The best way to deal with most problems in your home is to prevent them from happening in the first place. That’s why it’s super important to schedule preventative maintenance for your home heating equipment and cooling equipment. But what about your heating oil tank? Does it need the same kind of TLC as your furnace or boiler does?
Not really – but there is a simple thing you should do to make sure your heating oil tank doesn’t give you problems and that is to keep your tank at least half filled with heating oil.
An empty (or mostly empty) heating oil tank will accumulate condensation (water) on its interior walls as temperatures shift between seasons. This condensation creates “perfect storm” conditions for bacteria growth, which will eventually turn your heating oil into line-clogging, efficiency-robbing sludge. Condensation will also eventually rot the bottom of your tank, since water is heavier than oil and will sink once it falls from the tank walls.
Condensation build-up is bad, and inspecting and filling your tank with heating oil is the best way to prevent it. Top off your tank now and it could prevent problems down the road. It could save you money, too, since pre-season heating oil prices are often lower than in-season prices, when heating oil demand and market prices are highest.