Oil tank alarms

[Matt]

Anyone got on advice on a decent oil tank alarm please? Must be easy to fit and tamper proof (and, assuming it's wireless, not possible to block the signal to the receiver, etc).

[Dave Liquorice]

Do you mean alarm as in "my contents are being stolen" or alarm as in "I'm very nearly empty"?

I'm not aware of any of the former, the closest I've seen is a lockable clamp for the filler cap.

problem with theft is the beggers who do it don't really care, lock the cap and they'll simply cut a hole in the tank stick a hose in connected to a pump/tank in the back of their van and pump away. If the hole is below the oil level so what?

[Gel]

Try here

[Matt]

will just drill a hole in the side and syphon off the contents. What's needed is an alarm like the Watchman but which also has a tamper proof mechnism so it can't simply be removed or somehow disabled.

[js.b1]

Can you build an onduline shed around it - tannalised wood, onduline, fake window, fake door? Essentially the inflatable tanks in reverse, unless some regulations prohibit it.

Is it possible to bury a bunded tank, concrete lintels and slabs on top?

If a tank is 1000L I can see someday it being worth =A31k if not more, black gold sitting in the garden as it were.

[dom]

I've got a Watchman-sonic tank level monitor, which works perfectly.

Seems they do a similar alarm system as well:

[Matt]

I was looking at the Watchman - looks good, but is it tamper proof? I mean what's to stop some enterprising thief from unscrewing it, so preventing it from sending an alarm to the receiver?

Or, for that matter, somehow shielding it so that it can't send an alarm to the receiver?

[dom]

Unless he was Fingers McFingers, the ace safe-cracker - if he'd unscrewed it, the distance between the sensor and surface (usually the oil level surface) would change - hence an alarm.

(I tried this with my tank-level sensor when I was setting it up, varying the distance above the table-top, and checking the display - to make sure they'd paired properly).

OTOH most oil-tank oil thieves are probably mindless thugs that wouldn't give a f*** about an alarm - unless someone scary is right there to take some enforcement action.

As always - a dog with great big gnashy teeth is the best protection.

Maybe you can teach him to bark out the oil level.

Another approach would be to rig up motion sensors near the tank, so they get the sirens and lights if they shouldn't be near there.

[Matt]

That's the dilemma isn't it - how far do you go to protect an oil tank?

I'm not convinced about locking it as a determined thief will simply drill a hole in the tank and so make a hell of a mess. To my mind the 'best' option seems to be to leave the tank so there is easy access to the refill point, BUT to fit an alarm.

As you say, your average brain dead thug isn't going to worry too much about an alarm, but it at least warns the householder so they can call the cops.

Putting Fido on guard is an option, but he can't be there all the time.

Motion sensors - nice, but possibly could be tripped by wildlife, leading to many false alarms?

I do like this option though:

blank shotgun cartridge attached to a trip wire. :-)

[js.b1]

Hmmm.... bush... cheney.... halliburton... :-)

[dom]

There ya go.

If Saddam had got himself some great big Rotweilers, he'd still be the boss.

[SS]

There ya go.

If Saddam had got himself some great big Rotweilers, he'd still be the boss.

I use a small cheap (£9) movement alarm that also operates when a pin is pulled out. I use it on a holiday property and can be extended by using fishing line to cover greater distances. It could be set at a height well above animals and would be almost invisible. I cover 4 windows with mine using screw in eyelet hooks to go around corners etc.

It could be positioned away from the tank but across the likely approach path.

[Matt]

I like that idea (for all kinds of reasons) - thanks for the suggestion and link

[1501]

How about a live one pointed in the appropriate direction?

[SS]

Glad to be of help Matt, with a little imagination they can be very versatile and almost invisible to the casual observer. Sometimes we try to be too clever and to expensive. I am currently working on a roman lock for a shed that will cost nothing and be almost impossible to open (unless you know how) It is so basic it will defeat most anyone.

[wimb1]

For anyone looking here for future reference, try here...