1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
|
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<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;}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 ↓</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’s a 20 year-old tank, so I wasn’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’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 / 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 “poor-mans” 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/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’t speak for all designers / developers out there, but I catch myself (far more often than I’d like to admit) over-engineering a solution because of some perceived notion that it is the “best” option. Most of the time it isn’t actually better, it just seems more <em>fun</em>.</p>
<p>Now don’t get me wrong, fun is a good thing most of the time. It’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’t help but feel like I failed…</p>
<p>Just like in the world of software, it’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">↑ Top of the page</a></li>
</ul>
<small>
Built with <a href="https://git.sr.ht/~bt/barf">barf</a>. <br>
Maintained with ♥ for the web. <br>
Proud supporter of <a href="https://usefathom.com/ref/DKHJVX">Fathom</a> & <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>
|
