Desperation - Oil tank Ques


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Old 08-30-11, 05:08 PM
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Question Desperation - Oil tank Ques

I will apologize right now if this is half rant about my situation. I am a tenant in a basement apartment. The furnace and that if the landlord living above, are both in a walk in closet size room in my apartment. It is padlocked shut and I have access only to my emergency switch. We have been living here for 3 years.

When we moved in, the landlord informed me the tenant before had run the tank dry and that it was empty. I thought it was to my advantage when I ordered enough oil to fill my tank and we could only fit in a little under 200gal. (Yay, 75gallons of free oil!) Since then, we have "run empty" several times. Never have I been able to fit in more than 190gal. Closest we got was 187gal.

This past March during a warm snap (3days of 50degree plus weather), we ran dry again. We tried putting in about 5gal of diesel so the landlord could prime the tank and we could have hot water/heat til the oil was delivered the next day. He threw in one of those jugs of cold weather/sludge stuff and primed it and of course got ticked off when we told him we technically only had 5gal in the tank and that we added diesel to his system. The next day we received 143gal of oil and the driver even overfilled it because we told him we were empty.

Just a couple days ago the furnace shut off and acted like it was empty. We had 100gal delivered and asked the landlord to reprime it. The gauge was reading at 1/4tank and now is between the 1/2 and the 3/4 tank mark. They are having a fit because we run out of oil and no other tenant has ever had a problem. Its not like they travel far - they just walk downstairs and it's not my fault or choice that I can't have anyone else prime it.

I know the systems are inefficient and need more open air access. They have been informed several times by the oil company who comes to clean the furnaces that the system needs to be set up differently and that the furnaces are rather old as well. Just two weeks ago both furnaces had to be shut off due to a horrible odor and smell coming from them. They were both clogged with soot. I have spent all the time since trying to rid the apartment of the odor and it did not entirely go away until the furnace was off for three days. They are not scheduled for a proper complete cleaning for almost about 3weeks. (The company was extremely busy and could not make it for earlier - or s I"m told).

Is there something wrong with the tank? The gauge? Is the system causing it to happen? I could really use some insight to help get my landlord off my ass and maybe fix this. I can't afford an automatic delivery system which my landlord is near to insisting on.

I know the gauges are somewhat inaccurate after a certain level but empty should still be empty and 100gal should not fill be up to 5/8ths of a tank. I'm so frustrated. Please. Any insight is appreciated. If I could afford to move right now, I would seriously consider it.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 06:20 PM
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Could be the fuel system in that the oil pickup tube could be well above the bottom of the tank. This would account for your only being able to put in less than 200 gallons. A suction line 13" off the bottom would leave approx. 75 gallons of unusable fuel in the tank & the addition of 100 gallons would be roughly 5/8 of a tank.

Could be the fuel pump on the furnace just can't pull hard enough to pull the oil when the tank gets low. This could be due to a restriction in the line (sludge?), a dirty filter, or a plugged pump screen.
 
 

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