Safe Oil Deliveries—What You Should Know

Posted: January 19, 2016

Posted: January 19, 2016
Posted by: David O’Connell, President of Wilson Oil and Propane

Do you have a basement oil tank? If you do, you should hear a whistling noise whenever our driver makes an oil delivery. This is perfectly normal.

In addition to your oil tank, your heating oil storage system includes the fill pipe, vent pipe and vent alarm. Here’s how it all works:

• Our driver connects the hose from his oil truck to the fill pipe when making an oil delivery.
• As oil flows into the tank, air is pushed back out.
• As the air goes through the vent alarm (located between your tank and vent pipe), it makes a whistling sound. When the whistling stops, the tank is just about full.

This prevents overfilling and the possibility of a spill. Safety codes do not allow us to deliver your fuel if the vent alarm is not working.

Do You Have the Proper Piping?

Other safety codes must be followed so we can ensure safe deliveries to your home. One of the most important codes involves your fill and vent pipes. Older piping made from Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) must be replaced because this plastic piping becomes brittle during winter conditions, making it more likely to crack when a tank is being filled.

This is such an important issue that many insurance companies are now enforcing a No-Fill mandate for tanks with PVC piping.

If this is an issue for you, we can easily resolve it by upgrading your plastic piping to more durable iron or copper piping. If you have any questions or concerns about your oil storage system, please feel free to contact us.