Tweet

There are few disasters that can occur in your home worse than a “puff-back” from a fuel oil heating system which puts a sticky, powder like substance on EVERYTHING in your home.  A puff-back is no laughing matter and can cost tens of thousands of dollars to clean, normally by a professional cleaning company and painting crew.  A puff-back can occur in your home if you have oil heating and can happen on a small scale, possibly contained to the furnace room or basement or can be wide spread through your entire home.

A puff-back can be caused by a variety of reasons, but it all boils down to lack of maintenance or improper repairs to your fuel oil fired heating system.  A faulty ignition switch can be a typical culprit when it fails to properly ignite the incoming oil.  The oil and fumes build inside the combustion chamber, not going out the chimney or vent.  If the ignition is delayed long enough, it’s possible that a small explosion will occur as the oil finally ignites causing every bit of dust and soot that lives in your furnace or home’s duct work to get the sooty residue attached to it – spreading through your entire home quickly.  Expect to see it on walls, drapes, carpets, furniture, bricks, morter and every item everyplace between.

The soot is a black and sticky. This dirty residue needs to be cleaned from every inch of your home as soon as possible since the odor will penetrate deeper the longer it stays on surfaces.  The odor is difficult to remove and often requires professionals to come in and get it out of the house. A professional certified home restoration company that is experienced in restoring homes from smoke damage should be called in. Often they will use a process called “thermal fogging” which must be done by professionals. 

This situation can also be caused gradually over a longer period of time.  You will notice the black, sticky soot accumulating on walls, carpets or heating duct louvers. 

There is no 100% guaranteed way to be sure you’ll never have a puff-back, but proper annual maintenace by a qualified, trained service provider that has continual training and modern electronic calibration testing equipment to make sure your heating system is running at optimal efficiency.  Long gone are the days where the do-everything plumber could “tune-up” your heating system by using his eye and experience. Today’s heating systems require training and very often the capability of plugging in a portable laptop computer & electronic combustion analyzer that makes sure you’re getting the most heating from every gallon and cuts down the risk of costly problems in the cold winter ahead.  

CES has been servicing heating systems for over 45 years (fuel oil, kerosene and propane gas) with an experienced staff that gets continual training all year and have the most up-to-date testing & calibration equipment on the market.  There’s a reason why thousands of area residents trust CES to keep their family warm & safe –  we do things right!   

Tweet

​​Recently, we’ve had quite a few customers come into our various locations to fill out-of-date propane tanks. There are both state and federal laws that dictate the filling and transportation of tanks. Another common issue is when customers come in with tanks that are either too large for the vehicle to safely transport or they are unable to secure them in a vehicle that can. We continually hear – “We’ve gotten them filled at other places. Why won’t you fill them?” Some retailers are willing to take the chance and try to avoid the fines or the risk of injury to a customer, but we aren’t.

From the mom coming in with the minivan full of kids, who has a 100 pound tank lying across the back seat to the Department of Transportation inspector trying to catch us filling a 100 pound tank lying down in the back of a pick-up, we’ve seen it all.

Below are a few of the rules that Combined Energy Services follow that govern safe filling and transportation of propane tanks. These are either state or federal regulations, not something that we just made up because we don’t want to fill your tanks. 

• Consumer propane tanks from 4 to 40 pounds are required to be equipped with an overfill protection device (OPD valve).
• All propane tanks have a manufacturer’s date. A tank is good for 12 years from the date of manufacture and if recertified, every 5 years after that. What this means is that CES will not fill a tank that is out of date.
• National Fire Protection Administration (NFPA) 58 (Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code), Section 9.3.2:
  • Propane tanks must be placed in an upright position and properly secured to prevent damage to the valves and fittings.
  • 100 pound tanks cannot be transported lying down or in an enclosed vehicle. They must be upright and secured.
• Fines for filling and allowing the transport of out of date tanks is outrageous! CES can get a $10,000 dollar fine for filling an out of date tank or allowing one to leave our premises laying down/ or inside a vehicle as noted.
• CES recycles old propane tanks. We evacuate the gas and remove the valve. Please note that it is dangerous and illegal to throw propane tanks in the garbage. Old tanks can be dropped off at any CES location for free. The small 1 lb “Coleman” style portable tanks can be recycled for $1 each. See a Customer Service Rep for details.

We care about your safety, please don’t ask us to violate the law to fill your tanks.