1.5" bsp plastic boss

[Gareth J]

I want to fit one of these to my oil tank.

Fuel Tank Level Float Gauge - 4ft - Diesel, Heating Oil, Kerosene, B100, Water | eBay UK

Suitable with Diesel, Heating Oil, Lube Oils, Water, Antifreeze & B100. Fuel Tank Level Float Gauge - 4ft. The small display shows a scale of Empty 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 3⁄4 and Full - allowing the user to quickly identify the approximate fuel tank level.

ebay.us

But in order to do so, could do with a boss that can be screwed to the top of the tank. I imagine a 1.5" bsp female boss with 2 or 3 lugs around the outside that could take a screw.

I've put this here because, if I had a 3d printer and the nouse to use it, I'd probably print something suitable.

But I don't have either so am asking for help with respect to what to search for on eBay or anywhere that will sell something like that.

I suppose I could try to thread the skin of the tank with an old bit of pipe. Or reach in and put nut on the back but doesn't look like there are enough threads to do that well.

 

[Agroshield]

Please clarify. Is it correct that the top of the tank is a flat surface with no holes?

And you want to end up with a hole in it containing a 1 1/2" BSP thread?

You need an Essex flange:

1 1/2" E1/R Essex Flange

Type: E1/R Size: 1 ½" BSP Threaded Drill Hole: 64mm Flat Surfaces Only Washers: EPDM Rubber (Temperatures up to 90° Celsius) Fitting Wire: Included The clever design allows the fitter to access the job entirely from the outside of the reciprocal...

essexflanges.com

These are installable from outside.

How will you catch the shavings when you drill the big hole?

Cheaper:

Pardon our interruption...

BEWARE this one as the box is labelled 1/2"

Pardon our interruption...

A bodge would be one of these:

1 1/2 Inch PVC FBSP Full Face Flange | Pressure Pipe Systems

 

[Gareth J]

Top of tank is flattish. Nothing that a bit of sealant won't take up. There's an existing hole that holds the current, dead, Watchman sonic I was going to use. It may or may not need opening out a bit to accommodate.

Not too worried about swarf, it'll float on the oil surface forevermore I suspect and be in pretty big spirals so as not to cause issue. I guess I may be able to reach in with a catch bucket if I really wanted to.

The bodge looks perfect for my situation, so long as PVC is pretty UV and oil stable. An Essex flange would work but is disproportionately expensive compared with the unit. Would probably be cheaper to get another Watchman and screw it on.

Edit, I reckon I'd just about get away with gluing/screwing a flanged nut on the top. I've probably got one of those from an old sink lying around.

 

[hunter27]

I have fitted lots of 1/2" and 3/4" Essex bosses in copper hot water cylinders fitting the old gas circulators. You had to make sure jointing paste never came into contact with the washers or they just squidged out sideways. I can't see them being much good for diesel. They worked fine in our situation for several years until the washers had hardened with the heat and someone gave the pipe a nudge.

 

[Tigman]

Have you not got any bosses on top of the tank at all ? 40 years ago we used to change oil tanks metal ones and those type of gauges were always fitted !

 

[Gareth J]

Well, this evening... the bloody Watchman is working again! I'll give it one last chance...

 

[addjunkie]

Long stick….tis what I use….

 

[Turbo]

Long stick….tis what I use….

One time we got our tank filled I got a length of 2 x 3/4" hardwood, dipped the tank and marked the full line plus the amount. I let the wood dry then divided the distance up and marked it with white paint. Not totally accurate for a round tank but close enough.

My Uncle had a watchman and several other devices to keep a check on his oil level. One by one they all failed and finally gave in to using a dipstick (me) to check his oil.

 

[Agroshield]

...we used to change oil tanks metal ones...

In a reply above, he says the swarf from drilling the hole will float on the diesel. That makes me suspect a plastic tank.

----

It is not clear where the tank lives - he mentions UV exposure, so it may be outside. If so, anything attached to the tank needs to be waterproof so the rain and snow will not enter through the joint.

The 'glue a nut on' option would need a reliable adhesive (and plastic to plastic, if applicable, is difficult). The joint between nut and level sensor would also need some water resistance in case snow piles up and melts down the threads.

As the level sensor is in the top of the tank, whatever the sensor is screwed into should never see diesel unless someone goes mad overfilling it, so the gasket material is not too critical - the gasket is stopping the world entering the tank, not the tank contents entering the world.

 

[Agroshield]

Not totally accurate for a round tank but close enough.

Just in case you ever need it, see (another) DIPSTICK here:

mklotzpy/archived_utilities/archive_index.md at main · andygoulden/mklotzpy

A collection of software utilities written by Marv Klotz, converted into Python - andygoulden/mklotzpy

github.com

 

[Smallfry]

Long stick….tis what I use….

Tis the most reliable by far.

Until the stick is utilised for something else. I have to hide mine from SWMBO

 

[addjunkie]

Tis the most reliable by far.

Until the stick is utilised for something else. I have to hide mine from SWMBO

My old single skin tank had a see through tube sight glass. Most useful simple solution, though easily broken, so no longer vogue in the days of bunded tanks

 

[addjunkie]

Tis the most reliable by far.

Until the stick is utilised for something else. I have to hide mine from SWMBO

My stick gets used in all tanks I have, but my Mrs doesn't do sticks and outsidy things. Bit of chalk if doing all three one after the other.

The watchman junk doesn't work through thick stone walls anyway

 

[Smallfry]

My old single skin tank had a see through tube sight glass. Most useful simple solution, though easily broken, so no longer vogue in the days of bunded tanks

When we lived in Cumbria, I went back to the stick after the gauge thingy failed.

It was a 2000 litre plastic bunded tank, and curiously had a single ended plastic sight tube fitted to the outlet. Top had an open to air filter, and like all plastic tubes, discoloured to the point where it could not be read, hence the fitting of the float gauge.

This was installed by a HETAS engineer along with the outside Grant boiler at the same time

I have only JUST, on reading your comment, realised that the sight tube completely defeated the object of having a bunded tank ! It never occurred to me before

 

[Gareth J]

Yea, there is the standard issue cloudy sight glass tube. And I do get on ok with the pokey stick method - and looking at condensation line on the right days (single skin plastic).

A remote gauge is useful to have. Because I don't like doing the mental arithmetic regarding how long ago I last dipped and what the quantity is now to estimate how long we have left before a sensible fill up time.

Regarding gluing a nut (or some other threaded boss) on @Agroshield , I think your more concerned than I would be regarding water ingress. Some water in the tank, via condensation is inevitable and has to be dealt with a few times over the tank life. An imperfectly sealed bit on the top won't add significantly more. I once had a tank I was meaning to get around to replacing the broken breather on (2" BSP). It took me a year or two. I did drain the water out then and there was a good bit in it, but hadn't got to the outlet point.

 

[GRW]

I've got that same Gauge on my tank. I installed it under the "manhole" type cover of the outer bund and IIRC sort of between the removable inner lid and the 2" BSP Pipe Filler which has the Overfill Prevention Valve incorporated.

Pretty sure I just used a step drill to open out the hole so I could almost screw the gauge in with the threads to the tank polypropylene. Being under the weather cover, water ingress wasn't a concern.
It was placed where I could easily reach through the inner hatchway to screw the nut on from underneath.... but I cannot recall if I bothered to or not tbh.

 

[Agroshield]

I installed it under the "manhole" type cover of the outer bund

That does make casual from-a-distance viewing of the gauge a little challenging though.

Old style was to use a float, a cable and an upside-down scale so you could see the contents from far away:

Water tower, Rickmansworth © N Chadwick

TQ0594 :: Water tower, Rickmansworth, near to Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England by N Chadwick

www.geograph.org.uk

 

[GRW]

That does make casual from-a-distance viewing of the gauge a little challenging though.

Old style was to use a float, a cable and an upside-down scale so you could see the contents from far away:

Water tower, Rickmansworth © N Chadwick

TQ0594 :: Water tower, Rickmansworth, near to Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England by N Chadwick

www.geograph.org.uk

It does yes, but I was more concerned with protection from weather & damage, plus in my case the tank is at the end of the garden up steps behind my workshed, so it's a deliberate thing to go check it, so having to lift the lid to read the gauge is not really a biggie.

 

[Smallfry]

The gauge on ours failed. Was a float gauge.

I had checked it and put the heating on, safe in the knowledge we still had 1000 litres in the tank. A few days later it ran out, and it gets firkin cold in Cumbria in the winter.

This is why I went back to the stick ..........

 

[GRW]

The gauge on ours failed. Was a float gauge.

I had checked it and put the heating on, safe in the knowledge we still had 1000 litres in the tank. A few days later it ran out, and it gets firkin cold in Cumbria in the winter.

This is why I went back to the stick ..........

I admit I periodically remove the inner hatchway lid and peer down at the tank level with a torch to confirm if the gauge seems to be in the right ballpark.
It's behaved for several years ok so far though