Has any one connected two oil tanks together?
I have a 275 Gal. and want to connect another 275 Gal.. I have plenty of room to place the 2nd tank.
Searched the web and the forum by found very little info.
Pictures of a setup would be great.
Thanks!
-Mike
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Replies
gravity feed or pump driven..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
pump.i found this site just after i posted this message. Has a decent diagram and sync's up with info other folks have posted so far -main site - http://www.granbytanks.com/Install doc. with diagram - http://www.granbytanks.com/usa/pdf/SI0015_a.pdf
looks like yur good to go...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Yes.Thanks for the quick comments & suggestions everyone...!
Mike- I forgot the 2 1.5 x 43" pcs. of blk pipe to go in the bottom of the double tap bushings, that's what effects the smooth transfer of fuel between the two tanks and equalizes the fuel level.
First house I ever woned had 2ea 55 gal drums on a wood stand at the side of the house. Simply had a valve on each going to a T and then to furnace.
several of the homes I work on have dual tanks. The plumber seets them up so I may have a detail missing, but here is how I remember it -
The suppy at bottom each has a safety shutoff valve and filter bowl. They lead to a junction and then one feed to the boiler.
At top, there is a loop connecting both. about 1-1/2" galv pipe, maybe 2"
I don't know how deep it reaches into the tank, if it is a siphon type setup or simply threaded into the tank top. It is there to equalize fuel level between both tanks. It elbows from tank to tank about 4" above the tank tops. BTW, both tanks are on equal footing level.
Each tank has a level indicator, though I suppose not needed on both.
the fill line and air escape and whistle - I'm not sure if both are on one tank or if the fill is on first tank and the air escape on the other one. I'm sure that6 is critical to find out.
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2" filler into tank 1 , a 2" crossover at the top from 1 to 2, then a 2" vent alarm and vent out of tank 2.
The oil tuck fills tank 1 with enough preassure to cross over the top to fill tank 2.
The tanks are also normally conected at the bottom with ½" pipe with a t to the burner.
Its pretty simple and is done all the time.
In Massachusetts at least, how you do it is regulated by the board of fire prevention. Look at http://www.mass.gov/dfs/osfm/fireprevention/cmr/ then at section 4.0.
I have a neghbor in MA, who had the twin tank setup installed with the crossover pipe per MA fire code, and the local fire department official who dealt with furnace installations had a nutty, and make the plumber install a separate vent and separate fill pipe for each tank. The comment "we do it different in this town vs state code" was the term mentioned.OPD
I just had it done and it is counter-intuitive -- 2" filler-line into the first tank at the top, a 2 inch coming out of the top of tank one into tank 2, and a 2" back outside next to the filler 2" line with the whistle cap -- at the bottom of each tank is a 1/2" valve that connects both tank via a 1/2" copper line that has a union that runs to the tanks.
I say it is counter intuitive as the fist tank has been filled all summer and the oil has not equalized its level to the second tank and guess it will not happen until the winter fill comes.
jayzog said it best:
1. 2" filler into tank 1 , a 2" crossover at the top from 1 to 2, then a 2" vent alarm and vent out of tank 2.
2. The oil tuck fills tank 1 with enough pressure to cross over the top to fill tank 2.
3. The tanks are also normally connected at the bottom with ½" pipe with a t to the burner.
liquids always seek their own level. What makes you believe yours has not? Either they are not connected or there is an air lock of some sort.The gauges can easily be stuck. Sometimes wrong gauge is used.
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I was thinking the same thing Pif. He did mention a 1/2" valve on the bottom of tank 1 so maybe that is closed off. The one thing I was thinking is to set tank 2 slightly higher than tank 1 then only feed the furnace off the tee joining both. This would be twice as accurate reading the last bit left in tank 1 since number 2 (higher one) would empty first.Stu
Then if you have any water in tank, it would get you in trouble. leave tanks equal. The only thing you would definitely gain is having less capacity, as one tank could never fill all the way. Well, I guess it could but you'd be encouraging leaks at the crossover
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I'd think the water would always go to the bottom right away right? As far as not filling, I'd just put the filler in the higher tank and the vent in the lower tank, of course the vent is the highest point in the system. Did I forget to mention that I used to engineer dual tank automotive fuel systems? The new C6 Corvette for one, nothing sexy like dually trucks or anything.Stu
I should concede now. I started off stating that I had no real knowledge, just observance.But for point of discussion ( this is how I learn ) the water does go to bottom of tank. The exit line is an inch or so above the bottom of the tank so that it doesn't flow water or sediment in to the line, right?I'm supposing that with tanks unequall, that there could be a siphon action that would push/suk water from one tank to the other and overextend the capacity of the bottom sedimentation pool and drive some of that water into the supply line. The filter trap should catch it, but then, how many people actually change it? LOL
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what... a filter trap?your point exactly Piffin!!Stu
Each tank has a bowl with filter in it that gets changed once a year - or should be, but too many leave the same filter in place until it is logged and no fuel flows
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I recently built a new home in MA and started with two 330 gal tanks. MA regs states that unenclosed tanks may be used up to 1320 gals aggregate, vents may be combined and two tanks my be cross connected for fill. Plumber said the local inspector wanted a fill pipe for each tank and max total up to 1000 gals aggregate, so that's how he planned it. Last year, I installed another 330 myself, extending the existing vent pipe and running a third fill pipe outside (two hour core drill rental). More work and expense than cross fill piping, but thought it would be nicer to match the exisiting work.
I have two 500+ ones is the ground. Dad the engineer put them in and tied them together with a bunch of shutoffs. The old furnace and the replacement has a return line. He put shutoffs on both inlet lines and both returns. When the second tank was buried he did not want the fill and vent in the middle if the yard so did 90's over and up. Bad idea as you cannot stick that tank.
They had always used the blind tank as spare. I went ahead and used it and had the return dump into the first tank, also left all valves open for a while to crosslevel.
Have not had any trouble.
Mike, assuming that the openings in the tank are 2", get 2 2x1.5 double tap bushings, 2 1.5 street 90s, a 1.5" blk union, and enough 1.5 blk pipe and nipples to connect the tanks. The fill goes into the first tank and the vent, ventalarm and guage into the second tank. If you're going to draw from the opening(s) at the tank bottom, slope the tanks toward the holes, so any moisture and crud flows to the filter and can be removed instead of collecting at the end of the tank and causing corrosion. Moisture (read 'water')creates acids in the tank bottom. Use a 2" fill and a min. 1.5" vent. Check with your local friendly plumbing contractor and/or your fuel supplier, they can fine tune that.