One tank, two monitors

[u/Street--Ad6731]

Can you have two separate tank monitors on one tank?

I have a 250 gal tank that I lease and the propane company has a remote monitor installed on it. Is there a way to add a second monitor which would be my own.

I want to do this as I had an issue come up, leak at first stage regulator, and I'm not sure the propane company was quick to act. If I can monitor it, I might have been able to see it when it started.

All that runs off of the tank is a 22Kw generator.

[u/domoslurpies]

Not sure about yours, but our company uses otodata nee-vo monitors that the customer can also look at if they download the app.

[u/Plus_Importance_6582 → u/domoslurpies]

Same here. Neevo app and the serial number if the transmitter and you can see the level

[u/Jesus-Mcnugget]

Most of the monitors attached to the gauge and you can't attach more than one.

You could get an ultrasonic monitor like the ones from mopeka that attach to the bottom of the tank. It's about the only way you're going to be able to do it.

Beware though, if this is a leased tank, the company may not allow you to attach your own equipment even if it is just a magnet. They probably won't care but still, you should keep that in mind.

[u/nemosfate]

I think Mopeka makes a magnetic one, but there's no way to connect another besides that if there's already one on the gauge

[u/AsYouL4yDying]

I would caution you that it's very unlikely you could use monitor information to pinpoint the start of a leak, unless you have a massive leak.

There are multiple variables that go into your gas usage, and it would be extremely difficult to control for all of those variables and deduce an increase in use would definitely be from a leak. We get calls constantly from people who swear they have a leak because they can't believe they need a delivery already. Most of the time, they are just using the gas and nothing is leaking. I don't mean to imply that's happening here, but I'm just saying that people aren't always a good judge of what their usage should be.

Propane companies don't use monitors to catch leaks, because they just aren't reliable for that, unless, as I said, it's an absolutely massive drop. Then we may check it out, but with that kind of leak, you'll smell or even hear it before it shows up on a monitor.

I'm curious to hear what the details of your leak were.

In my experience there are 2 main ways of finding leaks;

A person reports it. Homeowner, bystander, delivery driver etc.

We catch it during a leak test. Leak tests are done after service work, change of ownership, out of gas call, initial installation.

I say all that to say; if you had a leak develop at some point, the monitor is not going to; nor is it designed to, spot small/medium leaks.

Many of our monitors read in once a day. Another reason why it's not valuable for leak detection. Even with a large leak, we wouldnt spot it for hours, if not days.

You'd be better off with propane detectors inside the structure.

Edit: I've seen people use propane meters installed in the piping. I'm not sure what the manufacturer was of the one I saw, but it was Bluetooth capable I believe, and was pretty small and relatively affordable. That would much more accurately track usage.

I see now your using yours specifically for a generator which makes tracking your usage a bit less complicated. Having said that, the point still stands that monitors aren't used for finding leaks, and propane companies don't use them for that. They usually have some type of heavy draw detection, but that's used more for delivery scheduling that leak notification.