If you rely on heating oil to maintain a comfortable home during the fall and winter, there’s more to maintenance than annual furnace checks and ensuring your house is draft-free. Oil tanks accumulate sludge over time and require periodic cleaning to avoid numerous, often costly problems. Below, learn what makes oil tank maintenance so important and how to clean the tank properly.

Why You Should Clean Your Tank

When a tank at one temperature gets filled with heating oil that’s a different temperature, it creates a thermal discrepancy that causes water vapor to condense and create sludge. This condensation by-product clogs everything it comes in contact with, including oil pipes, filters, and safety valves. Clogs reduce burner efficiency and increase heating costs. This can eventually cause your HVAC system to fail. Sludge also corrodes the tank interior and heightens the risk of cracks and leaks that contaminate soil and waterways.

Heating oil tanks require cleaning every three to five years to eliminate clog-related hazards. How often your tank needs maintenance depends on how much fuel you use each season. If you are unsure, this is something your oil company contractor can help you determine.

How to Clean Your Tank

Keep your tank in great condition by first draining the oil. Place a plastic bucket under the drain valve and take the valve cap off to fill it with oil and sludge. Keep additional plastic buckets within reach to use as needed. Once the tank is empty, place another bucket under the drain valve and remove the tank lid to spray the interior with water using your garden hose. Continue spraying the tank until the water flowing out of the drain valve is clear.

Use rags to remove all sludge and any other debris from the tank interior, then fill it with water. Add a detergent such as trisodium phosphate to clean the tank. Use one cup of the product for every five gallons of water. Insert an air hose into the tank, turn on the air pump, and let the mixture circulate for about 12 hours.

Finish the oil tank cleaning by draining the solution and spraying the interior so that the water runs clear from the drain valve. Remove moisture from your tank by pouring three gallons of denatured alcohol on different sides to coat all of the interior surfaces. Place the air hose in the tank to dry the alcohol as well as any remaining water droplets, then refill the tank with heating oil. 

Keep the heating oil flowing to your home with fuel delivery from Alaska Petroleum. Serving residential and commercial customers throughout North Pole, AK, and the surrounding areas since 1981, this company offers refueling as well as emergency delivery services. Call (907) 488-2575 today to set up a delivery schedule or learn more about the company online. Find heating oil tips and information on Facebook by becoming a follower.