Water got into oil tank

Cocolola

Hi guys.

So myself and the OH are living in a rented house. Last Sunday we got our first fill of kerosine for the tank, 207 liters. We had to head back home to the families that day and stupidly never checked the tank before we left. So we got home this evening and switched on the heating, noticed after a few minutes that the boiler wasn't making any sound and that the rads weren't heating up. OH went out with a torch and found the lid was open. We don't know if it's been open since the delivery or if the high winds over the last few days may have opened it (the landlord had a stick instead of the pin securing it) and it's been raining a ton so there's probably a good bit of water in there now.

What do we need to do now or is it a case of having to get someone out to have a look at it? Thanks for taking the time to read.

downonthefarm

Had the same thing happen this year,
Hope u get it sorted :-)

Wearb

It may not even be a problem caused by water. Even 25mm of water direct from the sky through the lid opening would cause less than 2mm of water in the bottom of your tank, This would not get through to the fuel line unless there was already water there or the back of the tank was lifted up.

Lots of problems I see with rented houses are caused by:
1. Letting the oil run out and running the pump dry trying to get it going.
2. By raising up the back of the tank to get the last out of it. This is a recipe for lots of problems.

It is important to strap the tank down and none so as in rental properties. I am probably doing myself out of work by stating the above, but it is something that has to be noted.

Wearb

downonthefarm wrote: »

Had the same thing happen this year,
Hope u get it sorted :-)

OP. I hope you thanked this helpful and informative reply.

Billy Bunting

Cocolola wrote: »

What do we need to do now or is it a case of having to get someone out to have a look at it?

As you have now used the boiler if it is water in the tank it is now also in the burner and brought along with it all sorts of luvely ****e, you now need an Engineer to look at it, you could try the route of asking your Landlord for the boiler to be Annually serviced

agusta

Cocolola wrote: »

Hi guys.

So myself and the OH are living in a rented house. Last Sunday we got our first fill of kerosine for the tank, 207 liters. We had to head back home to the families that day and stupidly never checked the tank before we left. So we got home this evening and switched on the heating, noticed after a few minutes that the boiler wasn't making any sound and that the rads weren't heating up. OH went out with a torch and found the lid was open. We don't know if it's been open since the delivery or if the high winds over the last few days may have opened it (the landlord had a stick instead of the pin securing it) and it's been raining a ton so there's probably a good bit of water in there now.

What do we need to do now or is it a case of having to get someone out to have a look at it? Thanks for taking the time to read.

Did you run out if oil before you got the 207 litre of oil?,If so its more than likely a simple case of bleeding the pump to remove the air.

Cocolola

Thanks for all the replies, appreciate them.

Wearb wrote: »

It may not even be a problem caused by water. Even 25mm of water direct from the sky through the lid opening would cause less than 2mm of water in the bottom of your tank, This would not get through to the fuel line unless there was already water there or the back of the tank was lifted up.

Lots of problems I see with rented houses are caused by:
1. Letting the oil run out and running the pump dry trying to get it going.
2. By raising up the back of the tank to get the last out of it. This is a recipe for lots of problems.

It is important to strap the tank down and none so as in rental properties. I am probably doing myself out of work by stating the above, but it is something that has to be noted.

Thanks Wearb, we were deliberately not turning on the heating for the last month as we didn't want to chance getting near the bottom and couldn't afford the oil until last week and we definitely didn't move the tank.

Billy Bunting wrote: »

As you have now used the boiler if it is water in the tank it is now also in the burner and brought along with it all sorts of luvely ****e, you now need an Engineer to look at it, you could try the route of asking your Landlord for the boiler to be Annually serviced

Not a bad idea Billy cheers!

agusta wrote: »

Did you run out if oil before you got the 207 litre of oil?,If so its more than likely a simple case of bleeding the pump to remove the air.

Nope, we made sure not to get near the bottom to avoid that.

sky6

If you can open the oil line close to the Bolier say before the oil filter and let it drain out into a Jam Jar or similar. Let it stand for a few hours and if there is water in it the Water will settle on the bottom of the Jar and the oil on top. You will then at least know if Water in Tank is your problem.
If it is then you're probably going to need an Engineer.
But surely then it should be the Landlords problem to sort out for you.

Billy Bunting

Cocolola wrote: »

Nope, we made sure not to get near the bottom to avoid that.

If it is water then there was certainly plenty of water already there because a tank can hold as much as 100lt of water before it starts to leave down the outlet pipe, this catchment area is there for just such reasons, catching water and crap, it should be checked on the annual service.

downonthefarm

There was an few gallons of water in ours and the young fella put some toys and Wood in.I took the strap off and emptied her by hand. I know you have the added problem of the oil already been added.I would say its on the landlord to sort it