Flow meter for oil CH tank.

[Nick]

My mum's house, 150 miles distant, is heated by oil. The vertical cylindrical plastic tank is 2550L bunded. Tank is remote from the house. Supply tank>boiler is 15mm copper. The tank does not have a gauge so I made a reasonably accurate (+/- 5%) dipstick. Mother is blind and does not/cannot supervise fuel delivery. The lorry driver 'just' tops it up when requested. I dipped the tank a couple of weeks back and reckoned it would take

16-1700L. Two days later it was filled up and the ticket shows 2300 odd litres. I have long suspected that the delivery driver is 'at it'. So I think a flow meter in the fuel supply would at least provide some more accuracy. I have no knowledge of such things and my apologies if this is a lazy request. Can you suggest a fairly accurate, mechanical, flow meter that can be fitted? Annual consumption is about 3500L, but that is debatable!

Many thanks, Nick.

[Onetap]

thanks,

PS Even if you do prove a discrepancy, it will be argued that there is a leak and/or the pikeys have been nicking it. You need to catch him out with before and after levels to prove anything.

[The Natural Philosopher]

a remote gauge (ultrasonic and radiolink is the norm) but that wont tell you if they didn't fill it up full. Normally though they give you a printout from the actual truck flow meters and that's hard to fake.

Some radio links sensors have 'detect massive droprate and ring alarm' and that is fast enough to catch people at it.

[Owain]

re is a leak and/or the pikeys have been nicking it. You need to catch him = out with before and after levels to prove anything.

A level meter connected to a video text generator, overlaid on a CCTV camera recording, showing the level going up/down as the tanker couples up would do it.

Owain

[Martin Brown]

Something like a Watchman. Good for about 200m range in clear air.

Doesn't really help with the blindness problem though, but a lot more reproducible and convenient than a dip stick. Does anyone offer a receiver that provides a beep code for visual impaired users I wonder?

And although the calibration in 10 "equal" divisions isn't exactly linear depending on the tank cross section as it does it is very reproducible (and a rather generous amount of sub zero).

We tend more to have the problem of houses with all the same names in every little village. We once got someone else's oil delivery. There was enough room in the tank so I got a surprise bill and a *very* full tank and the other guy ran out of oil completely.

[Davey]

The Watchman fitted to our tank has an alarm system, which makes a strange clicking sound if the level drops suddenly. But as for the OP's problem, I'm not sure. Does the oil supplied by the tanker come along a pipe to the tank? Ours is just a tap on the end of a hose dropped into the big hole on top of the tank.

[The Natural Philosopher]

bugs out at 20 here sometimes. depemds where you park teh car.

Oops!

Interbred Fenland village?

[Michael Chare]

I don't use that much since I replaced my boiler!

15mm is quite a large size for the supply pipe.

How big is the house?

Those cylindrical plastic tanks are tapered. How did you calibrate your dipstick?

Googling I found these:

[Fredxx]

IP Camera? Making sure sight glass is in view, plus will be able to see when it needs topping up.

If your mum hasn't got internet access, perhaps a neighbour might allow you to hook into their wireless network?

[Dave Liquorice]

OP says there isn't a sight glass, though I though a sight glass with "push to read" valve was a legal requirement. I also doubt that an IP camera with a field of view able to see the bottom and top of the sight glass will be able to resolve the oil level, even with a coloured bead floating on it.

[Martin Brown]

Yeah. I reckon the quoted 200m range is definitely on the optimistic side, but 30m seems OK even through our rather thick solid walls. There are blind spots in the kitchen so it only works in certain sockets and it really doesn't like the old arcing and sparking food mixer.

North Yorkshire, but you can bet your bottom dollar every village has a Rose/Garden/Pear/Apple/Blossom/Oak/Ash/Ivy/Holly Cottage, Home/Glebe Farm etc. Easy to see how it can go wrong - same for postal deliveries.

And the post code mapping is hilarious. One house in the middle of our road has the same post code as a farm half a mile away across a field. I sometimes help out lost delivery drivers looking for the farm who are mystified why their satnav says "you have arrived". At first I though it was a typo but checking the PO database shows it is correct!

[cynic]

If you are really concerned a letter to the oil supply company asking politely if their delivery meter is in calibration as you were surprised how much more oil was metered than your estimate of the tank capacity would set alarm bells ringing in their office. It might not be immediate but the driver would be monitored and if something is amiss it will be discovered. Softly softly catchee monkey

[Nick]

Thank you,

this tank is not tapered or conical. It cylindrical and has parallel sides. Bunded, ie. one tank within another. Both made of plastic.I have hade the inner out of the outer and know this to be true. I first calibrated my dipstick by taking a good piece of two inch x one inch hardwood of appropriate length. I then marked on one side of this the heights for quarter, half, three quarter and full levels (the tank has a slightly domed top). Following this I carefully added 200L of liquid and marked the dipstick on tother side. Then another 200l, and another, and another, and another etc.until the tank was full. The dipstick is fairly accurate. Fuel delivery person is fiddling, I have little doubt.

Nick.

[Michael Chare]

You have done a much more thorough job than I imagined!

Has the delivery driver always been the same? The name may be shown on the delivery note.

Why not just change supplier?