On Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:34:21 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:

My oil tank holds 275 gallons and feeds from the bottom. Every year I
add a gallon of diesel conditioner. I would like to delay my next fill
until April 1st so I don't have to shovel a path for the oil man. I
estimate that there will still be about 40 gallons left in the tank by
then. Is this safe to do?

---MIKE---

My oil tank is in the basement, and might be about your size. I use
number 2 oil, and always from pretty big suppliers, if that matters.
At any rate, for a variety of reasons, I've run out of oil at least 3
times, maybe 4, and after it was refilled, I did have to prime the
pump, but after I did that, there was no indication that the fuel
nozzle clogged any sooner than normal. That is, they always last a
year or more.

IOW, it's safe to run your furnace until the tank is empty. The worst
that could happen is that you would have to replace the nozzle early,
but that hasn't happened to me.

I used to pay annually for a furnace cleaning, but their cleaning was
short and their adjustment process got shorter and shorter.
Eventually they adjusted nothing, no gauges, and only looked at the
flame to see that it was the same color it had been. More than one
company was like this. I got disgusted. maybe I should have
complained, but instead I started to do it myself. . It was hard to
find an oil company with a parts counter, but I found one on my side
of town, and I bought nozzles 3 or 4 at a time so I wouldn't annoy
them too much. There's a special tool for chaning the nozzle, but 2
adjustable wrenches will do it also. I just realized last year that 6
inch wrenches work the best in the case of my furnace, which is
typical.

Also, don't forget to clean your chimney every 5 or 10 years,
depending on how dirty it gets. The oil company "technicians" never
reminded me to do that., and after 31 years, it caused problems.
Even the chimney sweep whom I hired for the fireplace chimney didn't
remind me abou tthe furnace chimney, and he was right up there on the
roof and could have doubled his money for very little extra time
spent. Go figure.

I bought online for a few bucks insturctions on replacing the nozzle,
alligning the electrodes (although that was in the instructions that
came with the furnace, iirc.) but it all comes down to two or three
distances. BTW, the place I bought the second one from was obnoxious
and didn't send the url until I complained to ebay, maybe 3 weeks
after I bought it. Then they wanted me to noitify them "immediately"
when it arrived. Heck they shoudl have sent it immediately like they
promised. I would send it to you for free, but it's in the broken
computer.

I did have to watch the serviceman prime the pump the first time, and
I watched him. It's been a long time now but it must be that I loosen
or remove the S-curved 6 or 8" tube between the pump (which is parrt
of the oil burner, the part where the oil line comes in) and the
blower housing, the line inside that housing that goes to the nozzle.

Then I run the furnace for 3 or 4 seconds or until oil comes out of
the tube. I saw no evidence of sludge or that the first oil out was
not clean. Of course I stopped the furnace after and soon wiped it off
my hands and the furnace, usually only one or two teaspoons' worth
somehow. Then I reconnect or retighten the tube and that's all it
takes. I guess it takes a lot of pressure to force the oil through
the nozzle, because it has to go through the metal particle filter,
and even the hole is too small to see into**, and the pump can't suck
the oil well enough when the output is only through the nozzle.

**I"ve tried blowing through a new nozzle and I can't get anything
through with my lungs alone.

My oil tank is on 3 or 4" legs and on the floor, the same floor the
upflow furnace is on. So when the tank is almost empty, the oil
level is below the oil burner.


BTW, t hey installed my furnace without an external oil filter, and I
personally don't see how the simple alleged oil filter (I think it's
callled a filter) at the entrance to the furnace burner actually
filters anything But again, no nozzle has clogged in less than a
year. Usualy they are replaced every year, so I'm not sure how long
they would last, except one lasted 2 years and clogged soon after.