www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | JUNE 2016 43
who have just joined us. For their sakes,
on to trick number two.
The problem here is that the customer
has broken an old oil valve and nipple
completely off the oil tank outlet. He has
had the common sense to drive a stick
into the remains of the tapped ferrule (or
boss); therefore, the leak is merely a small
drip. Golf tees are good for this too!
Your job, should you decide to accept
it (hah!), is to replace the nipple and
valve, remount the tank filter, and go on
to your next impossible mission. Right?
I n F i g u r e 2, w e s h o w a v a c u u m
cleaner just like the one in the back of
your van and we have removed the debris
bag. "Why remove the bag?" you ask. We
want all of the suction we can get out of
it. Also, the hose must be in good shape,
not repaired with duct tape every three
inches.
The hose is connected to the vent
(preferred) or fill pipe and the remaining
pipe is air sealed. The vacuum cleaner is
now turned on and voila! The oil is held
in suspension in the tank. You can now
remove the broken nipple, repair any
damaged threads and re-pipe the tank.
Pretty slick, or what?
A few words of caution. Do this only
to tanks of 12-gauge steel or thicker, do
not attempt this with 14 gauge or thinner
tanks! With the thinner tanks, you won't
have any problems when you first turn
on the vacuum and pull in the sides of the
tank with the oil left in it, but when you
shut off the vacuum cleaner and release
the tank sides, you may pop a weld or
worse. If you destroy the tank, you also
get to clean up the mess. Remember
12-gauge tanks or thicker only.
Also, be careful with full tanks since
they will be more difficult to pull a vac-
uum on; in some cases, it may not work
at all. Be sure to place the vacuum cleaner
well above the top of the tank since you
do not want to get any oil in either the
hose or vac.
This next trick comes from Steve
Martino of Martino Fuel. This is his way
of making a "power vacuum bleed" much
easier by using a "priming tank" and where
the teacher becomes the student. In Figure
3, Steve's device is shown on a boiler sitting
on the floor. It's also shown in use on a
furnace in Figure 4. Steve wrote me about
this great little trick with these very nice
words; "For me, I've learned many great
and wonderful things from your books.
They have made me a better mechanic. If
there is one tip that really helped me out
Figure 3
Figure 2
