If you’ve been present for your oil delivery, you probably noticed a whistling sound while the tank was being filled. Believe it or not, this is a pretty standard feature on most tanks and an extremely useful one at that.
What Is the Whistle on an Oil Tank?
The whistling sound you hear is the tank vent alarm. It is a device much like a coach’s whistle built into the oil tank’s vent pipe that produces sound when air blows through it. During oil delivery, as more fuel is added to the tank, it displaces an equal volume of air. This air is pushed through the narrow vent pipe, creating an audible whistle.
How Do Oil Deliverers Know When the Tank is Full?
As you might have guessed, it’s all about the whistle. The vent alarm’s purpose is to prevent the tank from being overfilled. The oil tank’s vent alarm is positioned along the inside of the vent pipe so that it becomes submerged when the tank is full. With air no longer blowing through the vert alarm, the whistling sound stops. This lets the delivery driver know that it is time to stop pumping. It is a simple and elegant solution to the overfilling problems back in the days when delivery personnel had to estimate how much space was left in the tank.
Do All Oil Tanks Have a Whistle?
Modern safety codes demand them, but it is worth double-checking if you have an older tank. This is worth doing anyway, as it is also an opportunity to make sure that if you do have one, it is free of clogs and blockages. Having a vent alarm that doesn’t work is as bad as not having one at all when it comes to their most basic effect. Safety codes will prevent companies from delivering to you. They are a legal requirement to prevent the overfilling of fuel tanks.
In the vast majority of cases, there should already be one in place, with the chances getting better the more recent the oil tank in question. If not, you can have one installed professionally.
Express C.O.D – The Best Service in Home Heating Oil Delivery
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