--- title: "Well Water Storage Tank Level Monitor for a Home | Trivertix" description: "Check a well-fed storage tank from the house: a solar sensor in the lid, a radio link to a display indoors, an alert before it runs dry, and no plan to read it." url: https://trivertix.com/water-storage-tank-monitor/ updated: 2026-10-13 --- # A water level monitor for a home storage tank fed by a well To check a well-fed storage tank from the house, put a level sensor in the tank's lid and send its reading to a display indoors, then set a low alert line so your phone tells you before the tank runs dry. Trivertix does this with a solar-powered ultrasonic sensor in the lid, a LoRa radio link to a receiver in the house, and no subscription to read the level on the receiver. By [Luke Patterson](https://trivertix.com/about/), co-founder of Trivertix. Last checked October 13, 2026. ## What the level over time shows A gauge on the tank gives the level when someone looks. A reading taken through the day and kept gives its shape, and the shape tells the story. ### An ordinary day The level falls in steps as the household draws water, and climbs again each time the pump refills the tank. A week of that is the picture to hold the rest against. ### A tank that stops refilling The level falls and nothing brings it back. A tripped breaker, a float switch that has failed or a pump that has quit all look the same on the chart. The monitor cannot say which, but it says when, and the low alert says so before the taps do. ### A level that falls when nobody is using water A steady drop overnight, between refills, is water going somewhere: a leaking fitting, a running toilet or a split line between the tank and the house. The level is a reading of the tank, not of the well. It shows whether the tank is refilling, and not how much water is left in the ground. ## What a day's use looks like in inches A drop in the level means more once you know what an ordinary day takes off it. The sums below are for an upright round tank 8 feet across, which holds about 31.3 gallons for each inch of depth at 231 cubic inches to the gallon, and a household of three. - **Indoor use:** 80 to 100 gallons a person a day, or 240 to 300 gallons for 3 people - **A day off the tank:** 7.7 to 9.6 inches - **A leak of 50 gallons a day:** About 1.6 inches a day, or 0.5 inches in 8 quiet hours The USGS puts indoor use at 80 to 100 gallons a person a day. The EPA puts a family's use at home at more than 300 gallons a day, about 70 percent of it indoors, so a garden or a lawn on the same tank can add a good deal to the indoor figure. Leaks are common: the EPA finds that 9 percent of homes have leaks that waste 50 gallons or more a day. Over 8 hours with no one using water, that takes about 0.5 inches off this tank, which a sensor that reports a change of a quarter of an inch can see. For a tank of another width, the gallons in an inch are on the [guide to reading a gauge](https://trivertix.com/water-level-gauge/). Sources, read October 13, 2026: [USGS Water Science School: How much water do I use at home each day?](https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-qa-how-much-water-do-i-use-home-each-day), [EPA WaterSense: How we use water](https://www.epa.gov/watersense/how-we-use-water), [EPA WaterSense: Fix a Leak Week](https://www.epa.gov/watersense/fix-leak-week). Source, read October 7, 2026: [NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C (PDF)](https://www.nist.gov/document/2026-nist-handbook-44-appendix-c). ## No signal needed at the tank The sensor on the tank sends its reading by LoRa radio at 915 MHz to a receiver in the house. There is no SIM card in it and no cellular or satellite plan behind it, so a tank out of reach of any cell tower is no trouble. A mile or more with a clear line of sight; three-quarters of a mile through hills and mesquite on our pilot ranch in Karnes County, Texas. The receiver is a display for the tank level and four status lights. It plugs into the wall and joins your home Wi-Fi. It shows the level without an account, so a household can watch the tank from the kitchen with no subscription at all. A monthly plan adds the app, on iPhone, Android and web: the level in gallons and percent full, the chart of the level over time and one high and one low alert line. Cross the low line and your phone tells you, wherever you are. ## On the tank - **The opening:** A 4-inch opening in the tank lid. An adapter fits openings from 4.5 to 5.5 inches. Four inches is the size of the center vent in the 16-inch lid that many poly storage tanks have. - **The depth:** It reads tanks up to 16 feet deep. - **The sensor:** Ultrasonic, mounted at the top of the tank and reading down to the water. It needs a clear path straight down, past the inlet pipe and any float switch the pump runs from. - **The power:** Solar panel and rechargeable batteries, so it needs sun on the tank and no wire from the house. - **The readings:** About every 15 minutes. [How an ultrasonic sensor compares with the other kinds](https://trivertix.com/water-tank-level-sensor/) ![A Trivertix monitor with its solar panel, mounted in the lid of a poly water tank under a blue sky](https://trivertix.com/img/monitor-on-poly-tank-768.98cf439f.webp) ## Where it fits, and where it does not ### It fits - Closed storage tanks, cisterns and open stock tanks, including the storage tank a well fills. - A tank within about a mile of the house, with sun on it. - A household that wants to see the level from indoors, with or without the app. ### It does not fit - The well itself. It does not read the water in the well, the pump or the quality of the water. - The small sealed pressure tank by the pump, which has no lid to read down through. - A tank miles from any building with power. A cellular or satellite monitor is built for that job. [Satellite, cellular or radio: three monitors compared](https://trivertix.com/compare/) ## Questions about a well-fed storage tank ### Does Trivertix monitor the well itself? No. It reads the water level in the storage tank the well fills, from a sensor in the lid of the tank. It does not measure the water in the well, the pump or the quality of the water. What it shows is whether the tank is refilling, and when it stopped. ### How many inches a day should my storage tank drop? It depends on how many people use it and how wide the tank is. At the 80 to 100 gallons a person uses indoors each day, a household of three draws 240 to 300 gallons, which takes 7.7 to 9.6 inches a day off a tank 8 feet across. Watering a garden adds to that. ### Can I see the tank level without a subscription? Yes. The receiver in the house shows the level on its own display, with no account and no plan. A monthly plan adds the app, with the level on your phone, the chart and the alerts. Both prices are announced at launch. ### Where should I set the low alert on a storage tank fed by a well? High enough that you have time to act before the taps run dry. A day of the household's use above the outlet is a fair start: long enough to find a tripped breaker or call someone out to the pump. Watch the chart for a week and move the line once you know how fast the tank falls. ## Read next ### [Tank level sensors and how accurate each is](https://trivertix.com/water-tank-level-sensor/) Ultrasonic, pressure and float, and why cold air fools an ultrasonic one. ### [How to read a water level gauge](https://trivertix.com/water-level-gauge/) And how to turn the reading into gallons for a tank of any width. ### [The stock tank water level monitor](https://trivertix.com/stock-tank-monitor/) The same monitor on an open tank in a pasture. ## Be first in line. The waitlist hears the price and the launch date before anyone else. [Join the waitlist](https://trivertix.com/waitlist/)