Need to have kerosene filtered - any advice?

lohr500

To put it into perspective 4 litres of water in the bottom of a 2500 litre 1.8m long by 1m wide rectangular tank, would give a water depth of just over 2 mm.

On a Harlequin 2500 litre tank, the lowest point of the bottom 1" BSP thread outlet is around 70mm above the base of the tank outlet.

You would need approximately 125 litres of water in the tank before water started flowing out of the bottom outlet.

Granted if you added oil to a tank with some water in the bottom and immediately started to run the boiler before the oil layer had settled on top of the water, then some water could get drawn through the outlet.

Sponges probably work fine for very low levels of contamination caused by condensation, but I still maintain they will be largely ineffective for serious water ingress combined with sludge and/or microbial growth.

lewisoys1234

 I agree, while sponges can handle minor condensation, they’re not sufficient for tackling significant water ingress, sludge, or microbial growth. Proper maintenance and more robust solutions are definitely needed for those situations.

KittenChops

Update

We had someone come round in late September (OFTEC registered) who did the job for us.  They originally quoted £200 + VAT but the actual bill was a bit less in the end.
They 'hoovered' the bottom of the oil tank to remove sludge from there.  They also emptied the fuel line between the tank & the boiler.  They told us they'd expect to fill their big bucket with whatever was in the fuel line, and they expected to see a bit of sludge at the bottom & then mostly oil on top.  Turned out to be the other way round, mostly sludge with just a couple of inches of oil on top...

Anyway, we've had temperatures down to at least -8 at night here over the last few days (we're very rural) and as of now, our boiler is still working & our house isn't freezing - hurrah!

Thank you to all those who offered help & advice :-) 

lohr500

KittenChops said:

Update

We had someone come round in late September (OFTEC registered) who did the job for us.  They originally quoted £200 + VAT but the actual bill was a bit less in the end.
They 'hoovered' the bottom of the oil tank to remove sludge from there.  They also emptied the fuel line between the tank & the boiler.  They told us they'd expect to fill their big bucket with whatever was in the fuel line, and they expected to see a bit of sludge at the bottom & then mostly oil on top.  Turned out to be the other way round, mostly sludge with just a couple of inches of oil on top...

Anyway, we've had temperatures down to at least -8 at night here over the last few days (we're very rural) and as of now, our boiler is still working & our house isn't freezing - hurrah!

Thank you to all those who offered help & advice :-) 

Thanks for providing an update. Always appreciated when this happens. Often, people ask lots of questions and then never provide an update and sometimes are never heard of again!!

The bill doesn't sound crazy either and great to hear that they seem to have solved the problem.