mounting oil heater up high???

[leanburn]

if i mount my heater higher than the fuel tank, will the pump on the heater **** the fuel or will i need to ad a pump??

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Depends on the heater, the pump, and how high above the tank.

A little more info about the brand, model, type of heater, and pump, tank, etc would help others give you info.

Charles

 

[Racecarl]

Put the pump down low so it will prime and pump the oil up to the heater.

You may need to make an air bleeder to bleed the air out of the fuel line, particularly if the unit sits unused for several days. You will also need to study the wiring diagram to figure out how to wire the pump so it will run without the burner when you need to prime the burner. We installed a SPDT switch in the pump circuit to prime the system on our heaters at work.

 

[luvit]

well, my first oil furnace had the tank buried underground.. and that little furnace came from a 1960s doublewide.. if that helps.

 

[leanburn]

thanks for the responses guys. i have made several phone calls locally and i'm having trouble even finding someone that deals with oil furnaces. the one place i found that deals with them couldn't answer the question. so if i may ask a dumb question, what kind of pump am i looking for?

 

[jumpingryan]

thanks for the responses guys. i have made several phone calls locally and i'm having trouble even finding someone that deals with oil furnaces. the one place i found that deals with them couldn't answer the question. so if i may ask a dumb question, what kind of pump am i looking for?

Both my house and garage are on oil.... the house has a water heater and oil furnace that is in great condition, but oil has some drawbacks that make me slowly want to push to propane.

I inherited an old metro-heat in my garage in my detached 30X40 when I bought my current house. It hangs from the ceiling, and weighs ALOT. It provides good heat, but is probably around 40% efficient on the best of days.

My garage setup involves using a fuel pump to prime as required. I actually have an old fuel pump that runs on a car battery down low to prime the line. You need to bleed air at the top when you prime. Heating oil is pretty close to diesel fuel minus all the road taxes when you buy it.

Oil furnaces are becoming a pain in ontario and other parts of Canada. It seems that everybody's setup is not up to code.... some with good reasons, other's with not so good reasons.

Some big things include:

1) Insurability of oil tanks including the gauge of the metal (12 gauge preferred over 14), and outside and inside tank lifespan of metal tanks (10 years outside, 20 years inside). A lot of people are heading to the fibreglass/plastic tanks with their 30 year guarantee's and the like.

2) Oil line codes for valves and lines- It seems that everything changes, and no setup is good enough.

3) Spills - Big time costs for clean-up.

4) Air venting - The oil furnaces never seem to get enough air.

Eventually I am heading to propane within the next few years as things wear out..... mainly because of the flue requirements, and the fact that I want to move my furnace to a more suitable location in the utility room rather than the centre of the basement.

Anyways, my rant is over.... good luck with the oil priming.

R