Never trust a gauge

  • Jonesy
    Posts: 1148
    January 30, 2019 at 2:27 pm #1831129

    So. Monday I check my fuel oil and see I have just over a 1/4 tank. Thought that seemed high but it has been a mild winter. Fast forward to this morning. I wake up and it feels cold in my house. I had my ceiling fan on so I turned it off, yup still cold. Check the thermostat and it says 54*.

    Go downstairs to my furnace room. Furnace is not running. I check the filter its good. Check the oil and it’s still at 1/4 tank. That can’t be right. Decide to hit the tank with my hand to see if I can hear if it’s empty. Well on the second whack the gauge gets unstuck and drops down to zero.

    Manage to get oil delivered to me, not even a same day surcharge. Go to bleed the furnace. Hit the reset button and it broke. I had to resort to some methods that would make Bob Vila uncomfortable but I was able to get the cover off and hit the button with my finger.

    2019 the year I go to natural gas lol.

    SuperDave1959
    Harrisville, UT
    Posts: 2816
    January 30, 2019 at 2:53 pm #1831140

    That’s the way I’ve always felt about boat fuel gauges. I’ve always wanted a easy access port with a dip stick.

    suzuki
    Woodbury, Mn
    Posts: 18715
    January 30, 2019 at 3:00 pm #1831146

    My boat gauge got me once when it first died.
    I didnt even know fuel oil was still used but it makes sense.

    CaptainMusky
    Posts: 23371
    January 30, 2019 at 3:24 pm #1831152

    Yeah gauges are always a crap shoot as to how accurate they are. Too bad there isn’t an hour meter or something that you could also track usage ala an odometer in a car. Good thing you were able to get filled up quick. That could have been awful.
    THough with the Natural Gas outage in Princeton/Foley area, there are no guarantees with that either.

    glenn57
    cold spring mn
    Posts: 12084
    January 30, 2019 at 3:38 pm #1831156
    CaptainMusky wrote:

    Yeah gauges are always a crap shoot as to how accurate they are. Too bad there isn’t an hour meter or something that you could also track usage ala an odometer in a car. Good thing you were able to get filled up quick. That could have been awful.
    THough with the Natural Gas outage in Princeton/Foley area, there are no guarantees with that either.

    I thought we had way more then enough natural gas. Like it was the energy course of the future. And there shutting down coal power plants and turning them into natural gas??

    Ralph Wiggum
    Maple Grove, MN
    Posts: 11764
    January 30, 2019 at 5:18 pm #1831188
    SuperDave1959 wrote:

    That’s the way I’ve always felt about boat fuel gauges. I’ve always wanted a easy access port with a dip stick.

    BIL has a MasterCraft ski boat, and the back bench pulls out with the fuel tank right behind it. It’s the most accurate fuel gauge I’ve ever seen. rotflol

    slipperybob
    Lil'Can, MN
    Posts: 1418
    January 30, 2019 at 7:25 pm #1831239

    LOL…I always tap the fuel gauge or whack the tank.

    Bearcat89
    North branch, mn
    Posts: 20815
    January 30, 2019 at 7:38 pm #1831246

    Our old Ski Doo snowmobile used to have a dipstick style fuel gauge my dad fell for that trick a couple times, I remember getting calls to bring him gas

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