Level indicator

[nhengineer]

Greetings,

Hopefully someone has already tinkered with this idea and will supply some helpful information. My fuel oil tank is in the cellar; dirt/mud floor cellar. I'm purposely not on automatic delivery. That way I can control when and how much oil I get.

Problem is, at 74 years old, I have to schelp down really creaky cellar stairs and wade through ankle deep mud to check the Mickey Mouse designed level indicator which may or may not be telling me the truth. I may need to do this more than once during an oil fill cycle to make sure I'm not above 1/2 tank or haven't gone below 1/4 tank.

It seems like I could use a pressure sensing device like one used in a top loading clothes washer to illuminate an indicator light mounted next to the thermostat that would be activated when the level goes below 1/4 tank. It would need to address a N/O relay that would close when the washer device thinks the 'water' level to be less than adequate.

It would work in reverse of its original intent of course but, even if the hose were to fail, there would be no danger of oil shorting out the device since oil isn't electrically conductive. It would make a mess on the floor but the floor is already a mess.

Any suggestions will gratefully accepted.