Fuel Oil Safety

Important Fuel Oil & Kerosene Safety information

Please read and follow these safety rules. Share this information with your family to help keep everyone safe and to reduce the risk of serious and potentially fatal injury, fire, or explosion. Download our Home Heating Oil Safety Brochures here.

Home heating oil or fuel oil has some unique qualities that must be taken into consideration for efficient use. Winter’s cold temperature can change the viscosity of the liquid and routine system maintenance is strongly suggested. Please review our following suggestions.

Fuel, Fuel Lines & Tank Stability

A characteristic of heating fuel is that it can “gel” when temperatures fall below 20 degrees. Paraffin – which is an important component of heating oil – begins to crystallize and adhere to the surfaces of the fuel lines and filter. It’s this waxy build-up that can cause your system to malfunction. You can proactively avoid this issue if your tank is located indoors. If not, insulating the fuel lines may help. We can also put an additive in your tank when we deliver to help avoid gelling.

As our valued customer, we would like to make you aware of a potential problem that could occur with an unprotected fuel delivery line. These unprotected fuel delivery lines are made of copper and if in contact with concrete or below ground, may deteriorate, resulting in a line leak. In the event of such a leak, oil could be released, causing environmental damage that will require a costly cleanup. To avoid this exposure, we suggest that you have your fuel delivery lines inspected and replaced with a sleeved line if necessary. Contact us to assist you with this upgrade.

Also pay attention to your tank’s stability. If it’s on legs or blocks, make sure that they are secure. You don’t want the tank to wobble or tip over creating an environmental risk.

Tips for maintaining your Home Heating System:

Whether it is your car, home or heating system, regular maintenance is the key to preventing problems.

Annually: Visually inspect tank, piping, and fuel delivery line. If a leak is detected, please notify us.

Have us:

• Clean the furnace and repair or replace damaged parts. A well-maintained furnace means lower fuel bills and cleaner emissions.
• Each fall: inspect the vent pipe to ensure that it is free of obstructions and that an audible signal (whistle) is on the vent. Oil company personnel listen for the whistle to help avoid overfills.

When appropriate:

• Remove abandoned fill and vent pipes immediately.
• Clearly mark the location of the tank’s fill pipe.
• Install an oil safety valve or replace the fuel delivery line with one encased in a protective sleeve. These are inexpensive upgrades.

Cleaning up oil leaks from home heating systems can be expensive. The average cost can range between $20,000 and $50,000, with some cleanups costing significantly more.

Remember, the older the heating system, the more vulnerable it is to failure.

Consider upgrading to a modern, fuel-efficient system.

Seasonal-Unoccupied Homes

No matter how you heat your home, keeping your heat set at a certain level is critical. We recommend leaving your heat on and setting the thermostat no lower than 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Freeze-ups in an unoccupied dwelling can cause expensive property damage and losses. Water from broken pipes can flood a house in a matter of hours causing structural damage to the house and loss of personal property.

Remember that you have a responsibility to protect your home against damage arising from a drop in or loss of heat. If you choose to shut your system off, make sure you drain and winterize your home’s water system, including but not limited to water & drain lines.

You also should arrange for supervision of your home if you plan to be away from the property for any length of time. There are many electronic monitoring systems that can keep an “eye” on your property when you aren’t around. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Falling Ice & Snow –  A safety issue for your outdoor equipment

Falling ice and snow can wreak havoc on your outdoor above ground equipment. Ice dams can additionally damage your roof and cause leaks in your ceilings. Some preventive maintenance in your attic or roof can help.

Ice dams are formed when snow accumulates on your roof and that snow mixes with warm air escaping from your attic. The snow melt travels down your roof and re-freezes into ice and icicles on the edge of your roof and gutters. These often weigh hundreds of pounds and may drop on top of tanks, meters, regulators, piping or unsuspecting delivery drivers. Please take the time to remove these before they cause damage or injury. Fallen ice has been known to shear fuel lines causing leaks that can potentially lead to environmental disasters.

Protect your home from frozen pipes while away

It takes only a couple hours for the temperature inside your home to drop below freezing, causing breaks in water pipes leading to expensive home damage. The best protection is having “loss of heat” monitoring by your local burglar/fire alarm provider or using any of the endless temperature monitors sold online that can alert you before your pipes freeze.

Convert your heating system from fuel oil to propane gas

Tired of messing with an old, unreliable, dirty fuel oil burner? One easy solution is the installation of the Carlin Gas Conversion Burner that can be installed in almost any oil fired furnace, boiler or water heater.

Advantages of converting your existing fuel oil fired heating system or water heater to propane gas include:

• Cleanliness: Propane gas burns much cleaner than fuel oil.
• Environmental Risk: Leaking fuel oil or buried storage tanks pose a huge environmental risk that can cost thousands of dollars in clean-up.
• Buried fuel oil tanks decrease the value of your home and can complicate home sale closings.
• Propane gas burners require less maintenance than similar fuel oil ones.

If it’s time to stop messing with your oil burner and switch to clean burning, environmentally friendly propane gas, give CES a call at 800-874-1975 to schedule a review and FREE no obligation quote.