How To Read Your Oil Tank Gauge
Things you should know
It’s important to avoid having an empty oil tank. If you run out of oil on a cold day, it’s a real inconvenience. You’ll have to wait until more oil is delivered to have a warm home and hot water. Letting your tank run down to empty can also cause debris to clog your oil filters. That can reduce the efficiency of your heating system and eventually cause it to fail.
There are additional reasons to avoid an empty oil tank. Your HVAC equipment can be damaged by any sediment or impurity that gets pulled into the feed line. Finally, water can collect in an empty tank and cause it to rust. Having rust in your oil tank can cause your heating system to fail.
Now that you know how important it is to make sure you keep enough oil in your tank at all times, let’s review how to tell how much oil is in your tank by reading your oil tank’s gauge.
How to Read Your Oil Tank Gauge
Step 1: Look for a clear glass or plastic cylinder near the top of the tank. It should look like your car’s fuel gauge with the following symbols: F, ¾, ½, and ¼. There should be a red marker or float indicating the tank’s fuel level. If it’s not visible, you tank is either empty or almost empty.
Step 2: Make sure the gauge is working properly. Remove the outer case and gently press down on the float. It should bob back up to where it was. If it doesn’t, the gauge isn’t working properly, and you should call for service.
Step 3: When your gauge gets close to ¼, it’s time to order more fuel. The colder it gets and the larger your home is, the faster your heating system will go through oil and the sooner you should order more.
The Benefits of Automatic Delivery
If you’d like to eliminate the task of reading your tank’s gauge, sign up for automatic delivery with Black Bear. It’s convenient and will mean you’ll never have to worry about your oil tank levels again. Instead, Black Bear will use our scientific degree-day system to accurately calculate and predict your home’s heating oil usage. We’ll then deliver fuel to your home on an as-needed basis. All you have to do is enroll, and we’ll take it from there. With automatic delivery, you’ll avoid all the costly problems that running out of heating fuel can lead to, such as frozen pipes, boiler problems, and additional restart costs and delivery fees.
Black Bear has a large fleet of trucks that are always ready to serve our customers—even when other can’t. We also offer our customers a few different convenient and money-saving payment programs.
Contact the Bear when you’re ready for your next heating oil delivery or to sign up for automatic delivery. Black Bear Fuel Oil offers our Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster county customers prompt and reliable service. Click here to see if we’re in your neighborhood.