Oil level indicator gadget?

Jo4

moominyak, WELCOME to MSE!

oysterman

Get a long cane & stick it in the tank remove it & measure against the side of the tank, you will get an accurate reading then. The plug in gauges you have indoors are notoriously unreliable. Even with the sight gauge on the outside over a period of time it gets stained + you always get insects/foliage getting into them, which can sometimes give a false reading.

Jo4

They recommended the oil watchman which they sell at £49.99 and will fit for £10, so £59.99 in total. Think I will do as oysterman suggests and save myself £59.99!! :money:

paul_h

Jo4 wrote:

They recommended the oil watchman which they sell at £49.99 and will fit for £10, so £59.99 in total. Think I will do as oysterman suggests and save myself £59.99!! :money:

That's the one I've got, it's OK but I think I'd sooner have the £60 in my pocket too. I certainly wouldn't pay a tenner to fit it, it's very easy to fit.

Jo4

paul_h wrote:

That's the one I've got, it's OK but I think I'd sooner have the £60 in my pocket too. I certainly wouldn't pay a tenner to fit it, it's very easy to fit.

Do things get into your tank which shouldn't?

oysterman

Jo4 wrote:

Do things get into your tank which shouldn't?

All the time. People put tanks under trees or plant anything & everything around the tank to cover it up, so very often when it is being filled you get bit's & pieces drop in the tank

paul_h

Yes, bits do still seem to find their way into the tank, even though the watchman sender is totally enclosed and sealed to the tank.

The breather (or air admittance valve) is the obvious point of entry for foreign bodies. What you can do is make sure the area around the breather is kept clean, and area around the filler is cleaned before any delivery.

You should have two filters to cope with any bits, usually one at the tank end and one near the boiler pump. Change these regularly and you shouldn't have any problems...

skeggysteve

Had our oil system fitted last year and was told....

Sight glasses - the clear tube on the outside of the tank are now illegal (not sure if that just means new tanks) - but with the price of oil I wouldn't want one, if it gets broken it will go onto the garden not the boiler!

We have a 'awtchman' or whatever they are called and thought it was a wonderful thing.....until we ran out of oil on a friday in winter! Needless to say I was not very popular with wife and kids!
Now I do as the plumber adviced. Broom stick in the tank, takes a bit of trial and error with a bunded tank but it works.

Jo4

skeggysteve wrote:

Now I do as the plumber adviced. Broom stick in the tank, takes a bit of trial and error with a bunded tank but it works.

I think this is the best advice!

paul_h

skeggysteve wrote:

Had our oil system fitted last year and was told....

Sight glasses - the clear tube on the outside of the tank are now illegal (not sure if that just means new tanks) - but with the price of oil I wouldn't want one, if it gets broken it will go onto the garden not the boiler!

There's absolutely no problem fitting sight tubes, they are still recommended as the most reliable method of level measurement, and certainly not illegal. A list of OFTEC approved types are listed here:

http://www.oftec.co.uk/publications/Section_13.pdf

All sight tubes are fitted with a valve to close the tube connection to the tank, so if the sight tube did become damaged or displaced, you would not lose your oil. The Environment Agency recommend that you leave this in the OFF position unless you are actually taking a reading - many tubes now have a sprung push button now so that you cannot leave it open.