Heating Oil Tank Calibration - How much have you really got left?

camaro

BERBY wrote: »

having developed a monitoring device for this very purpose by placing a microprocessor on the oil line i am able to live monitor my oil useage. It also tells me instantly if there is a theft or leak or if the boiler malfunctions. This has proved too costly for the manufacturers to take on so i have now developed (from the information gained from the microprocessor) a system that will interlock with the boiler burner and stop it fireing when : 1. the fire valve trips, 2. the filter blocks, 3. the oil tank is empty but the oil line is still full. The third action prevents any need for the engineer to attend and saves wear and tare on the pump. I am presently fitting this system to my customers systems for about £165

So the only one in existence is fitted to your boiler, but you are fitting them to your customer's boilers for £165? Errr, what?

malc_b

shumicat wrote: »

We have just become victims of oil tank theft - discovered when we ran out of oil on Friday. House temp is now down to 8 C in unheated rooms. No delivery until Wed subject to snow.
Anyway - I'm now very anxious to see if anyone can recommend an alarm that is effective?

We have a watchman which I don't find that bad. You just have to realise that the number is only accurate at the change over, i.e. when it changes 6-5 you have 60% left (9 is 90-100% range, 6 is 60-70%). And that is 60% of height so any width variation affects that.

What I do is record when the watch changes so I know how many days between changes. I use past figures to predict how long until empty then correct the change dates as they occur (excel spreadsheet).

The watchman would tell me when I've had an oil theft as I see it everyday. Preventing a theft means locking up your oil since even if you had an alarm what would you do? Thieves only call when you are out unless you tie it to a house alarm, even then I would have thought they'd be away before anyone did anything and if they had punctured the tank it would be a worst clean up if they ran away before draining the tank.

If you want to link to a house alarm then you'd have to enclose the tank and add sensors as with a normal house alarm. Wifi alarm would be easiest I'd say.

Silent_Dancer

BERBY wrote: »

having developed a monitoring device for this very purpose by placing a microprocessor on the oil line i am able to live monitor my oil useage. It also tells me instantly if there is a theft or leak or if the boiler malfunctions. This has proved too costly for the manufacturers to take on so i have now developed (from the information gained from the microprocessor) a system that will interlock with the boiler burner and stop it fireing when : 1. the fire valve trips, 2. the filter blocks, 3. the oil tank is empty but the oil line is still full. The third action prevents any need for the engineer to attend and saves wear and tare on the pump. I am presently fitting this system to my customers systems for about £165

How does placing a flow sensor in the line tell you if the tank is empty or there has been a theft?

Silent_Dancer

The Hastel Smart Guard monitor is very accurate and offers a very good usage analysis package vis the web.

http://www.hastel.co.uk/html/smartguard.html