Hunter Geist, Author at FuelSnap

What’s a Double Wall Tank?

January 1, 2024December 21, 2023

If you’ve been shopping around for a new heating oil tank, you might’ve come across double-wall tanks. These tanks are very useful and are growing in popularity here in the United States. But like all tanks, they come with pros and cons. Before you decide to buy one of these tanks, I recommend reading our article on Granby Vs Roth tanks. We go a bit more in-depth about the differences between standard Granby tanks and Roth tanks.

How Does a Double Wall Tank Work?

Double-wall tanks are the most popular form of tank heating in Europe and are gaining popularity here in the United States. Double wall tanks come with an interior plastic tank that contains the heating oil. It is normally made from aluminum or steel and surrounds a plastic tank similar to a shell. The metal surrounding the tank acts as a backup in case the interior tank begins to leak.

As shown in the double-wall tanks here, there is a plastic interior tank and a metal exterior tank. The number one manufacturer in the United States or double-wall tanks is Roth North America.

What are the Pros of Double Wall Oil Tanks?

There are many pros to having a double-wall tank. We’ve compiled a list of the pros of the double wall tank below.

Protection from Leaks: The biggest advantage of a double wall tank is leak protection. If the interior tank were to ever receive a puncture or damage, the exterior tank will prevent that oil from spilling all over your floor. Although that isn’t common with these types of tanks, it is still a great precaution to have in case the interior tank begins to leak.

Saves Space: With these tanks being a bit taller than Granby tanks, they take up less space. This gives you the freedom to install two of these tanks close to each other in just about the same space for one Granby tank.

No Possibility for Corrosion: While your standard steel oil tank will eventually corrode over time, the interior tank will not. This is because the interior tank is plastic. The tank will eventually start to slowly deteriorate over time, but that will tank for a long time.

Less Sludge Buildup: With the inclusion of the plastic tank, you will often see less of a sludge buildup. This is because the interior tank will not rust from the inside out, which will result in less sludge production.

Better Warranty: Unlike steel tanks, double-wall tanks normally offer a longer-lasting warranty. Most of the time, the warranty tends to last 30 years, while steel tank warranties normally only last 10 years.

Like standard steel tanks, Roth tanks can be installed outside. However, most of the time they will need a steel cover if being installed outside.

What are the Cons of a Double Wall Oil Tank?

Like all tanks, there are both pros and cons to owning them. Double-wall tanks are not different. Here is a list of the cons:

They’re Expensive: One of the major cons of these tanks in particular is that they are more expensive than standard steel tanks. This is because, unlike steel tanks, they have a bit more of a complicated construction process.

Unfamiliar Technicians: Unfortunately, many technicians are unfamiliar with these tanks. Additionally, because the standard steel oil tank has been around for 70+ years, technicians tend to prefer them over double-wall tanks.

Isn’t an Exact Replacement: Double-wall tanks have a different footprint than steel tanks. You might have to make a few changes to your existing fill and vent pipes to get a tank like this installed.

The Installation is Complex: If you wish to install multiple tanks together, then a very complex piping setup needs to be put in place. This setup is very specific and you MUST follow it if you want to install the tanks correctly.

When installing these tanks side by side, it’s important to follow the process exactly, so that the tanks are properly set up.

Is a Double Roth Tank Worth Investing in?

We highly recommend investing in a double-wall tank. They are not only more compact, allowing for more space optimization, but the plastic interior tank is very useful. It provides a safe form of protection that we think is worth the extra money that it costs. Additionally, the inclusion of a 30-year warranty, makes it all the more appetizing.

However, you should consider this decision very carefully. We don’t want you jumping into anything without doing enough research. Take a look at our article on Granby vs Roth Tanks first before you decide to replace your current tank.

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Introducing the Smart Oil Gauge Duo

December 25, 2023January 31, 2024

Merry Christmas Smart Oil Gauge users! Some of you might be opening up your first Smart Oil Gauge today! This new gauge of yours will give you the ability to access your usage and oil level at the tip of your fingers! Now, put down your Christmas coffee and take out your camera because, we’ve recently welcomed a new gauge into the Smart Oil Gauge family of devices. A couple of weeks ago, we added the Smart Oil Gauge Duo to our shop. We’ve made a plethora of adjustments to the device with the inclusion of the Duo. The biggest change is no blind spot! We are especially excited about that. In this post, I’ll be going over all of the things that the Duo has to offer!

This is the new Smart Oil Gauge Duo! As you can see, it looks slightly different than the standard Smart Oil Gauge. You’ll immediately notice that on the bottom there are two sensors. One of the sensors sends date, while the other receives it.

No More Blind Spot

The best part about the Duo is that there is no blind spot! For those of you who have been using the Smart Oil Gauge for several years or so, know about the blind spot. It was located on the top eight inches of the tank and would often cause the gauge to read less oil than what was actually in the tank. In the duo, there is no blind spot!

To ensure that there is no blind spot in this gauge, we’ve designed the Duo’s dual sensor base. The dual sensor base allows the gauge to both send and receive readings at the same time. It accomplishes this by both sensors working together. One sensor sends a signal down to the oil level, while the other receives the signal. We’ve designed it this way so that we can ensure that the gauge is as accurate as possible.

Operating Range

The standard Smart Oil Gauge has an operating range of 8″-72″. As previously mentioned, the original gauge had an 8″ blind spot where the gauge would read less oil in the tank than what was there. However, the Duo now has a larger operating range due to no blind spot! With the blind spot, the previous Smart Oil Gauge only had a 6-foot operating range. Now the Duo has a 0″-72″ inch operating range! With no more blind spots, the gauge now has a larger range of operability!

Sensor Compatibility

The Smart Oil Gauge Duo is compatible with all the same tanks that the original device is compatible with. These include your standard heating oil tanks of 275 and 330-gallon tanks, with the addition of the various-sized Roth Tanks. However, it is important to note that both the Duo and the regular Smart Oil Gauge are incompatible with Roth 1500L tanks. This is because these tanks also have an interior support baffle that prevents the gauge from sending the signal down all the way. The sensor will pick up the baffle in the middle and will not be able to read past half a tank.

In regards to compatible tank fitting sizes, the Duo is currently not compatible with tanks that have 1.25″ fittings. This is because the sensor on the bottom of the Duo is too big and the Duo can’t fit through the narrow hole of the adapter. Additionally, the Duo requires a separate adapter compared to the original Smart Oil Gauge. This is because the bottoms of both gauges are completely different and each requires different inserts to send the signal properly.

Troubleshooting the Duo

One of the best parts about having the Duo is that you can take out the electronic innards to troubleshoot it. For example, say that your gauge went offline because you got a new router. If your tank is outside, you’ll be able to go outside and take the interior of the Duo out and bring it inside! This way, you’re able to troubleshoot from inside the warmth of your home!

No longer will you have to worry about going down to your crawl space or standing outside in the cold winter weather to troubleshoot your gauge! You’ll simply be able to take the electronics in without taking the whole gauge off of the tank!

Where Can You Purchase the Duo?

You can purchase the Duo on either our Smart Oil Gauge or FuelSnap websites. We have them listed at $199.00 at the current moment. They are currently the most accurate and reliable gauges that we have in our shop.

At the time of writing, the Duo listing says that it’s only available for indoor use. However, with the success of our beta-testing program and our testing from our office, we can safely say that the Smart Oil Gauge Duo can be used on outdoor tanks! The gauge’s cap will come in two parts. One part will be able to sit on top of the Duo and the other will have to tighten in on the sides.

If you don’t already have a Smart Oil Gauge Duo, I highly recommend you upgrade to one soon! They are accurate, reliable and durable and will give you the freedom of mind of knowing how many gallons are in your tank! Even after a fill.

Setting up and configuring the Duo is relatively the same compared to the original sensor! While some of the information listed here doesn’t apply to the Duo, a majority of the information in this post, definitely still apply! If you’ve got the gauge set up and need to install it, follow our Roth tank and steel tank installation tutorials!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Which is Better for Home Heating: Natural Gas or Oil Heat?

December 18, 2023October 27, 2023

If you live in the northeast United States, then you understand how important choosing a heating fuel type is. Smaller homes and condominiums usually will be offered electric heat as their main source of heating. However, larger homes do not get this benefit because it becomes too expensive to heat larger spaces. Instead, there are some more cost-effective heating fuel options such as Natural Gas. It’s become very popular in recent years and for good reason. However, is it better than Heating Oil? In this blog post, we go over the differences between the two.

Heating Oil, Propane and Natural Gas

When it comes to heating fuel types, the big three are heating oil, natural gas, and propane. Each with its pros and cons. But it’s important to choose one to be your main source of home heating. For instance, if you want to use natural gas or propane, you must have a gas stove in your home. This also means if you have it only for cooking.

Natural Gas

Natural gas has become a popular form of heating in the Northeast. However, it only tends to be available in cities or towns with a dense population. There is a network of pipes that travel underneath the street and connect to various buildings across your neighborhood. A good way to tell if your town uses natural gas is if the roads are constantly being ripped open and repaired. This is normally done to maintain the natural gas lines.

Another way to tell is to take a look at the houses in your neighborhood to see if they have a meter like the one shown below. These types of meters will track and regulate the flow of natural gas into your home. The homeowner will then be billed by the company that provides natural gas and you would then be billed for electrical usage.

Natural gas is less common in areas where homes are more spread out. This is due to the inability to properly maintain the pipes, but also the lack of clientele for this type of heat in particular. That is why you will often see most homes in quiet neighborhoods using heating oil or propane.

This is what the average natural gas meter tends to look like. If you see this in your home or a neighbors, this means that they have it connected to a natural gas supply line.

Heating Oil

Heating Oil has become a fast favorite amongst homeowners in the Northeast. It’s reliable and outputs an incredible amount of heat, putting out 35% more effective BTUs compared to propane at a much lower cost. However, heating oil prices tend to fluctuate a lot. Another benefit to using heating oil is that you store it in an oil tank. These tanks are usually indoors in your basement or garage but are sometimes outdoors.

You’ll likely also have several different oil dealers located in your town. With access to so many different dealers, you’ll be able to price shop and find a price that’s right for you! You’ll also have a lot of freedom to order when you want and from anyone you want! The immense competition ensures that you won’t be stuck with the controlling utility price of natural gas.

Heating oil is stored in a tank similar to the tank shown in the above photo here. Typically they are found in your basement and have a gauge of some sort installed into the top of the tank.

Propane

Propane is incredibly similar to natural gas. However, it is stored in tanks that are installed on your property instead of through a pipeline. The gas is stored in a pressurized tank as a liquid. This is why you will often see the abbreviation L.P, which means “Liquid Propane”. These tanks are more often than not, stored above ground and are ugly to look at.

About 95% of propane tanks in the northeast are owned by the propane dealer themselves. This tends to often be problematic, as it prevents you from ordering propane when you need it as the homeowner. This can often lead to expensive propane prices and sometimes you will find yourself paying twice as much per gallon when comparing prices to heating oil. If you are considering using propane heat, please consider reading this blog post first.

Propane tanks often look like this. Although there are smaller sizes out there, they will usually have to be installed in massive tanks like this if you wish to head a large home.

Choosing Between Heating Oil, Propane or Natural Gas

If you have a choice between these three options, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of each. Heating Oil and Natural Gas are both fantastic ways to heat your home. However, natural gas is often provided by a monopolized utility provider, so you may prefer heating oil for its flexibility. While propane is a fantastic way to heat your home, it is often controlling and expensive.

If you’d rather not have to worry about ordering a delivery or signing up for automatic delivery and would just like to have the convenience of heat flowing through your home, then natural gas might be the best option for you.

When using heating oil, it’s important to keep in mind that you cannot use it to power a gas stove, gas fireplace or a generator. You will need either natural gas or a propane tank to be able to operate those utilities.

Which Form of Heating is the Best?

If you find a home that comes with natural gas as your primary source of heat, we highly recommend it. It’s cost-effective, versatile, and can run auxiliary systems such as fireplaces, stoves, and much more!

However, if natural gas is not something that you have access to, then we recommend using heating oil to heat your home. It is significantly more cost-effective when comparing it to other forms of fuel oil such as propane and it gives you the ability to shop around and get the best possible prices available to you. Using websites such as FuelSnap will let you look at all the local dealers in your area and their prices to see which one has the best!

If you can’t get access to both heating oil and natural gas, then propane isn’t a bad option for utilities! You can use propane to heat your stove, and fireplace and a generator is perfect! While it’s powering those, you’ll be able to heat your home and hot water using heating oil! You’ll be able to get the best of both worlds!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

How Accurate is Your Tank Gauge?

December 11, 2023October 27, 2023

Heating oil has remained relatively unchanged for several decades. The same is unfortunately true for most of the heating oil tank gauges. The most basic type of tank gauge is the float gauge. These types of gauges are known to go bad over time and will constantly need to be replaced. In this post, we’ll talk about the accuracy of the float gauge and how it changes over time.

How does The Float Gauge Work?

The float gauge has a very simple design. It mounts onto the top of your tank and has a mechanical arm with a bobber at the end. Additionally, there is a plastic cylinder at the top with a colorful disc in the middle of it, that moves based on where the bobber floats in the tank. The bobbers at the end are usually made of cork. However, recently they’ve been starting to be made from plastic.

You will often see your level move up when you get a fill and decrease whenever you use oil. The disc will move accordingly, depending on how your tank level changes.

As shown in the above picture, you will see how the float gauge is normally positioned in the tank. It should be positioned enough for the arm to freely float atop the oil level, and be able to move up and down.

How to Read Your Float Gauge

The purpose of the disc in the plastic cylinder is to give you an approximate level of how many gallons of oil are in your tank. It’s important to know that the purpose of a float gauge is only to give you an approximate reading. The reading the gauge gives you will never be 100% accurate.

Another important part of using a float gauge is knowing what size tank you have. Most oil tanks tend to be either 275-gallon or 330-gallon tanks. By using the float gauge, you will need to know what the size of your tank is.

Pro Tip: 275-gallon fuel tanks will tend to measure around five feet long. However, 330-gallon tanks will usually measure around six feet long.

Once you are aware of your tank size, you’ll be able to understand what your float gauge is reading. The levels that the float gauge will read are primarily: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, or full. You can check out our heating oil tank chart to determine how many gallons are actually in your tank based on that reading.

Just to be on the safe side, however, always make sure to order oil when your tank hits a quarter full, especially when using a float gauge.

In the above image, the float will roughly show you how much fuel is in the tank. Remember that this is just an approximate and it is not guaranteed that you have that much oil in your tank due to the nature of the float gauge.

How Accurate is the Float Gauge?

Unfortunately, a float-style gauge is not going to be an accurate device to measure how much oil is in the tank. There are two distinct reasons for this.

Float Gauges Tend to Go Bad Over Time

After several years of sitting in heating oil, float gauges will build up sludge all over the bobber over time. This can weigh the bobber down, causing the gauge to read inaccurately and not work properly. In the below photo, you’ll see what a build-up of sludge will look like on the float.

Additionally, the float gauge can sometimes get stuck. If the gauge moves even the slightest, the float arm and bobber can stick on the side of the oil tank, causing the level the float reads to remain stagnant.

This is what a float gauge will look like after several years of being exposed to heating oil. This is what a consistent build up of sludge will often look like and it cannot be relied on to give you an accurate reading.

Float Gauges Don’t Put Tank Geometry into Consideration

Due to float gauge arms only being able to move up and down, they do not take tank curvature into account. While the middle of the oil tanks tend to be straight up and down, the top and bottoms of the tanks are curved. Once the oil in the tank hits the curved portions, the float gauge will look as if you are using significantly more oil once you get to the bottom 1/4th of the tank. When the float reaches that bottom 1/4th of the tank, you will see it going down faster.

The standard float gauge doesn’t take the tank’s curvature into account. There is usually less oil at the bottom of the tank than the rest of the tank. Despite that, there is a way to calculate the amount of oil in the curvature ay the bottom of the tank.

The More Accurate Heating Oil Tank Gauge

With the introduction of the Smart Oil Gauge, heating oil users now have a more reliable option to monitor their oil tanks. The Smart Oil Gauge uses an Ultrasonic sensor that detects the oil level in the tank. The gauge also knows the curvature of your tank after completing its initial setup process. It will output a specific number of gallons in the oil tank instead of just giving you an approximate level.

This is what the smart oil gauge looks like. Because it doesn’t make contact with the oil itself, it won’t get sludge built up around the sensor and lose accuracy similar to a traditional float gauge.

Track Your Usage and More with the Smart Oil Gauge

The Smart Oil Gauge will record your readings throughout the day, and you’ll be able to get an idea of how much heating oil you are using daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly! Here is just a small list of some of the benefits that come with the Smart Oil Gauge:

Current Oil Usage (Gallons Per Hour and Gallons Per Day)
Days Until you’ll be at 1/4 tank
Days until 1/8 tank
Total Gallons used per day, week, month or year

Track Monthly Usage and Reorder Heating Oil Quickly Online

With the use of the smart oil gauge, you can keep track of how much heating oil you are using. The app also directly connects to our FuelSnap website, so you can order oil directly from the app if you’re low. Using this information, you’ll be able to schedule your next order of home heating oil.

With the inclusion of the Smart Oil Gauge, you’ll be able to notice how fast you’re consuming heating oil and order it online in just seconds with FuelSnap

An Accurate Heating Oil Gauge

While the float gauge might not be accurate, the Smart Oil Gauge is! The only limitation that it has is that it can’t give an accurate reading within the top 8″ of the tank. This is the gauge’s “blind spot”. We have a more in-depth write-up regarding this blind spot here.

However, below that 8″ blind spot the gauge is incredibly accurate! Additionally, if you would like to keep your float gauge installed into your tank with the Smart Oil Gauge, then you can! The float can stay in the tank so long as you have an extra fitting to install the Smart Oil Gauge into! You’ll be able to look at the exact reading through our app on your phone! It will tell you how many gallons you have, and when you’ll run out!

Happy Heating,

The Disadvantages of Heating With Propane

December 4, 2023October 27, 2023

Thinking about making the switch from heating oil to propane? About ten years ago, this was a great way to save money on heating costs. However, now that couldn’t be any further from the truth. While several years ago this was considered to be the best way to heat, the times have changed. Before you make the switch, it’s best to be aware of the disadvantages that come with propane heating.

When you heat with propane, you’ll often have an outdoor tank that is either above ground, or buried underground. These tanks are usually always owned by the provider, which makes changing over far more difficult.

The Benefits of Heating With Propane

While it does have its disadvantages, it also has some benefits to it. If natural gas or heating oil isn’t an option in your area, then propane will offer some similar benefits. Those benefits can include some of the following:

Powering a Generator
Fueling a Gas Fireplace
Fueling a Gas Stove

Additionally, both heating oil and propane can do the following:

Heat your Home
Heat your Hot Water

Due to heating oil creating significantly more heat per gallon than propane, using it instead of propane as your main form of heating is the better choice. Heating Oil tends to be more reliable in the long run. That’s because it will often produce more BTUs than propane. Additionally, you will need 1.35 gallons of propane to match one gallon of heating oil. However, you can still use it in your home for other things. These include a gas fireplace, generator, or stove top.

Propane is extremely versatile as a fuel source. It is often used for fireplaces, stoves and even outdoor grills! However, it is very expensive to use as a long term home heating fuel source.

The Disadvantages of Heating With Propane

Propane is very similar to natural gas, except that the main difference between the two is that it needs to have a delivery truck deliver it. That alone is what makes it considered to be a form of heating oil. Another big difference is that with heating oil, you own your tank. Unfortunately most of the time with propane, your tank is owned by your supplier. This tends to lead to some overlooked disadvantages such as the following:

Switching suppliers tends to be very difficult. This is because your propane supply will own the tank 95% of the time! You do not own your tank! This means that you can only order propane through your supplier! You can’t order from another dealer, and you can even fill your tank if you run out!

It tends to be difficult to price-compare. If you try calling around to get a price per gallon, most dealers won’t tell you. They will then proceed to ask you a series of questions usually along the lines of how many gallons you plan on using this year. However, with heating oil, there is a very distinct market price per gallon. You can use our FuelSnap website to compare heating oil prices based on your local dealers and will allow you to order oil online.

Propane is very expensive! Not only does it cost more per gallon when comparing it to heating oil, but you’ll tend to need 35% more propane to create the same amount of heat as heating oil! Keep this in mind when you’re comparing heating oil and propane prices, you’ll want to multiply the propane price by 1.35 to get an accurate rate.

What’s the Best Type of Fuel to Heat Your Home With?

If you have access to natural gas in your area, then you should definitely opt for that. It’s not only incredibly versatile, it is also very eco-friendly and doesn’t require delivery. All you have to do is simply pay your bill every month like you would normally do!

However, when comparing heating oil and propane, heating oil is the clear winner. It’s less expensive and grants you more freedom when it comes to ordering and delivery. You also can price compare to ensure that you’re getting the best deal available to you.

Finally, if you still would like to use propane for other home appliances, then by all means do so! Just a single tank for these small uses can give you the heating qualities of heating oil and the versatility of propane! If you are still unsure, check out our post on Heating Oil vs. propane, where we dive deeper into this topic!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

How Much Does it Cost to Heat with Heating Oil?

November 27, 2023October 27, 2023

Heating Oil is known to be one of, if not the most popular form of heating in the Northeast United States. It’s also known to be the most cost-effective form of heating. It is readily available and can be found in seven million homes across the United States. But, how much does it cost to heat with heating oil? With oil prices in this day and age, the average home will use around $1,500 to $2,500 worth of heating oil yearly for will-call orders only. Those who use automatic delivery will often spend $1,750-$3,000 a year on heating oil costs. In this blog post, we’ll break this down and more!

Saving Money on Heating Oil

There are a lot of factors that contribute to how much it costs to heat your home. However, I’ve compiled a list of the five biggest factors that you should be aware of when trying to get the best price possible for heating.

Automatic vs Will-Call Delivery: Customers who use will-call delivery will only order oil when they need it. By doing this, they will save an additional $0.50 per gallon compared to customers who get their deliveries automatically. By using various online tools such as the FuelSnap website, you’ll be able to save a lot more money on heating costs Size of Your Home: The bigger your home is, the more oil you’ll have to burn. This is because your furnace has to work harder to heat your home. An average 2,500-square-foot home will use around 570-1,200 gallons of heating oil per year Insulation and Windows: A home that is well-ventilated and has good windows, will usually save up to 50% on heating oil costs. You can also check out our Ten Tips to Save on Heating Oil for more information Interior Temperature: The temperature you set for the interior of your home can have a major impact on how much oil you are burning. But, you can program your thermostat to optimize the temperature settings in your house to ensure that you’re not burning too much Exterior Temperature: The temperature outside can greatly affect how much oil you are burning. The colder it is outside, the more you’ll have to burn which means the more oil you’ll use!

For the average sized home in the Northeast, you’ll see an average usage of around 570-1,200 gallons of oil per year. Will-call buyers will spend about $1,200 to $2,000 yearly on heating oil costs. However, automatic delivery buyers will often spend between $1,500-$2,500 yearly on oil costs.

Average Heating Oil Costs in the Northeast

By ordering heating oil online only when you need, it you’ll save an average of $0.50 per gallon. You can use the FuelSnap website to order heating oil or look elsewhere online to get the best prices available to you. Alternatively, you can order automatic delivery which tends to be more convenient. However, it tends to be more expensive. Dealers will often charge you a more premium price for heating oil if you do automatic delivery. You can also use the Smart Oil Gauge to keep track of your oil level and gain the convenience of automatic delivery and the prices of will-call!

There are a variety of other ways to save money to get the best bang for your buck on heating oil. Some of these include sealing up drafty windows and adding additional insulation where it tends to get cold quickly. Getting a programmable thermostat is also a nice asset to have. That will allow you to optimize your thermostat’s settings to only burn a preset amount of heating oil. However, if your home has forced hot air, then you can turn off your air vents during the day to save on usage. But if you have a boiler, then it’s likely best to keep the temperature at a constant.

According to the America Energy Information Administration (EIA), oil prices were at a low point during 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. While during the 2022 season, prices took a sharp increase because of the high demand for heating oil.

The Best Way to Save Money on Heating Oil

With all this information at your disposal, you should consider which steps to take to save money on heating oil. The most instantaneous and best money-saving change you can make is to switch to will-call-only delivery from automatic. This is because automatic delivery often charges you the premium price which will cost you more. When you order oil through our FuelSnap website, you’ll save an average of 0.50 cents a gallon and sometimes even more!

You can also improve how well your home will retain heat by adding extra insulation and fixing up your drafty windows. Doing so will prevent heat from escaping your home, meaning you’ll have longer lasting heat!

Finally, try programming a thermostat to lower your home’s heat at night. When you’re not home, turn off your heat as well. This will help reduce the amount of heat you are burning and will help reduce energy costs for your home.

Happy Heating,

Hunter

When Should You Order Oil?

November 20, 2023October 27, 2023

Ordering heating oil for your home can be quite troubling. Two of the most important decisions that you can make when you’re ordering oil are how much to order and who to order from. But another question that isn’t asked as much tends to come up often, which is “When should you order?”. In this blog post, we’ll answer that question for you and tell you when it’s the right time to order!

The Basics of Home Heating Oil

If you use fuel oil to heat your home, then there are quite a few things to be aware of. Firstly, your home must have a tank to store your heating oil in. The tank will often be in your basement or garage. Sometimes, you can find it outside your home above ground, or under ground. Check out this blog post on how heating oil tanks work!

When the oil truck comes to your house to fill your tank, you will often see the driver connect your fill pipe to their truck to fill your tank, like seen in the above.

When Should You Order Heating Oil?

When you’re deciding when you should order heating oil, you’ll want to make sure that you order before you’re on the verge of running out. Ordering when you’ve still got a little bit of oil in the tank, can help prevent you from running out when you need it most.

You’ll also want to order when the oil prices are at the best they can be. To monitor oil prices, use the FuelSnap website to monitor oil prices in your area from your local dealers.

Avoid Running Out of Heating Oil

If you’ve recently run out of heating oil, it’s important to get a delivery ASAP! Take a look at this blog post here on what to do if you run out. Luckily, you can throw some diesel in your tank if you ever run out. Simply run over to a nearby gas station and get around 5-10 gallons of diesel to hold you over for a little bit.

To prevent your tank from running out of oil, we recommend you order oil when your tank is around a quarter full. This should be done regardless of season. The prices of heating oil tend to not fluctuate as much throughout the different seasons. A majority of oil suppliers work on a “cents per gallon” margin, which tends to not change very often throughout the year.

“Reorder at a quarter” is a good rule to live by.

One of the biggest reasons why you shouldn’t let your tank get down past a quarter tank is because, sometimes it can take a while for your oil delivery to arrive. A quarter tank is usually enough to hold you over for a little while. Since the average heating oil tank can hold up to 275 gallons of oil, a quarter tank is usually around 70 gallons. An average home will often burn 3-5 gallons a day during the winter months. This will give you a cushion to prevent running out of oil.

It’s important to order heating oil as soon as your tank hits 1/4 full. This will help you avoid running out and ensuring that you get the best deal you can on heating oil.

Getting The Best Price for Heating Oil Online

When you order oil online when your tank is at 1/4 full, you have an advantage. This will leave the tank with enough space to fit 150 gallons of oil. Most dealers tend to require a 100-gallon minimum delivery size. Some dealers will also give you a better price if you order 150 gallons, for others it’s 200 gallons.

When you order heating oil online using FuelSnap, you’ll be able to compare not only their prices but delivery dates as well! If you’re willing to wait a few days for your delivery of heating oil, you’ll likely get a better price! If you search “Home Heating Oil near me” on Google, you’ll get several different options! Be sure to check FuelSnap to compare local dealers in your area and their prices.

Monitor Your Heating Oil Gauge and Order when Low!

If you don’t have a working oil gauge, you’ll need to get one! Replace your current one with a brand new one so you’ll be able to monitor your oil level and usage. If you want to make sure that you don’t run out again, get yourself a Smart Oil Gauge! The gauge gives you an exact readout of your tank’s oil level and will send you various alerts whenever you need a fill, get a fill and much more!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

How Much Heating Oil Will I Burn in a Day?

November 13, 2023October 27, 2023

With Peak Heating Oil season over the horizon, it’s important to be prepared for what’s to come. Many folks have questions like “What is my local oil price?” or “How much oil will I burn in one day?”. These types of questions are being asked constantly, and for good reason. In this blog post, I’ll answer the most important question that you should know.

If you ever do run out of oil, you can stop at your local gas station and pick up 5-10 gallons of diesel. This will keep you warm for at least another day or so during the colder months, while you wait for your delivery. We touch more on running out of oil and what to do in this post here.

Ambient outdoor temperature is one of the biggest contributors to high heating oil usage in your home. During the colder days, your house might go through 5-10 or more, depending on the square footage of your home.

What Impacts your Consumption of Heating Oil?

Many factors will effect how much heating oil you’ll burn on any given day. Here are some of the contributing factors:

Outside Temperature: Your home heating oil system is constantly at work, trying to keep your home’s interior temperature warm. The colder the outdoor temperature is, the harder your heating system has to work to heat your home. That means that your system will be consuming more heating oil to warm the rest of your home.
Inside Temperature: Surprisingly, your internal temperature can affect your oil consumption as well. Setting your thermostat to around 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit provides the most comfortable indoor temperature. If you set the temperature higher, you’ll be burning more oil because your furnace will be working harder to heat your home. If you want to conserve heat, try adding some more insulation and lowering the interior temperature of your home.
Size of Your House: The bigger your home is, the harder your furnace is going to have to work to heat your home. Your home’s layout will also sometimes affect this. A ranch-style home is often harder to keep warm compared to a simple two-story home. This is because the ranch home has a bigger exterior surface area compared to the interior space. This often means there are more spaces for heat to escape from in a ranch-style home.
Insulation: A home that has good insulation will retain more heat than a poorly insulated home with single pane or drafty windows. It’s important to seal up drafty windows in an older home. This will ultimately make your home more comfortable on cold winter days.
Heating System Age: The older heating oil systems get, the more they lose their efficiency. This means that you’ll end up using slightly more heating oil over time and that heating oil will generate the same amount of heat that it would produce when it was new. Higher-quality equipment tends to last around 30 years. A new furnace will be able to pay for itself.
How You Use Heating Oil: Another consideration that you should have is what you’re heating with your oil. If you’re using heating oil for just hot water, then you’re going to burn through it a lot slower than you would with heating oil. If you use it for both heat and hot water, you’ll burn through heating oil a lot faster than you would normally with just one or the other.

This is an example of a heating boiler. Most heating oil systems use this to heat up the oil in your home to be able to heat your home.

Home Size and The Impact of Temperature

To make sure things remain simple, we’ll discuss two important factors. Those are the size of your home and the outside temperature. On the below chart, look for your home and see if you can get a broad range of usage. If you have a newer home that’s well insulated, you’ll likely have a little bit of a lower oil consumption. However, if your home is old and not well insulated, consider a higher range of usage.

This chart will be a helpful tool in telling you how many gallons of heating oil you should expect to use on your average day. For a home that is 2500 square feet, you’ll likely use 5-7 gallons of heating oil on a normal winter day.

On a normal winter day in the Northeast, you should expect to use an average of 5-7 gallons of heating oil. However, only use this as a baseline. This isn’t always the case for every home in the Northeast.

With a standard 275-gallon oil tank, you’ll have a maximum capacity of around 250 gallons. However, this doesn’t mean that you can let the tank get low. If the oil level is too low, the feel lines will tend to suck up the sludge that builds on the bottom of the tank. With that in mind, consider setting a “usage” capacity of around 200 gallons. With an average of around 5 gallons a day, that should last you around 40 days during the winter season before you would need a fill.

This is a 275-gallon tank. This is the most common tank size available in the Northeast. The tank’s maximum capacity is 250 gallons. It’s important that these tanks do not run out of oil.

Yearly Heating Oil Usage

Most of us only use oil during the colder months of the year. However, some like to use it all year round. During the summer months, if you use your oil for hot water, you’ll normally average out to 0.5-0.8 gallons of oil per day.

During the winter months, you’ll often be using much more than that. Depending on house size and outside temperature, you could be using much more oil than other homes simply because of those factors. Looking at a typical winter you should be able to follow the below graph for reference:

The Northeast’s average home tends to use around 880 gallons of heating oil per year.

Tracking Your Oil Consumption

Keeping track of your oil consumption is important, and the best way to do so is to install a sensor on your tank. The Smart Oil Gauge is the best sensor for the job! It uses an ultrasonic sensor to measure the oil level hourly and uploads that data to our servers throughout the day. You’ll be able to monitor these readings on your phone and even your computer! It will be able to provide you with usage data as well as oil-level data. You’ll be able to take a look at daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly usage data. You’ll then be able to export this data from the Smart Oil Gauge website into an Excel document for more accurate numbers.

Take a look at this graph from one of our gauges back in early 2022. It shows a consistent decrease in oil level as we burn oil. Once it gets low enough, we’ll need to get the tank filled.

Regularly Check Your Level During the Winter

It’s important that you check your oil level frequently and still have a working gauge. Check out this post here, to learn How to Replace an Oil Tank Gauge. This is important and should be taken seriously. Running out of oil can lead to sludge in your feed lines, or even worse, your pipes might freeze and burst. Set a weekly reminder on your phone to check your tank’s level, especially during the colder months of the year. Getting a Smart Oil Gauge will help you tremendously with all of this! It will alert you when you need to get a fill as well as when you get one!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Are You Using the Correct Adapter for your Smart Oil Gauge?

November 6, 2023January 26, 2024

Making sure that your Smart Oil Gauge has a proper installation is crucial for the device to accurately read your oil level. A standard pipe adapter that you would pick up at your local Home Depot or Lowe’s will not be able to help. You will need to purchase one of our adapters from our online store. We have many different sizes available for the smart oil gauge. In this post, we’ll cover all of the different types of adapters that the smart oil gauge has available to use, so you know which adapter is appropriate for your tank.

These are the adapters that we have available to us on our website. Most oil tanks do come with a standard 2″ NPT fitting, so not all tanks are required to have an adapter installed alongside the gauge.

What are the Dimensions of the Smart Oil Gauge?

The Smart Oil Gauge’s body is essentially just a short piece of piping that has threads located on both the top and the bottom. The gauge has a 2″ NPT thread which equals around 2.375″ in the gauge’s diameter. NPT or “National Pipe Tapered” fittings get threaded tighter the farther it’s screwed into the tank’s fitting. These types of fittings are great because once they get tight they create a seal.

You may be curious as to why these threads are 2″ NPT when the actual diameter is 2.375″. This is because the 2″ it’s referring to is the interior diameter of the threaded pipe. The actual exterior diameter is 2.375.

When the cap is on the gauge and the gauge is the tank, the outer dimensions are 2.8″ x 2.8″ x 5.3″. For easy access to the cap when replacing the batteries, we recommend giving the gauge at least 6.2″ of headroom above the tank. This will both make sure that the cap has proper installation and will give you access to the top of the smart oil gauge.

This is what we are talking about when we mention 2″ NPT fitting. As you can see above, the outer diameter is approximately 2.375″.

Where Should You Install the Smart Oil Gauge?

The smart oil gauge must be installed on the top of a heating oil tank. Any pipe that raises the gauge or any generic adapter will only interfere with the sensor sending the signal out properly. If your tank doesn’t have any extra fittings, then you might need to remove your current float gauge from the tank to be able to install the smart oil gauge on your tank.

If you have a fill pipe and float gauge combination, then you CAN’T USE that fitting for the smart oil gauge. The slot that the float gauge is wedged into the combination pipe is too small, it wouldn’t send the signal properly if it were to be able to be installed. We have various installation guides on how to install the Smart Oil Gauge. Depending on which tank you’re using, the process might be different. For steel oil tanks, follow this tutorial here. For Roth tank installations, follow this tutorial.

The Smart Oil Gauge or the adapter has to thread directly into the tank on the top. You **CAN’T** use a float gauge and fill pipe combination with the smart oil gauge.

Adapter for a Roth Double Wall Tank

If you have a Roth Double-Wall tank, you will need a Roth Adapter for your Smart Oil Gauge. The adapter is a requirement for installation on these tanks. Without the adapter, the smart oil gauge won’t be able to properly send the signal. The gauge’s signal is sent out in a cone-like shape and it will bounce off the bottom threads of the fitting without the help of the adapter’s guide cone.

The Smart Oil Gauge and the Roth adapter are compatible with the Roth 1000L, 1000LH, 620L, and the 420L. They ARE NOT compatible with the Roth 1500L. This is because the 1500L tanks have a support baffle in the tank’s interior that will prevent the gauge’s signal from going down all the way and the sensor will never read past half a tank. We go more over the Roth Tanks in this post here.

The Roth adapter is compatible with all Roth Tanks except the 1500L.

Steel Tank and Small Fitting Adapters

As previously mentioned, the standard tank fitting size is 2″ NPT. If you have a tank that is less than 20 years old, you more than likely have a 2″ fitting and do not need an adapter.

However, for older and rarer tanks, you will need an adapter.

1.5″NPT Adapter:

The 1.5″ NPT adapter is our most common and popular adapter. It threads into tanks that usually have an approximate 1.9″ exterior diameter.

This is what your standard 1.5″ NPT fitting looks like.

1.25″ NPT Adapter

This adapter is a lot less common when comparing it to the 1.5″ adapter. It has an exterior diameter of 1.5″.

You can refer to this adapter chart to tell you which adapter is the appropriate one for your tank.

Setting your Gauge’s Offset

After you’ve selected the correct adapter for your Smart Oil Gauge, you’ll want to set an offset for your sensor. The adapter typically raises the sensor an inch. Without programming an offset into your gauge, the smart oil gauge’s readings will not be accurate. To configure the offset you must first open up your smart oil gauge app. Follow these steps to change the offset: Settings >> Tank Style >> Advanced >> Sensor Offset. Set the offset to 1.0″ for both the 1.5″ NPT and 1.25″ NPT adapters. An offset is not necessary for a Roth Adapter.

Set an offset of 1″ to be sure that your Smart Oil Gauge is configured correctly once it’s installed into your tank.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve measured the fitting on your tank, you know what size adapter you will need! Only if you need an adapter that is! If your tank isn’t showing up on our app, please feel free to reach out to us! You can reach us via telephone (203-456-1499 Option 3) or email (Contact@smartoilgauge.com)! Just be sure to include a picture of your tank as well as the tank’s measurements so we can help you configure the right tank and make sure that your new adapter works on your tank!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

When is the Best Month to Order Heating Oil?

October 30, 2023October 27, 2023

A huge benefit to ordering heating oil is that you can buy oil based on your schedule! While some homes have multiple tanks that get a fill once or twice during the year, others only have one tank that needs to get a fill multiple times throughout the year. But with rising oil heating prices, is there a time of year that offers the best prices? In this blog post, we go over the best month to order oil!

Why do Heating Oil Prices Fluctuate so much?

To figure out when the best time to order heating oil is, it’s important to understand why prices fluctuate often. There are a total of three primary driving factors as to why heating oil prices tend to fluctuate so much:

Supply and Demand for Crude Oil
Competitive Oil Pricing/Supply and Demand of Local Dealers
How you buy heating oil (either ordering heating oil online or relying on automatic delivery)

Supply and Demand for Crude Oil

The prices for crude oil have a larger effect on heating oil prices than you might think. Home heating oil is a derivative of crude oil, which means that the global supply and demand prices can directly affect prices for heating oil. Crude oil is known as the base fuel that often sees usage in gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, and a lot of machinery lubricants.

Usually, when the global demand for crude oil declines, so does its price. This is due to oil production rates not decreasing right away, with oil producers still needing to offload their supply of crude oil. This happened in the beginning of 2020 when COVID-19 caused everything to become locked down and travel was stopped. Out of nowhere, nobody was flying on planes or even commuting anywhere for work. Due to this, there was a massive amount of produced oil that was in an overabundance. The prices for heating oil dropped drastically, bringing it to an all-time low! Some dealers even dipped their prices to less than a dollar!

With COVID-19 locking down all travel around the globe in April 2020, oil prices took a huge nose dive! There was suddenly a huge supply of oil with no demand for it! Producers needed to get rid of their supply, and decreased the price as much as they could!

The Supply and Demand of Local Heating Oil

This is another factor that tends to greatly affect the prices of heating oil. Long Island, for example, is home to hundreds of thousands of homes that use home heating oil and a large amount of heating oil dealers at their selection. The dealers in the area have to be very efficient to offer the best possible prices available and fast delivery. Due to this, heating oil prices in Long Island are cheaper than anywhere else in the Northeast United States.

In much less densely populated areas, there is normally only one or two heating oil dealers to choose from. Due to this, they can charge much more for heating oil and they don’t have to deliver immediately. This is because they control most of the heating oil in those types of areas. With less oil in supply in these areas, oil tends to be a bit more expensive.

This leads to the question of which month is the best to order heating oil. Normally you might expect prices to be lower during the summer/the off-season. But, dealers tend to make fewer deliveries during the summer because the demand isn’t as high. Due to this, dealers are less inclined to lower prices during the summer and be a bit more competitive. The below graph shows the historical price for heating oil over the past 30ish years. The takeaway here is that the supply and demand of crude oil affect oil prices and outweigh any seasonal effects or discounts that might be put in place.

The prices of heating oil tend to fluctuate with the market price of crude oil. This can be seen of the past 30 years and prices tend to not fluctuate as the seasons change. On the flip side, colder weather doesn’t always mean that price for heating oil will be more expensive.

Should you go with Automatic or Will-Call Delivery for Heating Oil?

While the price of oil fluctuates often on the market, there are two more important aspects to understand. The price you pay for oil is also determined by using either will-call delivery or automatic delivery. Both of these will very heavily influence the amount of money you spend on heating oil. Automatic delivery for starters, often charges you a “premium” price for heating oil.

Dealers can and will charge you at least an additional $0.50 per gallon, but it can even go as high as $1.00 extra per gallon or more! Imagine a winter where you paid an additional $1200 in heating oil over the year while your neighbor paid $1200 less on oil! That’s a perfect example of the difference between will-call heating oil and automatic delivery. If you use automatic delivery, then the best month to order won’t apply to you. This is because the dealer will deliver to you on time.

You’ll be able to take advantage of various deals on heating oil when you need it! Ordering from sites like FuelSnap will give you the ability to shop around for the best prices in your area! But, if you’re afraid of running out of heating oil, then installing a Smart Oil Gauge will be the best thing you can do! You’ll be able to monitor your tank from anywhere and know how many gallons of oil are in your oil tank, just by looking at the app!

The Verdict: Order Oil Any Time Of the Year

Is there a month where it would be more ideal to buy oil than others? That depends on the current market price of crude oil, but it doesn’t matter if you order in a particular month compared to another. The only real exception to this rule is when it’s very cold out which makes finding heating oil in a more timely manner difficult.

Even when we’re being hit with a cold snap, you’ll always be able to check your prices for heating oil near you with sites like FuelSnap. You’ll be able to check to see what dealers are not available as well as their prices! Ultimately, you’ll end up saving hundreds of dollars over a year.

Keep in mind that you should not be letting your tank get too low while you’re waiting for a good price to come up. If you run out of oil during the winter, your pipes will freeze and you’ll have a much bigger financial burden on your shoulders. If you were to run out of oil, the best month would no longer matter. The best thing to do is to order oil once you’ve hit a quarter tank, regardless of the time of year.

Happy Heating,

Hunter