Regular inspection of your heating oil levels is very important. If not checked on a regular basis the following problems may occur. When you run out of heating oil, you will be left with no heating in your house. If this is at a cold time of the year most heating oil companies will be extremely busy. Therefore you could have to wait longer for your delivery. You may also be left with no hot water, for up two weeks. Heating engineers have a call out charge so this will be another cost which could have been avoided. You may also cause damage to your pump; if this happens you can perhaps run into another cost to have this fixed. ValueOils.com recommend to have a set day to check your oil levels – that way you will remember to check on a regular basis. If you can get into a routine of checking your heating oil tank you can save yourself a lot of unnecessary bills. Also you can therefore ensure your home stays warm all winter. Below are a few methods of helping check your heating oil levels.
Electronic Gauge
There are two parts to this first there is the gauge which will be fitted to your oil tank. This allows you to easily monitor the heating oil remaining in your tank by a monitor plugged in in an easy to view location. The second element is an alarm. This will be left inside your house and will sound if you oil levels start to drop low. Therefore reminding you to order you oil.
Sight gauge
Also known as a water gauge this is a transparent tube through which you observe the level of oil contained within the tank. These can become stained with dirt and difficult to read, there is also the possibility if it isn’t installed correctly that water can get into your tank.
Dip stick
Manually checking the heating oil level in an oil tank requires the use of a straight stick. The oil will leave a mark on the stick indicating your oil levels – this is one of the most accurate methods of checking your oil levels.
Knocking tank
This is the most unreliable method of all of the above. Knocking on the tank to determine the amount of heating oil remaining in the tank. This is difficult for even the most trained ear and we would not recommend using solely this method.
Final Thought!
Running out of home heating oil can be a costly experience. As winter is fast approaching temperatures are set to fall. We shall be spending a little more to heat our homes. So to avoid extra costs, make sure to check your oil tank regularly.
However if you do run out of oil, order on line with Value Oils. We also supply the above electronic gauges, which are available to order from our site. If you have ran out of heating oil and require an engineer to call out with you, please click here.
