Anyone know of a cheap clip on flow meter for domestic heating oil?

[MM]

There's a white plastic pipe between the oil tank and the boiler. I want to clip on a flow meter to measure the oil actually being consumed at any one moment. Is there such a device?

MM

[Rod]

Are you sure that is a plastic pipe - rather than a copper pipe with a plastic coating?

(I don't know - just seem to remember reading something like that.)

[Dave Liquorice]

I think he will find it;s is plastic coated copper. Plastic pipe containing a flammable liquid in a fire ...

Anyway I doubt very much that a clip on flow meter exists. I can't think of any physics that would allow the measurement of the flow of a homogeneous fluid without something actually in the that fluid. There

*might* be something, maybe based on doppler, but I don't think that would work without something in the fluid for the waves to bounce off(*). I doubt any such solution would be cheap. Pressure variation across a venturi? Would need the pipe to be cut to insert the venturi, not clip on.

Most cheap flow meters have a little paddle in the path that rotates with the flow and you count the rotations over time, this again precludes the requested clip on feature.

(*) Works for blood as blood has lots of bits, mainly red cells, floating about in it for the waves to bounce off.

[John]

Dunno about that but

is a range of products for non-invasive tank level measurements based on ultrasonics. Maybe you'll find something there, or maybe not.

John

[Michael Chare]

Oil boiler jets are calibrated with their consumption. So if the jet is new and the pump is set to the calibrated pressure, it should squirt out the right amount of oil. e.g 0.6 US gallons per hour. If your not using the pressure at which the nozzle is calibrated you can use tables to make an adjustment.

[MM]

No, it's definitely plastic.

MM

[MM]

Doppler. That's what I've seen on the web. But EXPENSIVE!

MM

[The Real Doctor]

I have a roll of plastic CH oil pipe in my garage. If the oil ever gets affordable again I may get round to connecting up the new tank ...

Ian

[andrew]

The heat meters attached to the wood boilers I used to service were some sort of acoustic device to measure flow of hot water. I think they sent sound between two transceivers and worked out the liquid velocity by the difference in trip time either way. The Landis ones were not clip on but I did see this after a google

[Dave Liquorice]

Define affordable, should be able to get it below 40p/l these days.