What’s That Whistling Noise?

If you have an aboveground oil tank or one in your basement, you’ve probably noticed a whistling sound on delivery day. While our drivers are usually cheerful, it’s not them. What you’re actually hearing is your vent alarm, a key part of your heating oil storage system.

As oil flows into the fill pipe and starts filling your tank, air gets pushed out. That air goes through the vent alarm — located between your tank and the vent pipe — making a whistling sound. When the whistling stops, our driver knows that the tank is just about full.

This helps prevent spills. In fact, we are prohibited from delivering oil if the vent alarm isn’t working.

Speaking of deliveries, if you’re on our automatic delivery schedule, we’ll know when you need fuel and can adjust your schedule with the weather forecast. We’ll usually make our delivery when you have about a quarter of a tank of fuel. Contact us if you would like to get automatic deliveries.