Is anyone else seeing this tank monitoring device?

[Inspectorjoe]

Yesterday, I saw this device on a propane tank. It's a cellular dialer that monitors the level in the tank and alerts the supplier when it's getting low. It's the first time I've seen one. Are they common elsewhere?

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[Erby]

Never seen one!

[Inspectorjoe]

Never seen one!

Up to this point, 60 others apparently haven't either!

http://www.bergquistinc.com/pdf/2011/re ... llular.pdf

[Jim Katen]

Never seen one, but it's a great way to optimize delivery, especially as large propane users are often way out in the boonies.

[John Kogel]

How does it work? How does it know the tank is half full, for example?

[Inspectorjoe]

"Most add a signal sender to the standard float gauge, with hall effect and potentiometer being the two most common.

Hall Effect - The force that a magnetic field exerts on an electric current. Where gauges containing magnets are used, hall-effect sensors allow reading of the gauge position without physical contact.

Potentiometer - A type of resistor that gives an electrical resistance proportional to the measured value."

It turns out that they've been around since at least 2005 and a lot of different companies make them:

http://www.propanecouncil.org/uploadedF ... toring.pdf