capacitance fuel system

[Mike Davis]

From: JimsRebel <JimsRebel@aol.com>
Message-ID: <8750432e.34b8014b@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 18:16:26 EST
To: murphy-rebel@dcsol.com
Subject: capacitance fuel system
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I installed a Capacitance Fuel System from Westach.. Westberg MFG Inc. (707)
938-2121 (also in Aircraft Spruce Cat.) Total cost for two probes and a
dual gauge was $220. The probes I used were 24 inches long. The first 5
inches are bendable and the last 19 inches are used to measure the fuel
quantity of the tank. The probe is installed in the upper forward root rib
were the cross vent would be ( I had to move the cross vent back a little )
The probe runs diagonally, from the forward top to the aft bottom. This
helps
correct for tail down or for flight attitude. You MUST drill a very small
vent hole in the highest part of the tube to allow fuel to flow up and down
in the tube ( also very important in using vertical stand pipe installation
,
so the fuel can exit the pipe at the bottom ). I have tested the system and
found it to be very accurate.
.





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[Mike Davis]

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Mon, 12 Jan 1998 01:08:28 -0600 (CST)
From: "Charles Skorupa" <chucks@gte.net>
To: "JimsRebel" <JimsRebel@aol.com>
Cc: <murphy-rebel@dcsol.com>
Subject: Re: capacitance fuel system
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 23:07:23 -0800
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Jim,
Rats!! A couple of days earlier and I had the tank open. By the way, when I
water checked my tank, just for grins I set a 1 degree dihedral and drained
the water through the fuel exit fitting. Not much was trapped by the ribs
and stringers. There was about 1-1/2 quarts of water left. I then drained
the remaining water through the low point drain. Nearly all of the water
was removed and hardly any was trapped. It probably would be even better if
I tipped the wing back to simulate the normal tail down parked position when
you would normally do the preflight drain. I feel confident that most of
the 22 gal is useable and trapped water won't be a problem with the Rebel.

- Chuck Skorupa -

Rebel Elite Taildragger S/N 500

-----Original Message-----
From: JimsRebel <JimsRebel@aol.com>
To: chucks@gte.net <chucks@gte.net>
Date: Sunday, January 11, 1998 1:43 PM
Subject: Re: capacitance fuel system

Chuck,
It would be very difficult for you to position the probe, as it runs
diagonally through the tank, without having the top of the tank open to
visually see where it's at. Also, if the tip of the probe touches metal or
water the tank reads full. The only attachment point is where the probe
enters the tank at the rib. I choose to put a glob of ProSeal at the

bottom

of the tank to help support the tube because I was concerned about bouncing
during turbulance, and then having the probe touch metal. I'll be able to
replace the probe without opening the skin on my wing because I now have

the

old probe to use as a pattern for where the initial bends are. If you add

an

inspection plate on top of the first bay of the tank next to the root rib,

you

should be able to accomplish this. This system is extremely accurate;

showing

even a 1/2 gallon of fuel quantity changes and able to measure all fuel
quantities in all attitudes.
Calibration was accomplished by having one adjustment for full and one for
empty.
Hope this helps, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Jim
JimsRebel@aol.com