aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/build/over-engineering-an-oil-tank/index.html
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorBradley Taunt <bt@btxx.org>2024-07-02 14:22:21 -0400
committerBradley Taunt <bt@btxx.org>2024-07-02 14:22:21 -0400
commit3f6a9546ec13063d0d5bdf21d30a93d3e8aa6050 (patch)
tree947985c4eda1bceb1910bc01739c32fd0baad181 /build/over-engineering-an-oil-tank/index.html
parent14074019d62d98885c4c764401a9e7e1fd129f79 (diff)
Rebuild changes based off latest barfHEADmaster
Diffstat (limited to 'build/over-engineering-an-oil-tank/index.html')
-rw-r--r--build/over-engineering-an-oil-tank/index.html84
1 files changed, 84 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/build/over-engineering-an-oil-tank/index.html b/build/over-engineering-an-oil-tank/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07d586e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/over-engineering-an-oil-tank/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+<!doctype html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+ <meta charset="utf-8">
+ <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
+ <meta name="color-scheme" content="dark light">
+ <link rel="icon" href="data:,">
+ <title>Over-Engineering an Oil Tank Gauge</title>
+ <link href="/atom.xml" type="application/atom+xml" rel="alternate" title="Atom feed for blog posts" />
+ <link href="/rss.xml" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate" title="RSS feed for blog posts" />
+<style>*{box-sizing:border-box;}body{font-family:sans-serif;line-height:1.33;margin:0 auto;max-width:650px;padding:1rem;}blockquote{background:rgba(0,0,0,0.1);border-left:4px solid;padding-left:5px;}img{max-width:100%;}pre{border:1px solid;overflow:auto;padding:5px;}table{text-align:left;width:100%;}.footnotes{font-size:90%;}</style>
+</head>
+
+<nav>
+ <a href="#menu">Menu &darr;</a>
+</nav>
+
+<main>
+<h1 id="over-engineering-an-oil-tank-gauge">Over-Engineering an Oil Tank Gauge</h1>
+<p>2020-09-09</p>
+<p>I almost went down the path of investing a huge amount of time and effort into fixing a stuck oil fuel tank float-gauge in my house. Recently, the float mechanism became stuck and permanently displayed <code>empty</code> regardless of how much fuel was in the tank - not ideal. It&#8217;s a 20 year-old tank, so I wasn&#8217;t surprised that the float finally gave out. </p>
+<p>Being the wannabe tinkerer that I am, a light bulb went off in my head and I started thinking on how to incorporate some ultrasonic system to display the accurate fuel reading digitally. Obviously my first thought was just to replace the float gauge with a new one and be done with it. That didn&#8217;t sound very <em>fun</em> though.</p>
+<p>I briefly looked at other similar projects and started brainstorming the best way I would implement this for my own situation. The best option I came across seemed to be this: <a href="https://scottiestech.info/2017/10/24/diy-ultrasonic-fuel-gauge-level-sensor/">DIY Ultrasonic Fuel Gauge &#47; Level Sensor</a></p>
+<p>An ultrasonic system with a cool mini display sounded pretty rad - much cooler than just replacing the broken gauge with a new float arm. So it was settled.</p>
+<h2 id="my-oil-think-tank">My oil think-tank</h2>
+<p>I quickly thought through my options in my head before jumping too far into things (and even included a &#8220;poor-mans&#8221; temperature strip option):</p>
+<table>
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th>Solution</th>
+<th>Cost</th>
+<th>Time</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td>Ultrasonic Gauge</td>
+<td>$40-50</td>
+<td>~2-3 hours</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>New Float Gauge</td>
+<td>$25-30</td>
+<td>~45 minutes</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Temperature Strips</td>
+<td>$10</td>
+<td>~2 minutes</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>My mind was still set on building and implementing the ultrasonic option. It would be a great learning experience at the very least!</p>
+<p>So, before I ordered any parts or started designing a case that would house this new super-cool device, I went to investigate&#47;remove the float gauge to get a better look at the damage. With the help of some penetrating oil (the original installer went crazy with the pipe dope) and my trusty wrench, I opened up the gauge cap, partly lifting the float from the tank. Right away I noticed that the float and shaft were slightly stuck together in one small area. I poked it with my finger.</p>
+<p><em>The float set itself back into the correct position. It was fixed.</em></p>
+<p>How could I have been so dumb. I was so excited about <em>building something</em> that I jumped into implementation before fully realizing the problem. Talk about a metaphor for web dev, am I right?</p>
+<h2 id="overthinking-simple-problems">Overthinking simple problems</h2>
+<p>I can&#8217;t speak for all designers &#47; developers out there, but I catch myself (far more often than I&#8217;d like to admit) over-engineering a solution because of some perceived notion that it is the &#8220;best&#8221; option. Most of the time it isn&#8217;t actually better, it just seems more <em>fun</em>.</p>
+<p>Now don&#8217;t get me wrong, fun is a good thing most of the time. It&#8217;s just that some instances call for the quickest, cleanest, easiest solution in the name of efficiency - just be sure to have fully explored the problem <em>first</em>.</p>
+<h2 id="final-decision">Final decision</h2>
+<p>So I ended up doing nothing. I simply re-threaded the cap and placed the float back inside the tank. I know I saved myself time and money, but I can&#8217;t help but feel like I failed&#8230;</p>
+<p>Just like in the world of software, it&#8217;s best to avoid over-engineering simple problems.</p>
+<footer role="contentinfo">
+ <h2>Menu Navigation</h2>
+ <ul id="menu">
+ <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/projects">Projects</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/uses">Uses</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/wiki">Wiki</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/resume">Resume</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/colophon">Colophon</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/now">Now</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/donate">Donate</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/atom.xml">RSS</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#top">&uarr; Top of the page</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ <small>
+ Built with <a href="https://barf.btxx.org">barf</a>. <br>
+ Feeds: <a href="/atom.xml">Atom</a> & <a href="/rss.xml">RSS</a><br>
+ Maintained with ♥ for the web. <br>
+ Proud supporter of <a href="https://usefathom.com/ref/DKHJVX">Fathom</a> &amp; <a href="https://nextdns.io/?from=74d3p3h8">NextDNS</a>. <br>
+ The content for this site is <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC-BY-SA</a>.<br> The <a href="https://git.sr.ht/~bt/bt.ht">code for this site</a> is <a href="https://git.sr.ht/~bt/bt.ht/tree/master/item/LICENSE">MIT</a>.
+ </small>
+</footer> \ No newline at end of file