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How To Read Your Fuel Tank Gauge

A simple how-to, and how to make it even easier!

reading fuel tank gauge maineDo you use heating oil and/or propane in your southern Maine home?

If so, there’s something important you need to know how to do: how to read the tank gauge levels on your heating oil and/or propane tank so you know how much fuel you have left.

That’s especially important if you use Will-Call to schedule your fuel deliveries. Why? With Will-Call, YOU are responsible for monitoring your fuel usage and contacting PitStop Fuels to schedule a delivery.

That means you are also responsible for any extra costs if you forget and run low, or, worse, run out, you have to call for an emergency delivery. And with a run-out, you’re also responsible for any expenses related to a run-out when it comes to your equipment and appliances.

This is necessary information to have, because what you don’t know can hurt you in this case! You can skip all that hassle with our Automat Delivery option, which we’ll get to shortly.

Reading a heating oil tank gauge

The gauge is usually located on top of the tank, and is a clear glass or plastic tube marked with numbers that look like the gas gauge in your car: F, ¾, ½, ¼. A red marker or float indicates how much fuel is left in your tank. If the float is at or near the bottom of the gauge, or not visible at all, your tank is empty or almost empty. Contact us immediately to schedule an emergency delivery.

If outdoor temperatures average 32˚ Fahrenheit over a 24-hour period, a 2,500-square-foot house uses about seven gallons of heating oil in a day. If you let your 275-gallon heating oil tank (the size of most residential oil tanks) get down to 25% full, you have enough heating oil for maybe a week if you’re using your home heating equipment with regularity. That’s why we recommend you don’t ever go below 30% before scheduling a delivery.

Reading a propane tank gauge

On your propane tank, look for the round dial that looks like a car’s speedometer. While heating oil tanks use fractions, the numbers on the dial indicate the percentage of how full your propane tank is. If the needle is on 50, your propane tank is 50% full. As with heating oil, don’t let your tank fall below 30% full before requesting a delivery if you’re a Will-Call customer.

Avoid the tank gauge worries with Automatic Delivery

We get it. Life can be pretty busy, and sometimes tasks like this get get forgotten. But forgetting to read your tank gauge can have some consequences.

When you enroll in Automatic Delivery of heating oil and propane, you can have peace of mind knowing PitStop Fuels is on the job! With Automatic Delivery, we use a state-of-the-art computer system to monitor your propane usage along with current weather conditions. With that data, we can accurately predict when you will need a delivery of heating oil and/or propane, and schedule a delivery to your home before you run low, without you needing to do a thing.

Contact us to find out more about Automatic Delivery and enroll in it, today!