Clearing the sludge from the fuel line to your furnace. I first tried the chemical sludge remover with no success.
The recommended way of clearing the sludge a clogged heating oil line in your home is to call a service technician and have them disconnect the line and blow some CO2 in the line, forcing this CO2 back into the tank.
I personally did this, only I used a small portable air tank, to put the air into the line and back into the tank. My guess is, and it’s only a guess, that the CO2 is used instead of air possibly for some safety reason about fire. I really don’t know. I do know the air worked.
Naturally there is a chance of some spillage, but with the valves off, this is generally a minimal problem. I recommend some fittings that will go onto the connector that you take apart to push the air back to the tank to remove the sludge, but I had none available, so I had a small piece of tubing that would fit into the disconnected end of the fuel line and just wrapped some rags around it. It was nothing even closely resembling a “tight” fit.
Once I had the rag and the air tank ready, I simply opened the firesafe valve on the tank and carefully opened the valve on the tank and heard the air go into the tank. It was an inside tank, so I could easily hear the bubbles in the tank.
I gradually gave it more air until I had a steady gurgling sound in the affected line and tank. It did cure the problem.
A short time later I heard someone say that a repairman simply used a vacuum on the fill pipe and uncoupled the line and drew air into the tank through the affected line. I don’t know if it worked, I merely heard about it. Obviously if it would work it would be ideal in that the vacuum on the fill side or vent side of the tank would eliminate any spillage from the tank itself.
I did read that the technical side is that some new refining method is used, therefore we do get more sludge which is the cause of the problem. I have also read that this can eventually lead to tank replacement.
If anyone has tried the vacuum method I would like to hear from them as I have a tank and line that are plugged and would really like to know if it works. I am thinking I might try that before the air, just because it might be easier and reduce the chance of a spill.
My guess is that the air in the outlet is not safe from the point of starting a fire accidentally. I do not recommend it because I have heard that the vacuum is the proper way to go. I don’t know how strong of a vacuum that is actually needed, but I assume an industrial type might work better then the smaller home models.
Tags: clear sludge, furnace oil sludge
I failed to mention in my article that I addressed the clogging problem for an inside tank. Obviously outside tanks can have the same problem, but very often the clogging of an outside tank in cold weather, can be congealing of the oil if some dealer slipped you some regular heating oil, not mixed with K-1 or a frozen line.
With the method they use of refining heating oil, it can also be the sludge buildup that I primarily based the article on.
I felt I should mention that I used a 6 or 8 oz. bottle of some additive to reduce sludge so I wouldn’t have to use the vacuum method or disconnect the line and use compressed air with zero results.
I don’t recommend the additive to dissolve the sludge as it didn’t work for me. It cost me $15.00 for nothing.
Probably people have had other results, but it didn’t work for me.