Apparatus for monitoring fluid levels in a remotely located storage tank

A method of monitoring fluid levels of a consumable liquid in a storage tank, the method comprising:

• monitoring the fluid level for the liquid in the storage tank;
• transmitting fluid level data to a central server, remotely located from the storage tank, at preselected intervals or times;
• comparing, using a computer program embodied in computer instructions stored in non-transitory computer memory and executed on a computer hardware system, a change in fluid levels over a period of time to historic changes in fluid levels fluid levels over the same period of time for the same tank or for similar tanks;
• and
• from this comparison, determining with the computer program whether a predefined out-of-ordinary event has occurred and, if so, sending notice to the central server at a time other than at said preselected intervals or times.

A nontransitory, computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program for controlling a system coupled to a computer acting as a central server, the computer program comprising computer-executable instructions for carrying out the steps of:

• causing the central server to receive fluid level data from a monitoring unit associated with a remotely located storage tank, said monitoring unit collecting fluid level data indicating the fluid levels in the storage tank;
• processing received fluid level data (i) to provide displayable fluid level data, and (ii) to forecast future fluid levels utilizing at least stored fluid level data;
• and
• transferring the displayable fluid level data from the central server to a remotely located graphical user interface where it can be accessed by an end-user.