I was supposed to get a heating oil delivery but instead I got a note saying my vent alarm is either faulty, clogged, or missing. My first pass at The Google as been a bit short on info. What/where is this alarm and how do I go about fixing it? The tank is a 250 gallon tank in my basement.
It's usually a whistle that works with the air escaping the tank as the fuel is added. Usually it is right next to the fill port.
Sometimes the whistle is actually plumbed right on top of the tank and you hear it whistle through the vent pipe that is right next to the fill.
If you have a regular big black steel oil tank, then its on the vent pipe right where it leaves the tank. You see that red bung that also has the fuel level. That red bung has the whistle in it. If you have one of those stand up square silver tanks, then its a piece that gets piped in separately. As the fuel goes in, air rushes out the vent. The whistle sounds to let the oil guy know he's not just dumping oil into your basement. Never saw one go bad, but I did once forget to install one on a stand up tank. Try taping the red bung with a hammer. If you stick your mouth over the fill pipe and blow, you should hear the whistle. You can try compressed air into the fill. Sounds like its either stuck or you got a spiders nest down there. Replacing it is a PITA because everything is threaded together from the tank to the outside of the house, unless someone installed a union. There is also a retro fit union that you can buy. Cut the pipe and reinstall the ends butted up together with the union. It has rubber washers and grips around the outside of the pipe. Forget what its called, but its common in the oil burner trade. Short of that you would need a pipe threader to thread the pipe you cut and a regular threaded black iron union.
Do you have a service contract with the oil delivery company? You know, the guy that cleans the thing out. Call them, put liability in their court is something goes awry over the winter.
Dan
Hopefully I can get one of those unions to work. My fill and vent pipes snake through about 15ft of crawl space I don't feel like climbing into.
I have no service contract. Anything the boiler needed has been simple enough to do. This is the first time I've had anything go wrong with a tank besides leaking.
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