Tank monitors are only as useful as what your software does with the reading. A dashboard that just shows the latest percentage is a nicer gauge. What actually saves a run-out — or catches a stuck sensor — is comparing that reading against what the forecast expected. FillDesk Pro does the comparison.
Which monitors it reads
FillDesk Pro ingests telemetry from the common propane and oil monitor vendors — Otodata, Smart Oil Gauge (Droplet), and Tank Utility — plus a generic webhook for any other source. Because those vendors are poll-based rather than push-based, a lightweight poller or relay forwards each reading to FillDesk Pro's ingest endpoint, where it is normalized into a single time series regardless of which brand it came from. Registering a monitor is a matter of linking the device ID to the tank.
Divergence detection: the part that matters
Every registered tank has two numbers: the live monitor reading, and the level FillDesk Pro's K-factor model predicts for today. When those diverge beyond a threshold, the tank is flagged. That single comparison catches two very different problems with one mechanism: a customer whose usage has changed (burning faster than their K-factor predicts, heading for an early run-out) and a monitor that has failed or stuck (reading flat while the model says the tank should be dropping). Both show up on the monitoring board as an alert instead of a surprise.
It also sharpens the forecast
When a monitor is present and reporting, its reading becomes the trusted current level for that tank, so the projected fill date is based on measured reality rather than modeled estimate. When the monitor is absent or stale, FillDesk Pro falls back cleanly to the pure K-factor estimate. You get the benefit of the hardware where you have it, and a solid forecast everywhere you do not.
Stale and low flags
Beyond divergence, the monitoring board flags tanks whose last reading is stale (no data in over a day, which itself signals a connectivity or sensor issue) and tanks that have dropped below their trigger level. Those flags feed the same daily fill report your automatic and will-call deliveries come from, so a monitored low tank is scheduled alongside everything else.
Bring your own monitors — no lock-in
FillDesk Pro does not sell you hardware or lock you to one monitor brand. Whatever you already have on your best customers' tanks — Otodata, Smart Oil Gauge, Tank Utility, or a mix — feeds the same normalized time series, so you are not re-buying sensors to switch software, and you are not stuck if you change monitor vendors later. Readings arrive through a small poller or the generic webhook and land against the tank in your account, where they drive the same fill report, divergence flags, and low and stale alerts as everything else. The monitor is an input, not a silo: the value is in what FillDesk Pro does with the reading, not in which badge is on the sensor.
See your monitors on it
Point a monitor at a pilot account and watch the divergence logic work on a real tank. Related: degree-day forecasting, will-call operations, and pricing.