WHAT'S THAT SOUND? IT'S YOUR VENTALARM!

CROWLEY FUEL CO. / TASSE FUEL CO.
THE IMPORTANCE OF VENT ALARMS WHEN FILLING HEATING OIL TANKS
Have you ever heard a loud whistling sound in your neighborhood or in your basement nearby your oil tank?  If you have not yet discovered where that sound was coming from, the chances are that it was from yours or someone in your neighborhood’s oil tank when it was being filled.
This document has been written to explain to our heating oil customers how important vent alarms (whistles) are for our drivers to make a safe delivery that does not result in a release of heating oil.
What you should see when you look at you oil tank are two black iron pipes.  One is for filling the oil tank and the other is for allowing the air in the tank to escape when the oil comes in.

• Heating oil nozzles do not shut off automatically like the nozzles you use to fill your car with gasoline.
• Heating oil deliverers must shut off the flow of heating oil manually.
• Oil tanks, by code, must be equipped with a vent alarm (whistle) which makes a whistling sound for the deliverer to hear when filling a tank.
• Vent alarms are installed into the top of oil tanks and the vent piping goes from there to the outside of the home.
• Vent alarms will stop whistling when the oil level in the tank rises to the bottom of the fluted whistle and the tank is full.
• Crowley Fuel and Tasse Fuel both have a “no whistle - no fill” policy, which means that if the driver doesn’t hear a whistle when they open the nozzle, they will immediately shut the flow of oil off.

Vent alarms will also not sound if:

• There is no tank connected to the fill and vent pipes.It does sometimes happen!
• There is an opening in the tank, the tank is not sealed and air escapes another way.
• The vent pipe is plugged.Usually with insect nests. High risk for blowing a seam on the tank!
• The whistle itself is plugged.Again, usually with insects.

Crowley Fuel and Tasse Fuel are protected against the liability of a release of oil due to a mis-delivery.  Our insurance company requires that we inspect the oil tanks, fill pipes, oil lines, and heating systems for new customers and that we strictly observe the “no whistle – no fill” policy.
If our driver does not hear a whistle, he/she will attempt to check out the oil tank to determine the cause.  If you are not home, our office will notify you of the situation and schedule a visit from one of our technicians and, if your vent alarm has stopped working, will give you a price for replacing it.
If you have any questions about vent alarms or any other heating issue please contact the Crowley Fuel Office at 508-867-6740 or crowleyfuel.com. and the Tasse Fuel Office at 508-765-0841 or tasses.com.