3 Tips to Help You Maintain Your Heating Oil Tank
The last thing you want to do is to ignore your heating oil tank. You need to make sure that you are keeping it well maintained so that you do not run into many problems in the future, such as lost heating oil. To help you do this, you will want to take a few moments to review the following three tips.
Keep an Eye Out for Leaks
It is important to make sure that you are keeping an eye out for leaks. This way, you can resolve the problem quickly instead of finding yourself in need of heating oil much sooner than you had planned, which can be financially troubling. To look for leaks, you will want to place a flat dry piece of cardboard under the tank. Secure it in place by setting bricks, rocks, or anything else of significant weight on the corners of the cardboard. Leave the cardboard in place and then come back in a few hours. If you notice any spots of heating oil on the cardboard, then you need to have the tank repaired or replaced.
Keep the Snow Off of It
While you cannot prevent any snow flakes from ever touching the heating oil tank, you can prevent a buildup of snow on the top of the tank. This is because snow compacts over time and therefore becomes extremely heavy. You want to prevent excessive weight from resting on the top of your heating oil tank because it can dent the tank. The moisture can also cause rust spots to form, which can eventually lead to a loss of fuel through leaks or evaporation depending on where the rust turned into a hole.
Check the Valves
This is something that you will want to do at least once or twice a year. Closely inspect the valves and the pipe pieces that lead from the tank to those valves. Do you spot any rust? If not, you will want to look for other problems, such as leaks. Gently wipe water mixed with dish soap over valves and pipe. Do you see any bubbles forming? If you do, then you need to call in a heating oil tank professional. If you do not spot any bubbles, then you simply need to rinse the soap off with plain water.
With those three tips in mind, you should have a much easier time keeping your heating oil tank in the best possible shape.
