Water in oil tank

Sanguine Fan

Recently, my oil-fired boiler went on the blink. The engineer diagnosed water in the oil tank which was coming through to the burner. He inserted a dip stick, on which he rubbed some chemical, into the tank and was able to determine that about a half-inch of water lay at the bottom of the tank. The tank is currently about half-full with kerosene. The water level is below the outlet so I'm wondering if the problem is likely to recur.

Is there any easy way to remove the water? One thought I had was to let the oil run down completely and then see if the water would evaporate when I leave the lid off. However, that would probably cause an airlock.

Any suggestions?

JamesM

1st, you should find out how the water got in - did you leave the filler cap open. Is it a steel tank - sometimes the top is rusty, has a dip in it, and leaks.
It is unlikely that condension has caused that amount of water - unless the tank is very old. Some plastic tanks have started splitting - you can see a split at some of the curves and corners - If so, replace the tank - it may suddenly burst - some mess :eek:
The best way of getting the water out is to get a professional to pump out the oil and clean out the tank, then refill it. The other way is to get a (hand)pump of some kind and get the hose from it to the bottom of the tank and pump out the water. If it is a plastic tank, there is probably more than a half-inch of water in the tank, because the outlet pipe is at least a half-inch from the bottom of the tank.
Jim.

Sanguine Fan

Thanks for that advice James. The pump sounds like the way to go.

I inadvertently allowed water to enter the tank when I was dealing with an overflow from the gauge, so I know the quantity inside can't be huge. The tank is plastic and pretty new with no obvious damage visible.