Hi Remi,
The unspoken issue that fuels the discussion is the desire to avoid
cutting a hole in the tank. Ofcourse, Bob Harrison thinks a large hole
is of the essence to allow yearly cleaning..
Jan de Jong
On 11/30/2013 1:44 PM, Remi Guerner wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> I am following this post - and previous discussions on fuel flow sensors and
fuel computers- with amusement as it seems to me that all this high tech stuff
needs a lot of attention and may be less reliable than the old fashioned
equipment
they want to replace. It is true that float type fuel gauges in the typical
wing fuel tank are not accurate nor reliable. This is mainly due to the flat
shape of the tank were a small height error makes a big volume error. I remember
when flying Cessnas the gauges were only rough indicators that there were
some fuel on board, and were useless in flight as they were looking like
windshield
wipers at the lightest turbulence. The Europa fuel tank geometry, being
all in height, makes it a lot easier to accurately gauge the fuel quantity.
My aircraft was originally fitted with an Avelec capacitive gauge with a digital
indicator. It was giving a false sense of a great accuracy due to the digital
display, but the indication was varying with the !
> type of fuel used. After about 200 hours it started to give random
> indications
and finally failed completely. I decided to replace it with an old fashioned
resistive, float type with an analog indicator. This Jaeger unit is used on
Robin DR400 type certificated aircraft. I had to weld an extension to the
oscillating
arm to take into account the unusual height of the tank. The fuel quantity
accuracy and repeatability are very good. They are not visibly affected
by the attitude of the aircraft and when refueling I can predict the quantity
to be added to top the tank by a few liters. Additionally there is a low fuel
switch integrated into the probe system which illuminates a warning light when
the fuel remaining is 1.5 liters. Then I know I had better to switch to the
reserve
side. My back up is my watch: flight time and a conservative calculation
using the maximum cruise fuel flow. This system has been working fine for me
for 10 years and 800 hours..... without any fancy elec!
> tronic chip, computers etc...
> Remi Guerner
> F-PGKL
>
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