BY GEORGE LANTHIER

We received a few questions and the answers to some of those questions became “ The Cheater Loop ” ( page 37 , May 2019 issue of Fuel Oil News ). And here goes with “ Part 2 ,” answering the rest of those questions , many of which came from our Secret Facebook Discussion Board , DragonTalkToo . I was asked to “ explain the physics ” behind the cheater loop . Physics ? Really ? I don ' t have a clue , but I can tell you the operation .

Every single-stage pump out there , Figure 1 , can exert up to six inches of vacuum on single pipe . Setup for two-pipe most can go ( with today ' s fuels ) up to 11 to 12 inches of vacuum . That ' s actual gauged vacuum . By inserting the by-pass plug you create a pseudo ( fake ) two-pipe . The pump can now exert roughly twice the vacuum and now can overcome the resistances up to that point . An oil deaerator or loop does the same thing , but in addition keeps the oil from foaming and maintaining its liquid state . The beauty of the cheater loop is that it ' s reliable , doesn ' t break and fail from improper fuels ( above B6 ) like a loop . Loops will eventually fail , as everything does , cheater loops can ' t , it ' s just metal . The coil in the loop can be 1 / 8 " copper if the firing rate is under 3.00 gph . Over 3.00 gph should be 1 / 4 " copper , and over 10.00 gph 3 / 8 " inch . Before the TigerLoop and others , Figure 2 , came along we put in thousands with Riellos to overcome the fact we had no two-stage pump . I was first taught this back in 1967 by an old timer who said he had known it forever . The bottom line is . it works .

Again , if the oil is above the burner pump , Figure 3 , you don ’ t need a two-stage pump and you also don ’ t need two lines , it ’ s a gravity job , period ! If you use properly made flared connections , properly sized valves and filters , and last but not least , properly sized lines , all you need is a one-stage pump , double exclamation point , period . So back to cheater loops .

Some of you may remember a modification of this drawing in my article about cold oil . In that article the now infamous Bruce and Bubba of the now world-famous B & B Burner Service wanted to heat the oil and , in the process , also control the condensation . In that article , the cheater loop also picked up a “ passive oil heater ,” Figure 6-3 . In that article we gave you a solution to cold oil using

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

a cheater loop that is also a great solution for mobile homes , but what else can you do with the cheater loop ? By the way you can find all of this information on pumps , lines , tanks and accessories in our book , The Fuel Systems Handbook , Figure 4 , available on our website .

Well , let ’ s say that you ’ re on a job and that the oil has increased in viscosity . That means that it has gotten thicker because it ’ s cold outside . The job has a clean oil system and filter , and has never shown any vacuum on a gauge . It has a single stage pump and it ’ s + 50F outside . The oil is still liquid and not gelled yet , thank God . This is why you should treat all your oil beginning in October .

So , the oil is liquid , but very viscous or is that vicious , whatever . The pump is now having a lot of trouble pulling the oil from the tank and there is 7 ” of vacuum on the gauge . The problem is that the oil is cold . Now if we could slow the flow going from the tank to the pump but still keep flow to the nozzle , we might overcome the problem . In addition , if you have a single-stage pump with a one-pipe system on the job , you can increase vacuum capability

Figure 4 with the cheater loop that will be equal to a two-pipe system . I have had a lot of experience with this , and have seen a single-stage pump operate very well this way . So , your pump goes from an operating ceiling of 6 ” of vacuum up to 12 ” of vacuum , and all you needed was 7 ."

Some wanted more on that static heater , so here goes , again . This is taken from either of our texts Advanced Residential Figure 5

46 JUNE 2019 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www . fueloilnews . com