Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2.1
Gas use history
Gas use history
Bill date
Days
Therms
Jul 05
32
57
Jun 05
31
141
May 05
32
179
Apr 05
29
386
Mar 05
29
1058
Feb 05
28
1358
Jan 05
34
1174
Dec 04
29
509
Nov 04
28
380
Oct 04
30
120
Sep 04
32
56
Aug 04
31
55
Jul 04
32
69
ever, the propane and fuel oil providers charge you a set rate per gallon of fuel just
like the other providers. The rate per gallon is dependent on availability of the fuel
in your area.
Since your invoice arrives at varying intervals it is not much help in tracking
your consumption on a monthly basis. You have to rely on the gauges attached to
the tanks themselves along with the amounts (in gallons) added on each delivery.
You can still make an attempt to track your propane and fuel oil use by the month
by using a systematic method of checking the gauge on your tank regularly. For
instance, check the gauge at the same time of day on the first day of each month and
record the gallons in the tank. You also must record the gallons in the tank just prior
to each time your provider fills it along with the number of gallons added during
the fill. Propane tank gauges like in Fig.
2.2
show the volume of liquid in the tank
as a percentage. So you must know the total capacity of the tank to calculate the
gallons available. The gauge in Fig.
2.2
attached to a 100-gallon tank has 80 gal-
lons of propane inside. If this were a 400-gallon tank it would have 320 gallons of
propane inside.
Fuel oil gauges show that the volume in the tank in gallons. Figure
2.3
shows
what a typical fuel oil tank gauge might look like for a 200-gallon tank.
The Table
2.2
shows how to record these values in a log and determine your
consumption in gallons for each month.
Using the Propane Use Log in Table
2.2
you can see that this home used 77 gal-
lons in January, 56 gallons in February, 55 gallons in March and so on. Keeping
track of your propane and fuel oil consumption in this manor will help you insure
that your consumption is not outside the normal range. An abnormally high usage
during any one month might signal a problem with your heating equipment or a leak
in the tank or lines.
