Sorry should have said the fill /entry point is on the left .
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Thanks for your reply. I keep on thinking it is taking fumes out as it is so smelly at the other end (the bit poking out of the wall outside) but from what you are saying it actually draws the air in to help the fuel burn?
Not really, you have been frightened by some. The lowest temperature that the mix will cause vapour that could burn is 38 c so donāt heat the oil in the tank. Consider when you heat oil in the frying pan to cook. if you take it all the way up to around 257 c it will combust below that it will just fry sausages and bacon!
I donāt condone smoking or marking your tank or pipes by stubbing out but even if they through the butt into the oil it would just go out. Not to be confused with petrol.
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I think it actually does both - as your boiler burns the oil, the fuel level will go down. Without some way of allowing air into the tank a vacuum would form, thereby choking off the fuel supply to the boiler. I dont think it should actually allow the smell of fuel to escape - that cowl on the top āmightā be a snorkel of some kind, which may have āfailedā allowing the smell to escape the tank.
Air in to prevent a vacuumā¦ but no smell out to cause a nuisance. Garage forecourts have a similar arrangement for their underground fuel tanks - you will have seen a cluster of tall metal pipes? They should have snorkels on them as well.
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Thatās reassuring! They were just messy and not bonkers. 
No, it allows air into the tank to replace the oil that is pumped out otherwise the oil would not leave the tank. Air for combustion of the oil mist inside the boiler comes from another source.
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When I said āit actually does bothā, I meant to say āit is actually doing bothāā¦when it shouldnt! Dohā¦ late night, sorry.
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Iām astonished !
David, do you honestly believe that knowledgeable industry people and law makers sit around in rooms making up the rules and regulations just for the hell of it ?
This thread is all about heating oil fumes that are persistently and repeatedly making their way UP the cellar stairs into the house. Hydrocarbon products in both liquid and particulate vapour form ARE injurious to health (to the point of being carcinogenic), both by skin contact and inhalation, and the risk factor increases with both the concentration and / or the duration of the exposure.
Clearly the problem is severe enough / has persisted long enough, to cause Marijke to seek help in this forum.
I do not believe that taking a view of _āitās only heating oil - it will be OKā_is appropriate.
The safety rules were made for very good reasons Sir.
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ā¦
As I saidā¦
If the heating oil vapour is making its way up from a basement into a living space, it is doing so via a current of upward moving air and via holes somewhere. For the long term health and safety, these holes should be sealed with a fire stopping compound.
Because the vapour is heavier than air it may also be possible for a small leak inside the living space from a tiny leak to unburned oil the smell can go a long way. Never easy from the end of a PC but even a careless heating engineer can leave a smelly oil residue behind.
I would consider putting an extract fan into the cellar to create a negative pressure in the space to prevent smells rising. Again easy from the end of a PC
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Thank you! I will see what I can do.
Marijke please donāt ever be afraid of posting too many pictures etc; here. You are obviously worried and the more information you give then the more someone on here can offer advice.
I am pleased that you have a chauffaugiste coming out, the problem does need rectifying and your other chap seems, at best, too noncholant !
For your peace of mind and health as well, I know what breathing in those fumes is like, this has to be sorted andsoon. You are doing all you can and doing the right things too. Its frustrating when a gallic shrug is sometimes all that is offered from a professional !
Let us know how you get on and good luck ā¦
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That is the point where fuel is pulled/sucked out of the cuve and along/into the boilerā¦when the boiler is working/burning/demanding fuel. Have you been fiddling with it ??? Did the last engineer do something to it ??
The āpointy bitā flicked upright = open ā¦ and flicked down = closedā¦ at least that is how it works on ours. (we have 2 cuves and I flick the empty one down and UP the full oneā¦ to transfer the fuel supplyā¦ other than that I leave it well alone.)
really crossing my fingers that this gets sorted asapā¦
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Thank you Ann! X 
Thank you Stella! I havenāt touch it but it is this that was maybe damaged during the farmer and hose episode!
Ahaā¦ hopefully that is a causeā¦ and I also wonder about the air-outlet/inletā¦ pipe that goes outside. We donāt have one of those, but if it goes in the tankā¦ unless it has a one-way valveā¦ the fuel smell will always pass up it to the o/sā¦ like a stench pipe on a sewerā¦ and the pipe top should be uphighā¦higher than windows/doorsā¦ so the smell dissipates without folk needing to hold their nosesā¦
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Is there any news on the fuel smell ???
I thought of you when I changed oil tanks (flicked a switch) this afternoon and noticed a slight smellā¦
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Fuel oil vapor may not combust with a spark but get something hot enough near it and itāll go up just fine - better safe than sorry, no?
āStrange why they should have ābrickedā it up like that. All the plastic fuel tanks that I have seen are open all around, that way you can see the level.ā
Isnāt that called bunding? I think any indoor fuel tank that isnāt buried has to have a bund around it, or be bunded, whatever the expression is.