How to Replace a Heating Oil Filter
Changing the filter through which heating oil passes before it goes into the burner of a furnace should be a regular part of your fall maintenance program. In most cases, the filter is located on the tank and looks like an oil filter or cartridge filter. Changing it is simple and will only take a few minutes, but remember that you will need to purge the air from the system after you have completed the filter change. The burner will not run with air in the system, so it is important that you get all the air out of the fuel line. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Locate the oil filter and housing on the heating oil tank. It is normally mounted on the outlet of the tank and has a shutoff valve between the tank and the filter housing.
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Turn off the valve that controls the flow from the tank to the filter. This will allow you to remove the filter without spilling heating oil everywhere.
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3
Position a drain pan under the filter housing to catch any drips when you pull the filter. There will still be fuel in the filter and the line going to the furnace, so some amount of fuel drain is expected.
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4
Locate the retaining bolt on the top center of the filter housing. Remove the bolt with a wrench while holding the base of the housing with your free hand. Lower the housing down and remove the filter cartridge from it.
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Install the new filter and replace the gasket on the filter housing with a new one. Rub a small amount of fuel oil on the gasket, then raise the filter and housing into place.
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Install the retaining bolt and tighten it firmly with a wrench. Turn on the valve from the tank and check for leaks. You need to remove the air from the filter and bleed the line before running the furnace.
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Locate the small bolt on top of the filter housing. This is the bleeder for the filter. Open it with a wrench to allow the air to escape from the housing, leaving the screw open until you see oil come out of the hole.
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Close the bleeder screw and bleed the line at the oil pump on the furnace. Dispose of the filter and any fuel that ran into the drip pan. Check with your local trash disposal company if you are not sure where or how to get rid of it.
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Tips & Warnings
An aluminum pie pan or paint roller pan makes a good drip pan for this project. The filters are often not very high off the ground, so buckets or larger containers typically don't fit under the filter.
