R.J. has an excellent suggestion. May I add to it. After draining the header tank, it would be nice to know how many gallons of fuel corresponds to what spot on the gauge.
With my old bare wire gauge, (just before it sank from saturation with fuel) I had three gallons of fuel left with the wire all the way down. Now I have a new glass protected gauge so I need to do this measurement again. After flying, I'll empty the tank from the gascolator to find the no-useable-fuel level and pour the fuel into the wing tanks. Then I'll fill the nose tank from the gas pump to each one gallon mark, put on the cap, mark the glass rain-shield, then add another gallon of fuel, etc. According to the gas companies, those pumps are accurate to the 100ths of a gallon. I guess it'll be close enough for my needs (.25 gal accuracy). Due to the different saturation levels of different cork floats, I'd suggest everyone try this test. It's a worth while activity for airport buddies on a sunny afternoon between flights. > "R.J. Chevalier" wrote: > > Rather than take anyone else's word for it, why not find out for > yourself how much usable you have. Note first that while the wings > are full, you end up with about a half inch of fuel more than when you > shut down and the slight head of fuel runs back into the wings. I > would mark the usual high point on the fuel indicater as well as the > low point at rest. Then drain the fuel out of the header tank by > opening the gascolator drain and let the fuel run into a 5 gal. gas > container. I'd keep a second one handy, you may end up with more than > 5 gal's. When the stream turns into a trickle, thats all your usable > fuel from the front tank. The reason for marking the fuel level is so > you know when the wings are dry and you start using up the front tank > usable fuel. Another thing you might note while draining is when the > float hits bottom I.E. stops jiggling. From this point you should > know how much fuel remains after the float hits bottom. In my Forney > it was about 1 gal or about 15 min. to engine shut down. Just about > enough time to find a good emergency landing spot. > > Dick in Columbus NM -- Ed Burkhead Peoria, Ill. N3802H
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>
