www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | JUNE 2016 45
has to work, that's physics, but bleeding the system this way makes
the pump's work a lot easier.
I guess I should also mention that some of the same people who
knock overhead lines and don't believe in siphons do believe in
the Easter Bunny and are the same ones that will also tell you that
oil safety valves (osv) don't work. If you have gravity flow an osv
will work; if you have a pure lift job, you don't need one. There
are some basic guidelines for the proper use of the osv and every
device we use and the correct information comes from the people
who make them. If you "power vacuum bleed' everything and get
into the habit of doing it, even on gravity jobs, you'll never have
a priming or air problem again. I guarantee it!
Finally, and hopefully once and for all here's the definition
of a siphon right out of the dictionary; "a tube used to convey
liquid upwards from a reservoir and then down to a lower level
of its own accord. Once the liquid has been forced into the tube,
typically by suction or immersion, flow continues unaided".
By the way, that bled oil can be stored in the priming tank
and used to prime and fill the filter(s) on the next job, it's just
good fuel oil. End of story and thanks again Steve!
See ya!
l F O N
George Lanthier is the owner of Firedragon Academy, a
25-year-old Massachusetts Certified School teaching both gas and
oil and other heating subjects. Firedragon Academy has its hands-
on training facility in Sturbridge, Massachusetts at the Beckett
Training Center. Firedragon is also a publishing firm publishing
George's over 60 books and manuals on HVAC subjects. He is a
CETP, NATE, NORA, PMAA and PMEF Proctor and has been a
Massachusetts Certified Instructor since 1975. He can be reached at
608 Moose Hill Road, Leicester, MA 01524. His phone is 508-421-
3490 and his website can be found at FiredragonEnt.com
Figure 7
