gallons of fuel oil vs depth in tank

Hello, My fuel oil tank is a cylinder 4 feet round by 6 feet. It holds 550 gallons. I would like to be able to measure the depth of the oil in the tank and convert that number to gallons. There are only three depths I am sure of 1) at zero depth there is zero gallons of oil, 2) at 2 feet there are 275 gallons, and 3) at 4 feet depth there are 550 gallons of oil. Today, for example, the oil was 16 inches deep - how many gallons is that? I googled all over the internet and can't seem to find the formula. I would me very grateful for any help. Thank you.

Reply to
Desiglass
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So at 48 inches you have 550 gallons. 4x12 = 48. That works out to 11.5 gallon per inch. 550/48.

16 inches x 11.5 gallons per inch = 185 gallon.

Sound reasonable?

Reply to
Meat Plow

Go here:

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Enter tank dimensions in inches. Either TAB to the next entry or mouse Left click on the "Measured Gallons" to make it calculate the new value.

Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

The diameter must be just under five feet.

Reply to
Bill Rider

No. It would for a straight sided tank, even a cylinder if it was vertically oriented, however, these tanks are all horizontal, so the gallons/inch varies.

Reply to
Pete C.

resonably acccurate if the six foot dimension is vertical and the ends are fairly 'flat'. If tank is horizontal, gallons per inch varies from zero at the bottom to a max in the middle and then back to zero at the top of the tank. But I'm sure you knew that, MP, and gave the OP a good answer to his [incomplete?] statement of the problem. Of course if all heating oil tanks are vertical with flat ends, your answer was Right On.

the six foot dimension is horizontal.

Reply to
Leroy

Your Oil Distributor should be able to fix you up with a trip to their office "get a chart or a copy of one"..also remember the measure will only be correct if the tank lys level..but will be close.

Reply to
alt.autos

It wouldn't be a linear relationship since the tank is cylindrical.

Reply to
George

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Reply to
George

I remember this being an example problem in high school calculus.

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I think you'll be better off getting a chart from your fuel oil supplier.

Reply to
Mike Paulsen

Easy. Measure the depth of oil in inches. Multiply by 11.458 to get the number of gallons.

Reply to
Phisherman

From the numbers given in 1, 2 and 3, the number of gallons and depth is linear. That's sounds like vertical sides.

Reply to
Phisherman

It is linear if only those 3 points were ever considered. All other possible sample points could never be linear because the poster said he had a cylindrical tank.

Reply to
George

That constant would only be valid for a straight sided tank. Since the tank is a cylinder there will be different areas and thus different volumes at each sample point.

Reply to
George

The OP said is a 4 foot round cylinder, by 6 feet, and that it holds 550 gallons. He then says when the level measures 4 feet it has 550 gallons.

Obviously the 4 foot measure is vertical, and the depth is clearly *not* linear. With only measurements at full, empty and half, the values given are correct for a

4 foot cylindrical tank that is horizontal, not vertical.
Reply to
Floyd L. Davidson

Yeah you could do the math. Simple way: draw a circle on a piece of graph paper. Count the squares inside the circle and ratio to your numbers. Assume this should be close enough for your application.

Reply to
Jeff

You didn't do very much googling. This is the #1 result.

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Reply to
S. Barker

If, as you say, it is a cylinder that is 4 feet across and 6 foot deep, the formula goes something like this:

Volume in c.f. = 3.14*2^2*6 cf=75.36

76.36 c.f. = 563 gallons.

So, your sizing is about right.

Reversing the equation:

550 gallons = 73.52 c.f. So your 550 gallons is at 5.85 feet, say 5'10", which makes sense because you want to avoid a spill.

Knowing that, a cylinder is linear, so:

550 gallons / 70" = 7.86 gallons per inch.

So, at 16" there 125.76 gallons.

If however, the tank isn't really cylindrical, then you're pretty well screwed because the math gets a lot harder. It would take a bit to figure the formula, but you could assume the tank to different shape and you could easily approximate it, say be dividing it into 10 horizontal slices and calculating the volume of each slice.

Reply to
Pat

That doesn't answer the question.

Reply to
Terry

That doesn't answer the question.

This one does.

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Reply to
Terry

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