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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Oil Cover

Astoria, Oregon ~ March 12, 2011

Can anyone tell me about this metal cover on Commercial Street? I know that many older houses in Astoria were heated by oil, and some probably still are. Is this where oil is delivered for heating for one or more of the buildings on Commercial? And what's with the pipe draining onto the street?

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

10 comments:

Francisca said...

Can't help you here, Sheryl! ;-)

PS. The word verification is afolarse. Only a U missing... :-D

midnitemike said...

I'm pretty sure it was for oil delivery Sheryl. The small pipe is likely an overflow, either for the tank if it heats up and the oil expands and overflows, or for the water that gets down the hole through the two small hand holds on it. A person went the the car parts person and asked what the 710 cap on the engine was for? The parts person scratched their head, not knowing. The two of them went out to the car lifted the hood and the customer pointed to the 710 cap. When the parts person stopped laughing, they explained to them that it was the OIL cap being read upside-down!!

Paulo Rafael said...

I liked this detail.

tapirgal said...

Good punch line, Mike. I didn't guess it :) Thanks for the info. That sounds right. I mainly know about oil heaters because of a true story about a basement tank having been taken out, but nobody told the company that was delivering the oil. Big mess!

Lowell said...

Boy, you sure ask some tough questions. I worked for an oil company in Chicago while in graduate school, but our trucks went out and pumped directly into tanks in the houses so far as I recall.

Midnite Mike might know what he's talking about and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we'd better go along with his assessment of the situation! :-)

Anonymous said...

It might be a vent for the oil tank. Regardless, I think it's an interesting subject

Anonymous said...

I like the detail of this pic. Lots of interesting textures and shapes. I live in the NE where we heat with oil, but I've not encountered a street level fill pipe before. Maybe something more prevalent in a busy urban setting. But I'll guess that the small pipe is used more as an air vent than an overflow. As you fill the tank with oil, the displaced air must go somewhere. At my home, the tank is in the basement. Fill and vent pipes are just outside the foundation wall, a couple feet above ground level. An oversized cap on the vent pipe prevents rain from getting in and also acts as a whistle to alert the delivery man when the tank is approaching full. In this set up, there must be a check valve somewhere because at that level, with the rain your area gets, the tank would fill with water in no time. TMI?

Jack said...

I will defer to the others for an explanation. Just wanted to compliment your composition of the photo. Nice.

Halcyon said...

I agree with what everyone else said. Plus it makes for a nice photo. Love the details of the cracks and moss.

Anonymous said...

I agree with everyone else too! Great subject and interesting photo! Like the 710 comment...LOL!

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