Height of oil tank from ground for gravity feed?

[Possom]

What minimum height off the ground would a home heating oil tank have to be to allow gravity feed?

Thanks.

 

[muggles]

Depends on the boiler, the size of the pipe, and the length of the run

 

[oilhead]

Basically it needs to be above the height of the burner but as Muggles says, on a long run or one with many turns, a larger bore pipe may be needed .

 

[Possom]

So if either a) or b) below is the case (or both together), and a condensing boiler is used (not a system boiler) then presumably some sort of pump is required to transfer oil from tank to boiler. Where is such a pump located - inside the house/garage? If it's an external boiler, I guess the pump could be located inside galvanised boiler housing.

a) oil tank flat on ground as per photo below, or
b) wall mounted oil boiler meaning entry into boiler well above height of tank outlet

Out of curiosity, is there a particular name given to the pump which transfers oil from tank to boiler?

 

[Exedon]

Don't need a pump look up tigerloop uses burners own pump.

 

[Possom]

If modern burners have a tiger loop which uses burner's own pump to transfer oil from tank to burner, what is the purpose of placing a tank up on breeze blocks or a metal stand?

I had thought it was to allow the oil to transfer from the tank to boiler by gravity, but perhaps doing this is not required nowadays.

 

[Johntheo5]

What minimum height off the ground would a home heating oil tank have to be to allow gravity feed?

Thanks.

This is from my Riello Kerosene MIs.

 

[Exedon]

If modern burners have a tiger loop which uses burner's own pump to transfer oil from tank to burner, what is the purpose of placing a tank up on breeze blocks or a metal stand?

I had thought it was to allow the oil to transfer from the tank to boiler by gravity, but perhaps doing this is not required nowadays.

With a tigerloop fitted the tank can even be underground (with certain limitations)

 

[Possom]

This is from my Riello Kerosene MIs.

Had a look at the schematic but not sure what it's indicating.

 

[Possom]

With a tigerloop fitted the tank can even be underground (with certain limitations)

And is the tiger loop something that is generally an additional attachment to the boiler? Or do modern boilers come with a tiger loop as standard?

 

[Exedon]

It's always a extra several types now available internal ones now have to be all metal vented externally.

 

[Johntheo5]

Had a look at the schematic but not sure what it's indicating.

Basically, its telling you how far the tank can be from the boiler (oil pump ). based on a fuel supply pipe (ID) diameter of 8mm or 10mm, mine is 8mm or slightly less)
Since most people will at some stage run the tank almost dry then I would use the height of the tank bottom above the oil pump.
If the distance from the tank to the boiler is 10M, 33FT or less (using 8mm piping) then the tank bottom should be a minimum of 0.5M, 1.7FT above the oil pump, this height will satisfy a distance of 20M, 66FT if using 10mm piping.
For distances up to 40M, (131FT) for 8mm piping and 80M, 262FT for 10mm piping, the tank bottom height should be 1.5M, 4.9FT above the oil pump. and 2.0M, 6.6FT for distances of 60M, 187FT & 100M, 328 FT respectively for 8mm & 10mm piping.
However, I dont think it would look very nice having say a 1000L (1.0M high) tank with its top 3M or so above the ground.

I had a tank (bottom) about 0.5M above the ground and located ~ 50M from the (20kW) boiler, no problems, but I never let the tank run dry which may have caused a problem otherwise.

 

[ChrisJP]

You can also get an Oil Lifter which is a suction pump and header tank combined which can be fixed above the boiler to provide a gravity feed, and which is able to draw oil from an oil tank which is below the boiler and even a significant distance from it horizontally.
Just google "oil lifter" to see offers. Only issue is, they're not cheap, probably because there only seems to be one (Spanish) manufacturer!

 

[Possom]

Basically, its telling you how far the tank can be from the boiler (oil pump ). based on a fuel supply pipe (ID) diameter of 8mm or 10mm, mine is 8mm or slightly less)
Since most people will at some stage run the tank almost dry then I would use the height of the tank bottom above the oil pump.
If the distance from the tank to the boiler is 10M, 33FT or less (using 8mm piping) then the tank bottom should be a minimum of 0.5M, 1.7FT above the oil pump, this height will satisfy a distance of 20M, 66FT if using 10mm piping.
For distances up to 40M, (131FT) for 8mm piping and 80M, 262FT for 10mm piping, the tank bottom height should be 1.5M, 4.9FT above the oil pump. and 2.0M, 6.6FT for distances of 60M, 187FT & 100M, 328 FT respectively for 8mm & 10mm piping.
However, I dont think it would look very nice having say a 1000L (1.0M high) tank with its top 3M or so above the ground.

I had a tank (bottom) about 0.5M above the ground and located ~ 50M from the (20kW) boiler, no problems, but I never let the tank run dry which may have caused a problem otherwise.

Thanks for that - I understand the schematic now.

So these height distances for gravity feed (no tiger loop fitted).

 

[Exedon]

You can also get an Oil Lifter which is a suction pump and header tank combined which can be fixed above the boiler to provide a gravity feed, and which is able to draw oil from an oil tank which is below the boiler and even a significant distance from it horizontally.
Just google "oil lifter" to see offers. Only issue is, they're not cheap, probably because there only seems to be one (Spanish) manufacturer!

Agreed horribly expensive we only use them on things like aga cookers.