Water in our oil tank

Just moved into a rented house. We put 80 litres of oil in our tank, bleed it and drained the water from it. Heatin worked for the 1st day but when we went to turn it on the 2nd day nothing happended. Landlord got a plumber to look at it and he told us there wasnt enough oil in the tank because there was so much water and we'd need a fill of oil before it could sort it out and get it working properly. Does this sound right , hav oil orderer just afraid its gonna go into a tank of water and be money wasted. Thanks.

i would think that it's your landlords responsibility to have a working heating system available to you.

I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Has the plumber drained everything out of the tank or is there still water left in it?

how did the water get into the tank? is there a leak?

If the oil in the tank does not reach the outlet hose then there's no fuel getting to the burner, but you don't need to fill the tank to get it working.

I'd say that your landlord would prefer you to fill the tank because a lot of landlords have problems with tenants constantly letting the tank run dry.


don't forget that the carbon tax will be implemented soon, and this will add around €50 to a 1000 litre fill.

good luck.

have all the water removed first, as this will cause lots of problems, like freezing oil lines in cold winter and oil pump failure on your burner

It is easily pumped out, or order a waterhog that you can drop into the tank, it soaks in water (and not oil) then simply pull it back out

80 litres would be too little water in the tank and the oil taken of by the burner would be subject to aeration causing the pump to airlock.