If you have oil-fired central heating...

[Scrunchcake]

...you might be able to answer my question.

We've just moved into a house that has an oil-fired boiler for the water and heating - all new to me and in this cold weather I'm trying to learn fast!

There's a little plug-in wireless gauge (a Watchman Plus, fairly old I think) that the previous owner said to keep an eye on for the oil level but it's not working accurately. Based on the light and display I think we need a new power tube and to check if there's liquid in the bund. My question is, do those sound like things I'd be able to do myself as the householder or should i be getting a professional in? And if the latter, which professional? Same people as would service the boiler itself?

Grateful for any wisdom and help you can offer here 😊

To check for any liquid in the bund, just open the lid, shine a torch in the space between the bottom and look for any liquid. The gauge in the tank may need its battery replacing if it is over 10 years old. Again, open the lid and there should be a red circular thing somewhere close to the fill point on the inner tank. That should unscrew from the tank and you can then take it apart to replace the battery on the sending unit. If I remember rightly, it should be a crv 205 battery. You can always replace the unit with a new one, but for the sake of £90, it is a lot easier to replace the battery. The watchman website might have a how to video on changing the battery.

If you are unsure, just get a heating engineer to do it. The oftec website will have a listing of people close to you, who should be proficient in dealing with oil appliances

Our Watchman never worked so we went for the oh so technical technique of a stick.

Fill up the tank, stick a long garden cane in and mark off where the oil comes to, stick the cane in every week or so and mark off the levels til it's nearly run out. You can compare your stick to your watchman.

Kinda like a giant dipstick for your car!

Same here, bought our house and it didnt work so we use a garden cane!

When I had oil heating I had a key on the end of a bit of string that I chucked into the tank every so often to check the level!

We changed our oil boiler to air source heat pumps. Ditch the fossil fuel and change to a greener source of energy.

our plug doodah used to sulk a bit, but was generally reliable if the display was working....we recently got a new boiler and a new controller/thermostat affair and neither of them were happy and I wondered if they were interfering with one another

So moved the oil plug to a plug across the yard in the wash house and it's happy....always got a level and a display now
and the boiler controls also seem to be working better...no loss of signal.

This is all very helpful, thanks everyone.

We have checked the level with a cane - we realised there was a problem with the gauge when the 500l of oil we'd ordered didn't fit in the tank (the gauge suggested we had about 250 litres in a 1100l tank so should have been plenty of room). So we dipped a stick and marked it for future reference :) But it would be handy to get the gauge working if it's easy to sort out.

your boiler service person should check the bund as part of the annual visit - and oil boilers really do need an annual service.

it might be possible to replace the gauge. Go ultra-simple on it, whizzy electronics just go wrong and that is a big pain if you run out of oil.

@BubblesBuddy we'll definitely be looking at potential alternatives - I had already started researching before we moved. But we've only been here 3 weeks - think we'll need to finish unpacking before we look at big jobs like that.

Thanks @mencken. I wasn't sure if the boiler service would include the tank or not, so that's good to know. I contacted a guy today who has serviced the boiler here previously - from records I think it was last done in Feb 19 so at least it's not overdue.

My tank has a "push button sight gauge" (which I never knew until I had to look up what a bund is, too).

Yes. Wait a bit!! Op. I agree.

When we moved in, our house had two oil tanks but only one fed the boiler. As no one could see the oil levels on either, the second tank was “reserve”. Or so we thought. We then discovered it was the only one the oil tanker hose could reach. The previous owner had ladders up the sides of both tanks - and a bucket. A bucket of oil a day was transferred into the connected tank from the accessible tank!

We replaced both tanks and got the feed sorted out from an accessible position. We then had the problem that the oil company no longer had a tiny tanker and they had to fill us up from a neighbour’s drive by throwing the hose over two hedges. The time came to be self sufficient.....

We have a watchman anywhere which is remove (emails you and you can check online any time) and as long as you set it up correctly it works really well! (but we do also have a stick for just in case!!)

*Remove? Autocucumber! Remote!

After we were using the stick method and ran out of oil, we bought a simple wireless device that plugs in and then you just stick something on the underside of the lid.

I’ll show you a pic of what the plug looks like hang on

Oh! It’s a watchman, I didn’t realise. But it’s simple and seems to work ok, my husband put it on himself. It just sends a beam down from above I think to detect how much is in there.

If it’s the same Watchman as ours - old and no longer being sold - the website will tell you that you need a new power tube, when in fact all you need is to replace the batteries inside it. If you have a look on YouTube there’ll be videos showing how to do it.

It's really worth having a decent working watchman as you can get through oil fairly quickly when it's cold and the oil deliveries get busy so I tend to wait until two bars and then fill up. Also it is a problem if you run dry as the boiler needs to be reset by an engineer - it doesn't just turn on again! So don't run out basically!
We are getting Exocet additive put in this month which is apparently good for getting more miles per gallon.
Also our watchman stopped working in freezing temps so I keep a broom handle round there to get a dip Gauge! But it panics me not knowing for def and I do like the watchman. Try and get a locked gate if you can to keep out thieves. Don't get a padlock or alarm on the tank as they may cut the pipes and that is a whole other nightmare then!!!! Our local engineer advises keeping a bar of soap handy in case of leaks in tank which stops it temporarily until help arrives.

Just buy a new watchman, we bought one last summer and works 100%, we relaced the older version

@dontknowdontknow our old tank had a leak, and I fixed it with a bar of soap...the oil guy was very impressed, the new one has a double skin/bund so I should never need to do it again :o

If that's the case @scrunchcake, get your engineer to check that your watchman has been setup correctly. If it's showing something that is contrary to what the delivery driver was able to fill, I would hazard a guess that the watchman receiver has been setup for the wrong height. If so, just convert to the new watchman sonic as they work an awful lot better. Something I recommend to every customer. You can also get alarmed ones, which warn you if you have a sudden drop in oil level or get to two bars of oil, so you remember to order more

I never check our oil, but use a company that has monitored our useage over the years and just automatically come and top up when it needs it. Far easier!

However, I was worried they hadn't been just before Christmas and got the trusty garden cane out and as I did, they turned up

I have a big stick and dip the tank!

How much does it cost you for that @roussette? Always been wary of suggesting them, because you seem to end up paying 5-10p more a litre of oil, as well as your yearly payment to them.