[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Branford 3-30-1953,
amended 12-8-1954. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
These regulations shall apply to:
A.
All installations of oil burners in stoves or ranges
or similar devices for domestic heating purposes, hereinafter called "range
oil burners."
B.
All installations of fuel oil heating apparatus designed
or installed for use in conjunction with steam hot water, warm air or other
type of heating system located in any cellar, basement or other room designed
or used as a furnace room, for the purpose of furnishing heat for any building,
hereinafter called "fuel oil heating apparatus."
C.
The handling and storage of fuels designed or used for
combustion in stoves, ranges or fuel oil heating apparatus.
D.
Cover kerosene oil burner domestic hot-water heaters.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Includes the Fire Marshal and his assistants or deputies assigned
to fire prevention work.
The written permission of the said Fire Marshal authorizing a person
to install and service oil burners in stoves and ranges in conformity herewith
or authorizing a person to transport and deliver range and fuel oil for use
therewith.
Written authorization by the Fire Marshal for a given installation
of a fuel oil heating apparatus.
Includes individuals, firms and corporations.
A.
No person shall engage in the business of installing
or servicing or shall install or cause to be installed any stove or range
oil-heating apparatus, or any fuel oil heating apparatus and no person shall
deliver oil suitable for fuel in such apparatus unless he shall have obtained
a license as herein set forth or, in the case of delivery, shall have obtained
such a license from another municipality in the State of Connecticut. The
fee for each such license shall be $5, which shall be paid for the use of
the Town at the time of making application. All licenses issued under the
provisions of these regulations shall expire upon the last day of April in
each year, except that the Fire Marshal may, at his discretion, issue temporary
licenses for a period not exceeding 30 days. Subject to the remedies herein
provided, the Fire Marshal shall have the power to revoke or suspend any license
issued pursuant to these regulations.
B.
No person shall install or replace or cause to be installed
a fuel oil heating apparatus or range oil burner in any building without first
obtaining a written permit therefor from the Fire Marshal. The fee for each
such permit shall be $2 in the case of fuel oil heating apparatus and $0.50
in the case of range oil burners, which shall be paid for the use of the Town
at the time of making application.
C.
No motor vehicle shall be used for the transportation
or delivery of crude or refined petroleum, benzoline, gasoline or other inflammable
or explosive oils without first having obtained a sticker of approval in accordance
with Section 813b of the 1951 Supplement to the Connecticut General Statutes.
The fee for each such inspection by the Fire Marshal shall be $2, which shall
be paid for the use of the Town at the time when said sticker of approval
is issued.
Applications for licenses or permits hereunder shall be made in writing
to the Fire Marshal at the office of the Town Clerk in the Town Hall in the
Town of Branford, in such form and detail as the Fire Marshal shall require
and, if approved by said Fire Marshal, shall be so endorsed and filed with
the Town Clerk. Before such license or permit may be granted, it will be necessary
for the applicant to establish his competence to perform the service for which
a license or permit is sought and the suitability of the equipment to be used
for the purpose.
The use of benzine, alcohol, gasoline or oils of a lower flash point
than 110° F. in connection with the operation of range oil burners or
fuel oil heating apparatus is prohibited.
Oil containers shall be so attached to range or stove oil burners as
to preclude the possibility of preignition.
A.
The number and location of oil or fuel storage tanks
in any one building shall be determined by the Fire Marshal. Tanks or drums
for the storage and keeping of a quantity of range oil in excess of three
gallons within the confines of any building or other closed structure shall
not be installed above the lowest floor of the building or in any hallway
or any stairway or porch. In all cases where it is necessary to keep range
oil and the same cannot be stored in compliance with the foregoing requirements,
it shall be stored out of doors or in a separate building subject to the approval
of the Fire Marshal.
B.
The oil containers of all range oil burners installed
in stoves and ranges, whether of glass or metal construction, shall not be
installed nearer to any stove or other heating apparatus than 16 inches, and,
if said container is of metal, it shall be of heavy tin plate and to the approval
of the Fire Marshal, except that this provision shall not apply to oil-burning
apparatus where such apparatus has an oil container so attached to said oil-burning
apparatus that the oil contained in such container will not preignite and
cause fire.
A.
Oil for use in connection with fuel oil heating apparatus,
to be stored above ground, shall be kept or stored in tight tanks, constructed
of galvanized steel, basic open-hearth steel or wrought iron of a minimum
gauge United States Standard, as follows:
|
Capacity
(gallons)
|
Thickness
| |
|---|---|---|
|
Less than 60
|
16-gauge
| |
|
60 to 200
|
14-gauge
| |
|
201 to 350
|
12-gauge
| |
|
351 to 4,000
|
7-gauge
|
B.
Oil storage tanks of less than 7-gauge in thickness,
regardless of capacity, shall not be used for the underground storage of fuel
oils.
C.
Tanks containing oil for said purpose shall be located
as follows:
(1)
Oil supply tanks larger than 10 gallons capacity shall
not be located in buildings above the ground floor, cellar or basement.
(2)
Unenclosed storage tanks or auxiliary tanks shall not
be located within seven feet, horizontally, of any fire or flame.
(3)
Oil supply tanks located inside buildings shall not exceed
275 gallons' individual capacity or 550 gallons' aggregate capacity in any
one building, unless installed in an enclosure or casing as follows: the walls
of the enclosure shall be constructed of reinforced concrete at least six
inches thick or of brick or other approved masonry at least eight inches thick
and shall be bonded to the floor. The space between the tank and the enclosure
shall be completely filled with sand or well-tamped earth. Instead of an enclosure
as above described, the tank may be encased in reinforced concrete not less
than six inches in thickness applied directly to the tank so as to completely
eliminate any air space. The number and location of oil storage tanks, above
550 gallons' capacity, to be installed in any one building shall be determined
by the Fire Marshal.
All tanks for said purpose shall have a filler pipe of not less than
two inches of inside diameter extending from the tank to a point outside the
building for filling and kept properly capped when not in use. They shall
also have a vent pipe from a tank, located inside the building, to the outside
air terminating with a gooseneck or approved vent cap six feet or more from
grade level, the opening of which shall be covered with No. 30 mesh brass
wire. Inside storage and underground storage tanks, up to and including 550
gallons' capacity, shall have a vent pipe of not less than 1 1/4 inches
of inside diameter. Tanks of 560 to 1,000 gallons' capacity shall have a vent
pipe of not less than 1/2 inches of inside diameter, and tanks of greater
than 1,000 gallons' capacity shall have a vent pipe of the same size as the
filler pipe. All vent pipes that are connected to inside storage tanks must
be provided with an approved vent alarm device.
All tanks for use in connection with fuel oil heating systems, if located
in the cellar, basement or on the first floor of any building, shall be provided
with fusible link shutoff valves placed in the fuel oil supply line, one as
near the tank as possible and one as near the fuel oil burner as possible.
Said fuel oil supply line shall be of not less than 3/8 inch outside diameter.
Such fusible link must be so attached to a shutoff valve as to automatically
close the shutoff valve at a temperature of 160° F. If such fuel oil tank
is located in the ground outside the building walls, there shall be placed
in the fuel oil supply line, from such fuel oil tank, the same type of automatically
operated shutoff valve as near the point of entrance in cellar or basement
as practicable. Said line shall be of not less than 1/2 inch outside diameter.
In addition, there shall be a similar automatically operated shutoff valve
placed in the fuel oil supply line as near the burner as possible.
All tanks installed in any building for use in connection with fuel
oil heating systems shall be substantially and rigidly installed on noncombustible
supports in such a manner as to ensure protection against mechanical injury.
Gauging devices or test wells, the breaking of which would permit the
escape of oil or vapor within the building, are prohibited.
Tanks for systems under pressure shall be designed for six times the
maximum pressure and be tested and proven tight at twice the maximum working
pressure, which pressure shall not exceed 50 pounds, and shall be provided
with a reliable pressure gauge and an automatic relief valve piped to discharge
outside of the building.
A.
Automatically operated oil burners used in connection
with hot water, steam or warm air shall be equipped with approved automatic
devices to shut down the burner in the event of undue pressure in a steam
boiler or overheating within a hot-water boiler or warm-air furnace.
B.
Automatically operated oil burners used in connection
with steam heating systems shall be equipped with automatic devices for shutting
down the burner in the event of low water in the boiler. The device shall
require manual resetting and shall prevent operation until a safe water level
is resumed.
C.
Limiting controls and low-water cutoffs intended to disconnect
the burner from the electric supply shall be connected into the burner supply
circuit on the supply side of all other burner controls and shall be of line
voltage type.
Electric wiring in connection with oil-burning equipment shall be installed
in rigid conduit or BX cable in a workmanlike manner and in accordance with
all local electric codes or the National Electric Code or by such methods
in such manner as may be prescribed from time to time by the Fire Marshal.
Rooms in which oil burners are installed or located shall be provided
with adequate ventilation to assure continuous complete combustion of the
oil. A cross section of not less than 50 square inches of ventilation must
be provided for each gallon, per hour, of oil consumed.
A.
Oil burners shall be securely installed in a workmanlike
manner and in accordance with the instructions of the manufacturer by qualified
mechanics experienced in making such installations and must conform to the
requirements of Section 3682 of the General Statutes of the State of Connecticut[1] which requires a written certificate of approval from the Commissioner
of State Police and provides a penalty of a fine of not more than $100 for
the sale or installation of a burner not approved.
[1]
Editor's note: For current provisions, see Section 29-316 of the Connecticut
General Statutes.
B.
Acceptance tests shall be conducted where more than one
burner is installed in one combustion chamber to make sure that the automatic
devices for the prevention of abnormal discharge of oil, at the burner, will
function properly in the event of failure of one or more units to ignite on
starting or in the event of flame extinguishment of one or more units during
operation.
Complete instructions for the care and operation of the oil-burning
equipment shall be conspicuously posted near the burner and maintained in
a readable condition.
A.
No fuel oil heating apparatus shall be connected with
any chimney unless said chimney is so constructed as to maintain a strong
natural draught, constant at all times.
B.
The smoke pipe shall not pass through any combustible
partition unless protected in an approved manner. The clear distance between
a smoke pipe or metal breeching and combustible material or construction,
including plaster on combustible base, shall not be less than 18 inches, provided
that the clearance may be reduced to nine inches when the smoke pipe or breeching
is protected with not less than one inch of asbestos or equivalent protection
or such combustible material or construction is protected by sheet metal or
equivalent covering placed at least one inch from the surface to be protected
and extending the full length of the smoke pipe and not less than 12 inches
beyond it on all sides.
The use of acetylene or any other gas possessing a wider range of explosibility
in admixture with air than coal gas, water gas or oil gas is prohibited for
use in the gas pilot of a fuel oil heating system.
Any person claiming to be aggrieved by the action of the Fire Marshal
relative to the issuance, revocation or suspension of a license, permit or
approval as herein provided may appeal from such action to the Board of Fire
Commissioners. Said Board shall assign a hearing upon such appeal and give
the appellant due notice of the time and place thereof. The decision of the
majority of said Board shall be controlling upon the Fire Marshal.
Any person who shall willfully violate any provision of this regulation
or fail to comply therewith or who shall violate or fail to comply within
10 days with any order or regulation made thereunder shall forfeit a penalty
of not more than $25 for each such offense.
A.
These regulations may be amended from time to time by
the Board of Fire Commissioners.
B.
Upon a petition signed by 20 electors of the Town of
Branford asking for changes in the code, the Board of Fire Commissioners shall
call a public hearing for the purpose of hearing and acting on such proposed
changes.
