What to Do If You Run Out of Heating Oil

For homeowners in New York and Westchester County, heating oil is one of the most important things to prepare for winter. Being prepared means stocking up on fuel oil and servicing your furnace. This will help a lot in ensuring you enjoy a warm and relaxed environment during the coldest months of the year. Recent years have brought a long wintry weather season to the Northeast. When it’s much longer than the weather report predicts, you’ve got to be ready so your heating oil stock will get you throughout the wintry weather.

If you deplete your heating oil before winter ends though, what can you do? The following guide will help in what to do when your heating fuel runs out.

Step 1: Call Us As Soon As Possible for an Emergency Oil Delivery – This is crucial especially if temperatures are below freezing and your pipes are at risk of freezing / bursting

Under normal operating conditions we can get to you within 2 to 5 hours on the same day you call. The first thing you should do when you exhaust your heating oil supply is call a reliable heating oil company for a refill. We offer fast oil delivery in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham, New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Scarsdale, White Plains, Rye, Harrison, Port Chester and other Westchester County neighbourhoods. Call the home heating experts at Emergency Fuel Oil. We operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year including weekends and holidays.

We offer several heating oil delivery options to keep you fully supplied year-round. Our Auto Fill Program is ideal for homeowners who never want to worry about their fuel supply again. We’ll set you up on our regularly scheduled delivery program to keep your tanks topped up all season long. Otherwise just call our friendly sales team for one-off service any time. We’ll fit you in, even in an emergency.

Step 2: What to do after we Fill Up Your Oil Tank

Once your oil tank is filled, give it about 10 minutes to settle in the tank. This will let any residues and impurities to settle at the bottom of the tank. This helps protect the fuel intake line from clogs that will keep you from being able to warm your house, and are expensive to clean or replace.

Step 3: Restart the Furnace

Restarting the burner may be as simple as pushing the red reset button on your furnace. If you still have the manual, you should be able to check the instructions for your model of furnace pretty quickly. If you can’t find it, often you can find a digital copy online on the manufacturer website with a quick internet search.

In most cases you press the reset button just once. If it doesn’t work, you’ll need to bleed the fuel line and restart your furnace. (We give you instructions on bleeding the fuel line below). When the heater turns on, your home will warm up like it usually does. Sometimes, you may need to manually bleed the lines. Bleeding gets any air bubbles out of the system and makes sure a consistent amount of fuel comes out of the tank. This is also called prime start. You will need to have pipe wrench, a length of 1/4-inch nylon tubing and a clean bucket or other container to perform this procedure. Our drivers are trained and can do a prime start for you for an additional fee.

How to Restart Your Oil Furnace

The first step is very important – Turn off the furnace. You can usually do this by pressing a button or toggling an on/off switch on the unit.

The next step: Find the bleeder valve on the furnace’s oil pump. This part looks like a grease fitting. (Link – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_fitting) It can be opened or tightened using an adjustable crescent wrench or a 3/8″ wrench. When you find the bleeder valve, insert the 1/4-inch nylon tube. The other end of the tube should go to your bucket/container.

Next: Switch on the furnace and loosen the bleeder valve with the wrench. Make sure to hold the nylon tube inside the container to make sure your fuel doesn’t spill. At first, you should notice air bubbles in the line as it empties into the bucket. After a couple of seconds, only oil will flow out of the tube. When you see the air bubbles stop, use the wrench to tighten the bleeder valve back up.

Finally, clean up the area and move the oil to a safe place, or better yet, an empty fuel container for safety. Once everything is clear and safe, restart the furnace. It should warm up as usual. If you have difficulty restarting your furnace, be sure to call for service immediately. Contact Emergency Fuel Oil to get your furnace running again so that your home will feel warm and comfortable.

Keep From Running Low on Heating Oil in the Future

Ideally you’ll call for service before you run out. Running out completely can shorten the life of your tank’s components. If your tank does run out completely before you notice though, you need to contact Emergency Heating Oil Company to bleed the air out of the oil line and clear the filter, nozzle, and oil pump. You’ll also need to ensure no sludge is present, which could cause blockages. Our team can make sure your tank is in good shape for years to come, and our rates are a great value.

Don’t worry about running out of heating oil ever again and set up automatic heating oil delivery to make sure you always have enough to keep your home warm and comfortable, and keep your tank running well. For help troubleshooting or to schedule an emergency oil delivery in Westchester County, contact Emergency Fuel Oil.