Minimum delivery of heating oil?

FirstClassMale

I will paste in my question from the DIY forum so you know what I mean..........................................


Boiler out of oil?

---

Our oil fired boiler has just stopped working. The lockout light came on and there was a strong smell of kerosene inside the house. According to the instruction manual it might signify the need for more oil. I have dipped the tank (I'll explain in a minute) and there is about 2 inches in the bottom. It's a 2000litre tank and we were told when we had an engineer out when we moved in this was actually quite a lot and at least a two week supply.

We intended to change the metal tank for a new plastic one soon as it is unsightly, too big, the guage is broken and it may have bits of corrosion inside (another possibility as to what our problem might be)

I will ask this in the fuel bit too, is there a minimum delivery of oil as we dont want the hastle of draining out the remaining oil when it comes to changing it.

Any expert opinions would be appreciated.

moonrakerz

You may find that your pipe from the tank to the boiler is blocked with "gunge" from your tank.

I replaced my tank a couple of years ago. Don't worry about oil left in your tank, the people who install the new tank will pump out any oil in your tank into a temporary tank, then pump it back into your new tank - filtering both ways.
If you think you are going to stay in that house for a long time (15 years +) think about a plastic tank, if not, get another metal one.

Two reasons for that:
1. Plastic tanks are more expensive.
2. A plastic tank takes up more space than the equivalent capacity metal one. Sounds daft but it's true. A metal tank is a rectangular box; a plastic tank is usually round (ish) with reinforcing around it making it bigger overall. When I replaced my 600 gal tank a plastic one would have blocked half the pathway off and I would have needed to have the tank base modified to support the plastic tank.

Usual min for a delivery is 1000L

Hope that helps.