Oil Tank monitoring?

I’m looking for this as well… I have one of those newfangled valves that has a magnet and a sensor and it beeps a remote when the oil level gets to a particular point.

I can imagine that this would be possible, but I haven’t put enough thought into what kind of hardware you’d need to use to make this work with ST.

There are a lot of projects out there using Arduino and different types of sensors to figure out oil levels in tanks, so I can imagine that it might not be difficult to integrate something like this into the current ST ecosystem.

This has to be a high demand application. How many of us are using SmartThings to monitor our summer/weekend homes?

The sensor seem like the easy part. There are solutions like this one.

But where to go from there? Someone have a nifty Arduino app that can monitor a voltage rant and send it to ST?

Hi,

I found some options working with Zigbee. The question would indeed be; how can this be integrated with Smartthings?!


http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/distance-up-to-800-meters-Zigbee_1492651684.html?spm=a2700.7724857.35.1.k9E3X8

KO

Zigbee uses the “zigbee home automation” profile (ZHA 1.2. ). Most industrial monitoring devices use a different profile, Such as zigbee green power. The two are not compatible.

In addition, many manufacturers add their own encryption layer on top of zigbee. This is often done as a security step. these devices will generally only be compatible with controllers of their own brand.

So if the device says it uses zigbee ZHA 1.2, there’s a shot it will be compatible with smartthings. Otherwise probably not. Different profiles don’t even use the same addressing schemes.

Meanwhile, this thread might be of interest:

**[quote=“cassmie, post:1, topic:6511, full:true”]
Anybody come across a way to monitor the oil level of a residential oil tank? Currently there is just a simple float that registers the level on the top of the tank.
[/quote]

**Got tired of waiting for someone to create a device that texts me when my oil tank needs to be filled, so I devised a method to do it myself. Now when the float hits 1/4 of a tank, I get a text message. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

I just took an open/close door sensor and put the magnet on top of the gauge. When the gauge with the magnet goes down to a 1/4 tank it in essence closes the door sensor. The closing event triggers my SmartThings home automation system to send me a text message.

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If you have a rotating gauge, that makes sense if it can handle the weather conditions . There are other people who have done something similar with deadbolts on doors.

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Hi All,

I ran out of heating fuel again this week end !
I was also looking for a solution for tank level monitoring for some time now.

Rather than trying to develop a DIY system, I came across this solution today and I will certainly give it a try.
This is “smart” tank level monitoring system. It is initially build for Domestic Oil Heating tank monitoring, but this can monitor any liquid.
In short, the system has a sensor on the tank + a RF hub (connected to your router) with an RF link (150 m) between the tank sensor and the hub.
With this system, you can access your oil levels and other data on the Web or via a dedicated Android/iPhone app.
Features include:

  • real time level reading
  • history recording / trend
  • low level email alert
  • sudden level drop email alert (ie you have a serious leak or someone is siphoning your tank!)
  • estimated remaining days in the tank (based on consumption trend) etc…
  • etc

I had a chat with them today and was well impressed with the product and solution…
One account can have several tanks.
As far as I know, they don’t have an external API (as yet) so can’t access the data outside their ecosystem (but can access via web)

Have a look at www.oilpal.com
This ticks all the boxes (and more) for my requirement)…
I am likely to get one of these and install it…

Tony.

Interested in a connected system for Oil monitoring, and found this solution on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Oil-Gauge-Wi-Fi-Heating/dp/B01M2VATHS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494007565&sr=8-1&keywords=smart+oil+gauge. Looks like it connects to WiFi, but it does not support z Wave or BigZee, so no OOB integration with SmartThIngs hub. Can WiFi devices be integrated with SmartThings (ex: Samsung SmartCam integrates with the SmartThings App)?

=== Update, 4 months with an oilpal sensor ===
4 months ago, I got and installed an OilPal sensor, www.oilpal.com, (see my previous post above)

This is a fantastic product it works absolutely flawlessly and does exactly what I wanted/needed.
I can check my tank level in real time from anywhere on the web or via the dedicated Phone app (iOS/Android)
I now know my consumption vs time, how much I consume per day/week/month/year…
I get automated email alert (low level and refill), I can set up (%) the Low Level email alert.

Set up was super easy… just a few minutes and I was good to go.
I did initially put the wrong measurement for my tank (double skinned) but a quick chat with the support and that was sorted in seconds… These guys know there stuff and found the tank parameters in their database just from the name and reference of the tank.

The level measurement accuracy is spot on…
I ran low on fuel, called my fuel company for refill and, while at work, I received an automated “refill alert” email telling me that my tank level was +1000L! I could text the Fuel company to thanks them for the prompt delivery…

It will also send you an Alert in case your tank level change in an usual manner (different to your daily consumption), ie if you have a sever leak or someone is syphoning your tank!

I am confident I won’t run out of fuel ever again!
Re-priming my fuel line and the boiler are now a thing of the past !

Brilliant, affordable product and excellent service!.
Everyone should have one on their tank.

Hi Tony,

That is great info!

What type of tank do you have and did you find any integration with ST?

Thanks!
KO

I tried to order one at https://oilpal.com/ and was told they were not available in the US because the frequency wasn’t allowed here. The online order form only allows shipments to the UK and Ireland.

@Happytoon, are you able to shed any light here?

Has anyone used this setup, I was thinking about getting one? It looks like very compact simple unit, this also works in the US.

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Indeed, I am in the UK… and had no problem getting an oilpal sensor.
The US spectrum regulation is likely to be different in the US?

This system looks similar to the OilPal one.
The difference seems that the smart oil gauge connect directly over Wi-Fi whereas the Oilpal comes with a small “RF Modem” which needs to be powered (power supply) and connected to the network via Ethernet. The OilPal uses low frequency RF (rather than the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi) hence likely to have a better range to read data from an external tank in the garden, where wifi coverage may not reach?

I have that gauge and it does work well, but they have no way to connect it to Smartthings. They have a separate app, website and an Amazon Alexa skill.

Is there a way to scrape data from a webpage and use that in Smartthings?

This forum is for people who are using the Samsung smartthings home automation platform.

This thread is for people looking for devices that will integrate with that platform.

So are you saying that your device has a SmartThings integration? If so, how does it work?

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Thanks so much for sharing the info on these remote oil tank solutions. This is exactly what I have been looking for to remote monitor a long distance property rental. Very helpful!

Any new devices discovered that integrate with ST to monitor an oil tank?

Hi there,
You’ve had the oil tank monitor for some time now, is it still working as well?

I’ve had previous bad experience with other types on monitors which stopped working - water into the sensor.

Many thanks
Jeanie

Hi Jeanie,

My Sensor also stopped working at some point last year. I chatted online with OilPal and they sent me a replacement free of charge despite being well out of warranty… (I did pay for the shipping cost to send my old sensor back to them!).
I have now been using them for a few years… Top company and top support… very helpful.
My “new” sensors is now working for the past 8 months, all good …
Very happy with the product, solution and company.
BR
Tony.