OT: - Oil Tank Fill Whistle | The Boneyard

OT: Oil Tank Fill Whistle

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temery

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When the oil company is filling your tank an external whistle goes off saying the tank is filled.

If the whistle doesn't go off, the tank could be overfilled, or even worse - the tank could burst.


Has anybody here had to go through this with their oil tank? Replacing the whistle.
 
gtcam said:
No but I had an oil company fill my basement with 300 gallons of heating oil and the house doesn't heat with oil.
It happened in mid January and we are still in litigation.
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Was it previously oil heat? Was there a fill pipe outside? Just trying to see how that could happen.
 
gtcam said:
No but I had an oil company fill my basement with 300 gallons of heating oil and the house doesn't heat with oil.
It happened in mid January and we are still in litigation.
Expand ...

Was there an old nozzle outside? How did they fill your basement with oil?

Why did an oil service show up at your house?
 
temery said:
Was there an old nozzle outside? How did they fill your basement with oil?

Why did an oil service show up at your house?
Expand ...
The house was built 130 years ago and converted to natural gas heat in 1968.
We bought the house in the early 80s and the inspector said that the oil tank was solid and didn't need to be removed. They pegged shut the inner spout at the bottom of the tank and painted the cap on the fill pipe red. Over the years the paint faded but nobody had ever tried to open it etc.

The oil company was supposed to deliver oil across the street but instead the driver delivered to our house. My wife came home and smelled oil. On our mailbox was the recept that said - we delivered oil here in error - please call us to discuss removal from your tank or discuss you keeping it at a discount. She walked down cellar and was met with a lake of red heating oil 6 inches deep. She called the oil company who asked if they need to come and empty the tank - she said it's not in the tank, it's floating on my cellar floor. He said "OH duckK - you better talk to the owner. The owner was there in about 10 minutes and DEP officials were there within 1/2 hour. When asked if I was coming home soon, my wife said he's on his way from a meeting in New Haven and he is irate. The owner left right away. It's been a nightmare. Insurance company will end up buying the house.

The weight of the oil forced the peg out of the lower spout and the oil flowed out of the tank.

The tank and exterior spout has now been removed!!!!!
 
gtcam said:
The house was built 130 years ago and converted to natural gas heat in 1968.
We bought the house in the early 80s and the inspector said that the oil tank was solid and didn't need to be removed. They pegged shut the inner spout at the bottom of the tank and painted the cap on the fill pipe red. Over the years the paint faded but nobody had ever tried to open it etc.

The oil company was supposed to deliver oil across the street but instead the driver delivered to our house. My wife came home and smelled oil. On our mailbox was the recept that said - we delivered oil here in error - please call us to discuss removal from your tank or discuss you keeping it at a discount. She walked down cellar and was met with a lake of red heating oil 6 inches deep. She called the oil company who asked if they need to come and empty the tank - she said it's not in the tank, it's floating on my cellar floor. He said "OH duckK - you better talk to the owner. The owner was there in about 10 minutes and DEP officials were there within 1/2 hour. When asked if I was coming home soon, my wife said he's on his way from a meeting in New Haven and he is irate. The owner left right away. It's been a nightmare. Insurance company will end up buying the house.

The weight of the oil forced the peg out of the lower spout and the oil flowed out of the tank.

The tank and exterior spout has now been removed!!!!!
Expand ...
That's insane, sorry this happened to you.
 
gtcam said:
No but I had an oil company fill my basement with 300 gallons of heating oil and the house doesn't heat with oil.
It happened in mid January and we are still in litigation.
Expand ...
Wow, that is incredibly f . u ... c...ked up. I am really sorry that happened to you.

How you and wife kept your sanity I will never know. I would have lost my mind if that happened to me. First dealing with the error, which is an emergency and cannot be prolonged is enough stress in and of itself, but now you have to deal with the insurance company and all the paperwork and red tape is no fun.
 
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gtcam said:
The house was built 130 years ago and converted to natural gas heat in 1968.
We bought the house in the early 80s and the inspector said that the oil tank was solid and didn't need to be removed. They pegged shut the inner spout at the bottom of the tank and painted the cap on the fill pipe red. Over the years the paint faded but nobody had ever tried to open it etc.

The oil company was supposed to deliver oil across the street but instead the driver delivered to our house. My wife came home and smelled oil. On our mailbox was the recept that said - we delivered oil here in error - please call us to discuss removal from your tank or discuss you keeping it at a discount. She walked down cellar and was met with a lake of red heating oil 6 inches deep. She called the oil company who asked if they need to come and empty the tank - she said it's not in the tank, it's floating on my cellar floor. He said "OH duckK - you better talk to the owner. The owner was there in about 10 minutes and DEP officials were there within 1/2 hour. When asked if I was coming home soon, my wife said he's on his way from a meeting in New Haven and he is irate. The owner left right away. It's been a nightmare. Insurance company will end up buying the house.

The weight of the oil forced the peg out of the lower spout and the oil flowed out of the tank.

The tank and exterior spout has now been removed!!!!!
Expand ...
Wow, hope that ended up on the oil company's insurance and not yours, as whoever's company will be looking to raise rates regardless of fault. Had a bad roof replacement from a company that went bankrupt so our insurance covered it and we got hit with quite a rate hike
 
To the original question: The whistle sounds while the oil tank has room for more oil (the air in the tank being forced out operates the whistle). When the whistle turns off, it is time to stop adding oil.

I had it changed, but it was done but it was handled entirely by the oil company and at no charge (I think they didn't want the liability associated with overfilling the tank and filling my basement with oil).
 
This is pretty arcane technology IMO.. since as long as I can remember I can put gas in my car an go into the convenience store without worrying the pump won;t turn off. Could you imagine if a whistle was the trigger on your tank being full..
 
NJHusky said:
This is pretty arcane technology IMO.. since as long as I can remember I can put gas in my car an go into the convenience store without worrying the pump won;t turn off. Could you imagine if a whistle was the trigger on your tank being full..
Expand ...
Ha... I've never walked away from my car while filling the tank and I used to work for the company that pioneered the dual flow valves in those gas pumps. 😉
 
gsmooth said:
Wow, that is incredibly f . u ... c...ked up. I am really sorry that happened to you.

How you and wife kept your sanity I will never know. I would have lost my mind if that happened to me. First dealing with the error, which is an emergency and cannot be prolonged is enough stress in and of itself, but now you have to deal with the insurance company and all the paperwork and red tape is no fun.
Expand ...
Thanks gsmooth
Our attorney hired a Public Adjuster for us and he is handling a lot of the technical stuff. He will be working with my attorneys to come up with a settlement.
The PA told me that these issues are not uncommon. In fact he was working on a case in the Hamden area where an oil company did the same thing to a house that had just completed refinishing their basement into a game room and additional living space!!!
 
gtcam said:
Thanks gsmooth
Our attorney hired a Public Adjuster for us and he is handling a lot of the technical stuff. He will be working with my attorneys to come up with a settlement.
The PA told me that these issues are not uncommon. In fact he was working on a case in the Hamden area where an oil company did the same thing to a house that had just completed refinishing their basement into a game room and additional living space!!!
Expand ...

I was going to say I have heard of this happening often enough for this to not be an outlier
 
gtcam said:
Our attorney hired a Public Adjuster for us and he is handling a lot of the technical stuff. He will be working with my attorneys to come up with a settlement.
The PA told me that these issues are not uncommon. In fact he was working on a case in the Hamden area where an oil company did the same thing to a house that had just completed refinishing their basement into a game room and additional living space!!!
Expand ...
Wow. That’s terrible. I’m assuming the house isn’t habitable….and may never be. Did the DEP decide what to do?

What’s crazy is now y have litigation expenses. How is the not a cookie cutter just pay the man?
 
alexd said:
Ha... I've never walked away from my car while filling the tank and I used to work for the company that pioneered the dual flow valves in those gas pumps. 😉
Expand ...
You should tell all the guys that work at Nj gas stations. They get it flowing and immediately go to another vehicle… and only come back once it’s clicked off.

I was trying to come up with something clever about y being old enough to invent the whistle.. but alas..I got nothin. 😎
 
If your oil company hires good drivers you don't need to worry. My dad has been an owner operator for 30 plus years and just rolls with the bad whistles. He brings a flexible tube to listen for the change in pitch from the vent pipe.

That being said, it's a 10 minute job to replace.
 
gtcam said:
The house was built 130 years ago and converted to natural gas heat in 1968.
We bought the house in the early 80s and the inspector said that the oil tank was solid and didn't need to be removed. They pegged shut the inner spout at the bottom of the tank and painted the cap on the fill pipe red. Over the years the paint faded but nobody had ever tried to open it etc.

The oil company was supposed to deliver oil across the street but instead the driver delivered to our house. My wife came home and smelled oil. On our mailbox was the recept that said - we delivered oil here in error - please call us to discuss removal from your tank or discuss you keeping it at a discount. She walked down cellar and was met with a lake of red heating oil 6 inches deep. She called the oil company who asked if they need to come and empty the tank - she said it's not in the tank, it's floating on my cellar floor. He said "OH duckK - you better talk to the owner. The owner was there in about 10 minutes and DEP officials were there within 1/2 hour. When asked if I was coming home soon, my wife said he's on his way from a meeting in New Haven and he is irate. The owner left right away. It's been a nightmare. Insurance company will end up buying the house.

The weight of the oil forced the peg out of the lower spout and the oil flowed out of the tank.

The tank and exterior spout has now been removed!!!!!
Expand ...
That is brutal. Pure negligence on their part.

I had a 10 year oil tank, was in good shape, and had oil delivered last winter. The employee delivering the oil had headphones on and didn’t hear the whistle when filling. He overfilled my tank, so much that it backed up and out of the fill spot. At that point he turned off the nozzle and left splashes of oil near my front step.

My ring door bell caught all of this, but the worst part was that he over-pressurized my tank and popped a small hole in the bottom. I came home to oil in basement, not as bad as you though. But enough for me to call the company owner.

I’m still going back and forth with them too.
 
Yikes!

I wonder how they know when to stop. I had natural gas in my old house but where I live now I have 1100 gallons of tanks and I never know exactly what to order so I always order more than I need knowing they will refund what they don't deliver. Hope I never have a spill like that.

Should I ask the people to check the whistle next time they come out?
 
temery said:
When the oil company is filling your tank an external whistle goes off saying the tank is filled.

If the whistle doesn't go off, the tank could be overfilled, or even worse - the tank could burst.


Has anybody here had to go through this with their oil tank? Replacing the whistle.
Expand ...
I think the oil would come out of the vent next to the fill pipe.
 
gtcam said:
Thanks gsmooth
Our attorney hired a Public Adjuster for us and he is handling a lot of the technical stuff. He will be working with my attorneys to come up with a settlement.
The PA told me that these issues are not uncommon. In fact he was working on a case in the Hamden area where an oil company did the same thing to a house that had just completed refinishing their basement into a game room and additional living space!!!
Expand ...
The environment boys are only worried about their small slice of this incident.

You may wish to place a call to your health department regarding potential dangers of habitability.
 
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