How To Change Oil Tank Sight Tube

Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

Not strictly boaty !

I have an oil tank feeding my domestic CH system. There's a plastic sight tube fitted which is now so cloudy as to be useless.
Can I replace this with any old clear plastic tube or is there a particular type I should be using?

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

A representative of the HSE would probably advise a special type, no doubt at extortionate cost and long delivery. In the past, in exactly the same situation as yourself, I have bought the nylon reinforced PVC stuff sold by chandlers. If I remember correctly the one with the red thread through the reinforcement is intended for diesel. It will probably go cloudy in time but is easily replaced.

Alternatively, nylon hydraulic hose will resist any chemical degradation from the heating oil but it can be difficult to fit as it has little elasticity.

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

Mine is that reinforced pvc and still clear after twenty years.

sarabande

Well-known member

Joined: 6 May 2005

Messages: 35,049

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

the discoloration comes mainly from the dyes in the oil, so if you can blow down the open end and then close the valve (err, you do have a valve ?) the pipe will remain clear for several generations /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

You could also split a length of alkathene or garden hose and use it to cover the sight pipe to inhibit UV degradation.

IORC Titan have stopped supplying sight glasses, as part of the regulations to prevent spillage from oil tanks.

and as just one benefit of farming, we can install single skin tanks, and domestic and industrial customers can't. Why ? I dunno !

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

[ QUOTE ]
the discoloration comes mainly from the dyes in the oil, so if you can blow down the open end and then close the valve (err, you do have a valve ?) the pipe will remain clear for several generations /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I do have a valve but I don't have a sufficiently long arm span to allow me to blow and close at the same time ! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
we can install single skin tanks, and domestic and industrial customers can't. Why ? I dunno !

[/ QUOTE ]

My tank is about 16 years old and single skinned. A bit worrying really. Friends of ours had a tank split on them which discharged approx 4,000 litres of oil into the ground. The cost for the clean up was about £20,000 ! Fortunately their insurance covered it

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

Thanks Vyv and Tizwoz.

simonfraser

Well-known member

Joined: 13 Mar 2004

Messages: 6,799

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

i repositioned mine for an easier view when it was replaced last time

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

<<< and as just one benefit of farming, we can install single skin tanks, and domestic and industrial customers can't. Why ? I dunno ! >>>

Weird, isn't it! My single skin tank split and was replaced under warranty. When they came to inspect it I was advised that the rules had now changed and they would not put the replacement in the same location as the old due to the possibility of contamination of the stream that is one of my boundaries. I had to provide a new hard standing, brick up a window in my workshop, then accommodate a double-skinned tank that is about three times the size of the single skinned, in the most attractive part of the garden!

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

forget plastic eye sights. Buy a remote guage - they are wireless, it measures oil level and tells you the level in the comfort of your own home. Any OFTEC engineer will happily fit one for you.

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

At considerably greater cost than a metre of plastic hose. Replacement batteries alone cost me £17, from memory. It doesn't perform very reliably and has to be turned on for some time before it gives a reading. I would far prefer a simple sight tube but one cannot be fitted to a double skinned tank.

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

A whole new one can be got from BES http://www.bes.co.uk/ for around £15.

Re: Plastic \"sight tube\" for oil tank

Agreed, a mechanical level gauge is about that price but it won't fit a double skinned, bunded tank. The remote Watchman system is nearly £60 and a new battery is almost £20.