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44 JUNE 2016 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com of nuisance calls on the f u e l s i d e o f t h i n g s , either from m y c u s - t o m e r s o r someone else's, it's your tip and proce- dures for power bleeding. My biggest concern was leaving the heating unit to go back to the tank, and worrying about overfilling, or the can tipping over, or the hose knocking the can over, etc. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, you are the inspiration for this little device." And thank you Steve for sharing this with us. For the record and especially for those of you in Massachusetts, Steve works in the Philly area of Pennsylvania and the use of "Firomatic" valves only went into the National Code (NFPA31) within the last few years and in addition Code enforce- ment in Pennsylvania is not as stringent as elsewhere. And that's why they're "missing". What Steve's great little idea does is make the "power vacuum bleed" very easy. The t r i c k i s t o b u i l d a "priming tank" from just a few parts that can be put together for under $20. The tank is from Interdynamics and sold as a "2.5 qt. coolant return kit for larger vehicles", Figure 5. Steve bought his at Pep Boys, I got mine at Auto Zone and you can also find them on eBay and Amazon for $9.99. It comes with the tank, the bracket and some 3/8" hose. To com- plete the tank and to make it work you need to buy some ¼" hose (10-foot roll) and a 3/8" x ¼" splice piece. Those two items cost me $9. Here's the procedure for the "power vacuum bleed" again. First of all, let's make a few observa- tions. Did you ever notice that pump manufacturers always tell us to use a bleeder hose when bleeding a pump? Have you noted that they recommend that you only open that bleeder a ¼ to ½ turn? Have you also read somewhere that they want the end of that hose in a supply of oil? Well, here's why. The idea behind the bleeder, the hose, Figure 6, and the smaller hole is very sim- ple, it's to keep the pump and the liquid from picking up anymore air by creating a closed system. Putting the end of the bleed hose into the liquid creates that "closed system" and also keeps the air out and the problem away, more air. If you have a hole and it's open to atmospheric pressure (14.6 psi), do you think air is trying to get in as you are trying to get air and oil out? Think about it. The proper and only way to bleed a pump, the oil line, and everything else all the way back to the tank is the following: 1. Make sure the pump is full of oil, if you have to fill it! 2. Place the hose over the bleeder. A device like a Bleed Wrench, shown in Figure 7, works great for this. Open the bleeder only a ¼ to ½ turn. Make sure that the open end of the bleed hose is immersed in oil in your pail or bucket to create a closed system from the ends of that hose to the oil in the tank (this is where Steve's tank is a clincher). 3. Close the inlet valve at the pump and start the burner. 4. Wait until the pump starts to whine. If you had a vacuum gauge inserted at this point it will show 20" to 25" of vacuum. By the way, if the hose starts to have white smoke coming out of it, you didn't fill the pump and it's burning up, ooooops! The old timers used motor oil to start and prime new pumps on stubborn jobs and as usual they were right, more lubrica- tion and viscosity. On tough bleeds or new lines start by closing the valve at the tank and again thanks to Steve's "priming tank" a piece of cake. 5. Open the inlet valve and watch what comes through the bleeder for several minutes. Normally if this was a tune- up you would see some oil, then lots of bubbles and then air-free oil. 6. Once it's bled out, close the bleeder with the pump running and you've now done a "power vacuum bleed". DO NOT SHUT OFF THE BURNER while priming. A lot of people will tell you overhead lines won't work—that's just BS. The fact is it's just a siphon—it always works. If the oil tank level is at or higher than the pump, it Figure 6 Figure 4 Figure 5