I had with a second generation oil dealer located in East Greenwich, RI. The owner called me in January when the temperature had been in the 4 degree range for several days, asking me for my thoughts on a burner issues. He said he had a fire department oil account that called to report that the boiler was smoking. This unit was serviced annually and after doing the system tune-up the technician was always able to get a smoke test reading of between 0 and a trace. However on this January day, no matter what his technician (John, a very good tech) did, he could not get a smoke reading better than No. 4 and called for help. At this point I questioned the location of the tank, which by the way was treated regularly with a dispersant type conditioner. He said that it was an outside tank and was partially covered with ice – remember the 4 degrees? My first thought was how cold oil can and certainly does affect a burner’s performance. |
I made some suggestions: use a portable heater to try and raise the temperature of the fuel oil in the tank; blend oil with kerosene; or put thesystem on a temporary “can” to see if anything changed. I’m sure many of you have done this yourself to overcome cold oil or contamination issues.
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The best temperature for fuel oil to flow from a tank to the burner is in the 60-70 degree range, which is the average basement temperature. This is why a basement tank is always recommended. |