BULK OIL INVENTORY

[rob1]

DOES ANYONE HAVE A GOOD WAY OF TRACKING BULK OIL INVENTORY? THE 500 GALLON TANKS THAT WE HAVE HERE HAVE A GAUGE ON TOP THAT TELLS 1/4,1/2,OR 3/4.BUT ALL I'M REALLY DOING IS GUESSING WHEN I TAKE A MEASUREMENT. ALSO WHEN CHARGING OUT OIL ON RO'S WE HAVE A SET PART-NO. THAT EQUALS 4 QUARTS THEN WE CHARGE ANY ADDITIONAL QUARTS OUT ALSO. MY INVENTORY WAS ALMOST PERFECT FOR EOM IN JULY BUT OFF QUITE A BIT FOR AUGUST EOM. WE HAVE TO DIAL THE OIL UP BEFORE IT CAN BE PUMPED SO I'M NOT WORRIED THAT IS BEING TAKEN WITHOUT BEING CHARGED OUT. ANY IDEAS????

[RustyParts]

Rob1,
Bulk oil can be a problem if you are trying to use someone else's tracking system. I had a similar problem with our new bulk oil tank and in trying to read the guage on the tank. It does read in inches but, no one could tell me if the guage calculated completely to the bottom or not. The only sure way I had was to take my trusty
12 foot tape measure and stick thetank every ime I needed a reading. When the bulk oil company would come to deliver our oil, I would take a reading BEFORE they start to pump and immediately after they finish. Converting thier pump readings from gallons to quarts and dividing the quarts into the difference in the inches before and after the refill gave me the number of quarts per inch that my tank carries. We have a 550 gallon tall round tank and it calcs out to 31 quarts per inch for me. After checking the before and after readings and pumped quarts for several times, I am quite confident in my quarts per inch number. Now it's just a matter of sticking the tank and multiplying by 31 to get my total quarts in the tank. The guage is close but not as accurate as even the oil company figures. Log your measurements every time your stick the tank through the month along with your in-house system's pad count and you will clearing see any large variances or trends. Also, we use a part number per QUART not oil change to keep our bulk oil more accurate. It also looks better on the customer's repair order to see 5 quarts charged out rather than a single unit of oil. and It will track all of your oil changes under a single part number for easier auditing. Yes, it was a lot of work and maintainence at first to get the bulk oil under control but, after a few weeks, I was able to cut down to sticking the tank just twice a week and my bulk oil and ATF tanks now closely folow my inventory pad figure.

[callbob]

To keep your 12' tape measure from getting oil up measure once then compare this against the built in dipstick. This will give you the correlation as to what the dipstick is measuring from. Get your high school math wizard to calculate and build you a table. Practical application of that stuff we did not pay attention to in High School. We were interested in different measurements.

As to the original post - you check in all your parts. Do the same with the bulk oil. Make the delivery person show you proof that you received what you are being invoiced for. Pumping the bottom out of a drum can be a pain and people are prone to short cuts.
As I write I wonder if we should weight our bulk freon upon receipt.

For fun count the towels your laundry service delivers and compare against the invoice. Most likely it will be right, but keep the honest people honest, let them know you are watching.