Propane tank homeowners - time to smart monitor that 500 gallon beast!

My propane tank is far enough from the house to be a pain-in-the-rear to check frequently. Usually I remember at midnight as I'm lying in bed that I needed to see what the current level is.

Yesterday I checked and it was at 50%.




Today the heater didn't work on that side of the house. So while I thought I had 250 gallons left, apparently I have NONE because my shitty gauge is stuck.

So there has to be a better way right?

If i'm going to replace my shitty non-working gauge then I'm going to spend a little more for peace of mind.

I discovered this and it seems promising:

Tank Utility - WiFi Propane Tank MOnitoring



So you need a few things:

1. Smartphone (check)
2. R3D gauge (i don't have one, but they will sell you one for $15 that will work with your tank)



3. WiFi signal at your tank. I think my signal reaches this far but its going to be a little weak so I might have to mess with my router.


The device is WiFi, but it only 'turns on' for a few seconds every 6 hours to send the current percentage to the cloud and you can pull that on your android or iPhone app.

Looks like this solves the WiFi battery drain issue, because:

quote:

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We send out Tank Utility monitors with 3 AA long-life lithium batteries that are expected to last 2.5 years.

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They also said they will provide direct support for their API if you want to pull the data into another app.

Wink/Smart Things integration does not appear to be quite there yet, but if/once that comes, this sounds like an even better solution.

So...I'm in! For $200ish, I will never have to worry about running out of propane again with snow predicted tomorrow morning.


I'm already playing with the app.