www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | JULY 2016 17
to within one percent accuracy," Epstein
said. The accuracy of the gauges enables
fuel dealers to know how much fuel each
customer's tank can accept, making for
improved delivery efficiency, Epstein said.
The monitoring device transmits the
fuel level data over the homeowner's Wi-Fi
network; in cases where a homeowner
doesn't have Wi-Fi or if a propane tank
is not close enough to a house, there is an
option for a cellular monitor.
"We provide a hosted cloud service and
all of our tank monitors report their tank
levels to our service," Epstein said. Fuel
dealers and their customers can check tank
levels online.
"For homeowners, we have a mobile
app as well as a web service that they can
log into so they can see their fuel level
either at a computer or on the go from
their phone," Epstein said. "In surveys
we've done of homeowners that have our
app, 92% of them said they would rec-
ommend it to someone else." He added,
"Some homeowners are very interested in
connecting their Nest to their Tank Utility
data." The Nest Learning Thermostat,
with Wi-Fi connectivity, is manufactured
by Nest Labs, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif.
Creating such a connection can enable a
user to lower the temperature setting if the
fuel level is low, Epstein said.
Tank Utility provides fuel marketers
with a robust platform to log into, "typi-
cally from their office computer," Epstein
said. The web-hosted platform allows
them to manage thousands of tanks at
once, Epstein said, and is also accessible
from a tablet "if you're in the cab of a truck
or if you're on the go." Connecting a back
office system to Tank Utility's platform
can be done "typically in less than a day,"
Epstein said.
For more information visit
www.tankutility.com
l F O N
Tank Utility sells a kit with a float gauge for monitoring fuel oil (above, left). A Tank Utility propane monitoring installation is pictured above (center
and right images).
PHOTOS
COURTESY
OF
TANK
UTILITY