I have a problem when I do not have a visual on fuel quantity. Uncle Sam
sunk it into my head that if you cannot see the fuel when full, how can
you trust the gage. I have come upon a mechanical fuel quantity gage. It
was in my marine parts catalog. The gage is a vertical tube that goes
half way to the bottom of the tank. At that point (at the bottom of the
tube) there is a pivot with a gear attaches to a swing arm that pivots at
that point with a cork attached to the end. Is that confusing? Anyway,
the pivot allows the cork to swing from top (next to the gage) in an
arc, to the bottom to show empty. The key is the pivot point where a
gear changes the swing arm to rotary motion for the shaft that goes up
the tube to the gage head. This is sealed at the top so fuel going up
the tube cannot get to the readout. At the top they put a magnet that
rotates with the shaft. On top of the tube is a readout that
magnetically tracks the one in the tube. Thus you have a fairly accurate
full indication which can be correlated to the Capacitance gage for the
panel (mine with low fuel alarm).This gage will track the electric gage
until you get to the point where fuel is separated by the "hump". Of
coarse this is a non-linear read out but if you calibrate known points,
one can be reasonably sure of his fuel status. The cost for this little
jewel is listed at $49.00 U.S. I'm sure if any one else is interested I
can get it at a better price since I am set up for resale with them. I am
installing the capacitance gage on the opposite side of the "hump" right
next to the wall of the hump about 4" from the back wall. This should
let me have both units in between the headrests in the cockpit module.
This of course requires you to physically look at the top of the unit to
see the quantity of the mechanical gage during pre flight but that is
when you should "know" your fuel status. I'm going to put a fabric
covered flap (with velcro) to cover it during regular times. By the way
this also gives you a 3" square hole in the top of the tank for
inspection purposes, especially at the beginning. The gage mounts on a
4"square (approximately) plate which is gasketed and sealed to the tank
top for a leak free mounting.
Europajim@juno.com
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