I ran mine up the front of the tank between the seats then across the top of
the tank to the fillerneck and on up to a vent on top of the fuselage beside
the tank vent. It is recommended to have a non mechanical and non
electrical way to verify that the tank is full or half full. Mine is useful
down to half full. I have a capacitance gauge also for finer reading.
Ken Carpenter
A123 N9XS
----- Original Message -----
From: <TELEDYNMCS@aol.com>
Subject: Europa-List: Fuel sight guages
>
> Greetings all.
>
> I've been pondering whether or not to use a fuel sight guage, using a
> mechanical guage mounted in the top of the tank instead. And whether to
just
> forego the guage altogether and use a fuel flow computer/sight guage
combo.
> The time has come to make a decision and I'd like to solicit comments if
you
> have any.
>
> Here's the problem. The mechanical guage I have (Tempo Products marine
type)
> would mount in the top of the tank on the left side. I can't seem to come
up
> with a way to make this mechanical guage work with a "clean" transition
> between the tank top and the cockpit module top because of the way the
tank
> mounts to the cockpit module and the way these type guages mount into the
top
> of the tank. I've seen a couple capacitance types that have been mounted
> inside the headrest area and into the tank, and a couple mounted in the
area
> between the head rests, closer to the left side headrest. A mechanical or
> capacitance guage also means more holes (6 in this case) in the tank
> resulting in more places to develop a leak and hard to get to if they ever
do
> start leaking. Add to that the hole in the top of the cockpit module
needed
> to access the guage (compromising the structural integrity of the cockpit
> module? Not a problem though if mounted under the headrest since the hole
> would be in the plywood floor of the headrest, but hard to get to) and it
> just doesn't seem worth doing.
>
> I don't like where Europa suggests putting the sight guage (left hand
side
> of the center tunnel). It seems like you'd kick it every time you get in
and
> out of the airplane. My thoughts at this point are to forget the
mechanical
> guage, install the sight guage in the right rear corner of the baggage
hold,
> where it would be visible before loading baggage, and use an electronic,
> programmable fuel flow computer (such as Vision Microsystems VM1000). It
> seems to me this significantly shortens the amount of fuel/vent line run
> around the cockpit, significantly shortens the sight guage vent line
length
> and satisfies the FAA requirement for a sight guage on board. The only
real
> problem here is cost, but when you add up what all this little gizmo does
> it's not all that out of bounds.
>
> Comments? Suggestions?
>
> John Lawton
> Dunlap, TN
> A-245
>
>
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