home heating oil

[genius]

Have a Smart oil gauge on my tank. Can track usage and get notifications on my phone if levels are getting low. They are local out of Danbury, smartoilgauge.com

Be advised: Petro 4(?) years go during a maintenance/cleaning (included as part of contract)asked if I would be interested for no charge to install smart oil gauge. They said it was a win-win as I could get real time oil consumption (or weekly or whatever I wanted) online and they would save them money as only doing deliveries when my tank needed oil instead of estimating based on past usage, degree days, etc. The gauge communicated via WIFI to my home network and I gave them access to the gauge.

Being a tech geek I said "sure"

Anyway, no longer being used by them as too much trouble and they said would I mind leaving it there unused as it didn't interfere with anything ( the old float gauge was still there) and they had a cost $, i.e., tech time, to remove it. Again no problem. When I had my tank replaced (last year?) the smart gauges went with it.

IDK (or care) if it was a smartoilgauge.com product.

 

[Chrome Dome]

Be advised: Petro 4(?) years go during a maintenance/cleaning (included as part of contract)asked if I would be interested for no charge to install smart oil gauge. They said it was a win-win as I could get real time oil consumption (or weekly or whatever I wanted) online and they would save them money as only doing deliveries when my tank needed oil instead of estimating based on past usage, degree days, etc. The gauge communicated via WIFI to my home network and I gave them access to the gauge.

Being a tech geek I said "sure"

Anyway, no longer being used by them as too much trouble and they said would I mind leaving it there unused as it didn't interfere with anything ( the old float gauge was still there) and they had a cost $, i.e., tech time, to remove it. Again no problem. When I had my tank replaced (last year?) the smart gauges went with it.

IDK (or care) if it was a smartoilgauge.com product.

had an Alice for 4 years or so, but it finally died. Switched to this since it had better measurement of usage, every hour instead of once a day. Since we are traveling more I can check it especially during winter time to make sure tank has oil or a leak has not started by usage skyrocketing. Same reason I put in a Phyn for water line monitoring and remote shutoff.

 

[TheRicker]

Be advised: Petro 4(?) years go during a maintenance/cleaning (included as part of contract)asked if I would be interested for no charge to install smart oil gauge. They said it was a win-win as I could get real time oil consumption (or weekly or whatever I wanted) online and they would save them money as only doing deliveries when my tank needed oil instead of estimating based on past usage, degree days, etc. The gauge communicated via WIFI to my home network and I gave them access to the gauge.

Being a tech geek I said "sure"

Anyway, no longer being used by them as too much trouble and they said would I mind leaving it there unused as it didn't interfere with anything ( the old float gauge was still there) and they had a cost $, i.e., tech time, to remove it. Again no problem. When I had my tank replaced (last year?) the smart gauges went with it.

IDK (or care) if it was a smartoilgauge.com product.

I remember when Petro was pushing them, then a year or so later the techs were calling them useless. I'm glad I said no .

 

[genius]

I remember when Petro was pushing them, then a year or so later the techs were calling them useless. I'm glad I said no .

There was no downside to trying them out — no cost to me and if i didn't find it useful I just wouldn't use it. About the size of a grapefruit I guess and they installed it on one of the unused ports on the tank.

Don't know why they found it useless as when they filled up the tank the reading was more accurate than the float gauge (subtract the gals added from the capacity of the tank and it corresponded to the reading before they filled it.) Nice idea not to rely on degree days for scheduling.

Anyway, they took it away with the old tank when I got a new tank.

 

[TheRicker]

There was no downside to trying them out — no cost to me and if i didn't find it useful I just wouldn't use it. About the size of a grapefruit I guess and they installed it on one of the unused ports on the tank.

Don't know why they found it useless as when they filled up the tank the reading was more accurate than the float gauge (subtract the gals added from the capacity of the tank and it corresponded to the reading before they filled it.) Nice idea not to rely on degree days for scheduling.

Anyway, they took it away with the old tank when I got a new tank.

I was told the the Wi-Fi connection part of it was where the failure mostly came from. Cause Petro was supposed to be getting the readings so they knew when to come for their auto delivery customers. I don't think they were getting bad readings, they just weren't getting the readings consistently enough. Not sure if that falls on the maker of the product or people having crap wi-fi or a little bit of both.

 

[genius]

I was told the the Wi-Fi connection part of it was where the failure mostly came from. Cause Petro was supposed to be getting the readings so they knew when to come for their auto delivery customers. I don't think they were getting bad readings, they just weren't getting the readings consistently enough. Not sure if that falls on the maker of the product or people having crap wi-fi or a little bit of both.

The smart gauge uses an ultrasonic sensor. So it uses sonar techniques where the travel time of a sound pulse (a ping) sent down and reflected back from the oil is measured. This method can be very accurate.

When I played with it I got a reading and a time stamp every time — then again since I'm a technical type my home's wifi is excellent.
too bad — nice idea to cut down on oil delivery costs to the company.

 

[trigeek]

I'm not claiming that your deal wasn't good. I was just commenting on the word Free

To wit copied directly from Slomins site:

$3.699, with 12 month price lock.
Slomin's Service Plan Invoiced at $199.0

$3.999, with 12 month price lock
Slomin's Service Plan included free

Does this contract also include the tuneup?

 

[genius]

Does this contract also include the tuneup?

Don't know about Slomins' contract but petro's does include 1 tune up/yr

I had Slomins for 1 year maybe 9 years ago (I couldn't come to an agreement with Petro on price) and contract included tuneup

 

[HansUlrich]

I have a service contract which comes in handy because my boiler is about 15 years old and shit happens. And when it does they are there in within a few hours. The contract also includes free tune up every fall.

For me the peace of mind is worth it.
I'm on a budget plan with the cost per gallon capped at $4.99. Two years ago before the price went out of control I was capped at $3.99.

They come on a regular schedule so I always have oil. Again peace of mind is worth it to me.

I work from home four days a week and blast the heat and walk around in my underwear.

Service contract was what we had too. Oil may have been a tad more per gallon, but the piece of mind was worth it to me.
Like you said, things happen. Had the tank spring a leak in the basement, and they caught it and took care of it by replacing the tank.
Since the move to Florida, set the same thing up with the AC folks. Speaking from experience, the AC repairs can be more expensive than heating repairs, and both equally important. A little piece of mind has a lot to be said for it.

 

[MayorSimpleton]

Service contract was what we had too. Oil may have been a tad more per gallon, but the piece of mind was worth it to me.
Like you said, things happen. Had the tank spring a leak in the basement, and they caught it and took care of it by replacing the tank.
Since the move to Florida, set the same thing up with the AC folks. Speaking from experience, the AC repairs can be more expensive than heating repairs, and both equally important. A little piece of mind has a lot to be said for it.

They didn't replace the tank for free did they?

 

[HansUlrich]

They didn't replace the tank for free did they?

They did, actually, I should have included that. They were really good about it too. Cleaned it up, took reading of the air quality to make sure it was safe. They were great.

 

[genius]

They did, actually, I should have included that. They were really good about it too. Cleaned it up, took reading of the air quality to make sure it was safe. They were great.

That is a spectacular maintenance contract. Certain things are specifically excluded from petro's that are considered end of useful life. For example a 40 year old oil tank that started to weep oil because of corrosion is not included in the contract. Also plumbing is not included for example a circulator is as it isnt plumbing

 

[MayorSimpleton]

They did, actually, I should have included that. They were really good about it too. Cleaned it up, took reading of the air quality to make sure it was safe. They were great.

That's like winning lotto. That job is about $4k at least.

 

[genius]

That's like winning lotto. That job is about $4k at least.

It's a big job:
Old tank has to be drained (pumped outside into a spare tank they bring)
Old tank has to be taken out (doors had to be removed, full path from basement to truck had to be cover with oil impervious covering.) and then disposed off
New tank brought into basement, installed.
New fill piping installed.
Oil in temp tank pumped into new tank.

 

[HansUlrich]

That's like winning lotto. That job is about $4k at least.

The company we had was Perillo Brothers, based on 109 in Farmingdale, just west of the self storage place. 1042 Collision is right there too.
The owners we bought from used Perillo, and we just continued the plan.
All in all they were pretty good. I’m not sure if they still offer THAT plan, but it’s worth checking out. And this was over thirty-nine years ago that we bought the house. Between fifteen and twenty years since the tank was replaced.

 

[HansUlrich]

That is a spectacular maintenance contract. Certain things are specifically excluded from petro's that are considered end of useful life. For example a 40 year old oil tank that started to weep oil because of corrosion is not included in the contract. Also plumbing is not included for example a circulator is as it isnt plumbing

i know it’s an expensive issue to repair.
we had Perillo Bros., based in Farmingdale.
The plan we had, was in place already from the previous homeowner, mind you this was thirty-nine years ago that we bought the house in East Islip. I cannot tell you if they still offer THAT particular plan, but it might worth checking out. Their fuel price is higher than others in the area, but they did maintain our equipment on a scheduled regular basis.

 

[genius]

i know it’s an expensive issue to repair.
we had Perillo Bros., based in Farmingdale.
The plan we had, was in place already from the previous homeowner, mind you this was thirty-nine years ago that we bought the house in East Islip. I cannot tell you if they still offer THAT particular plan, but it might worth checking out. Their fuel price is higher than others in the area, but they did maintain our equipment on a scheduled regular basis.

From a business point of view it doesn't make sense for these companies to include things such as end of life replacement for major items such as boiler or a oil tank.

A maintenance contract covers just what it's name says — maintenance. End of life is not maintenance.

 

[The Exiled]

Does anyone have a current price for oil that they just paid recently??

 

[6x6foru]

Does anyone have a current price for oil that they just paid recently??

$3.52 a gallon based on 100 gallons

 

[billyS]

$3.52 a gallon based on 100 gallons

Was that with a contract or on the spot market?