Watchman Heating Oil Alarm 20 October 2020 at 1:24PM in LPG, heating oil, solid & other fuels 5 replies 1.8K views

misspetula

Hello - I have just had my heating oil tank refilled and the watchman sensor in my house is now sounding the alarm all the time.  I have checked the instructions and online and it says the alarm should only sound if the heating oil level drops.  This isn't the case the, level has gone up.  It's also indicating the tank is only half full now rather than full.  I've double checked inside the tank and it is full.  Any ideas as to why the alarm is going off and why the indicator is reading incorrectly.  When we had the tank filled up last time none of this was an issue.

Ebe_Scrooge

Is there a way to reset the sensor ?  Have you checked/replaced the batteries ?

Failing that, do what I did years ago - ditch the sensor and replace it with good old-fashioned Garden Cane Mk 1, much more reliable :-)

misspetula

Ha I think I might just go with your good old fashioned way - thank you

Ebe_Scrooge

misspetula said:

Ha I think I might just go with your good old fashioned way - thank you

Joking aside - those Watchmans are great when they're working, but it's really not worth the expense or hassle to replace them when they go wrong.  Dipping with a cane every couple of months is the work of moments, and equally as - if not more so - reliable.  I'll never know why they stopped putting the sight tubes on oil tanks in the first place.

dunstonh

Hello - I have just had my heating oil tank refilled and the watchman sensor in my house is now sounding the alarm all the time. 

We tried the modern digital screen apollo version and the alarm kept going off.  We reverted to the older 10 bar version without alarm and its been fine since.

I put the alarm going off down to false positive readings it would give periodically which bore no resemblance to reality.

ditch the sensor and replace it with good old-fashioned Garden Cane Mk 1, much more reliable :-)

I use an old broom handle with marks on it based on the older 1-10 scale on the apollo.    However, that is just a legacy option for backup as our tank is far too small for the size of the property to rely on manually.  We have to fill up four times a year which includes a gap of 4-5 weeks during peak cold.      So, the older 1-10 bar apollo is still worthwhile.  Just not the all singing and dancing digital version.

greatcrested

How old is it?

When was the battery in the tank sensor last changed.......?