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  #11  
Old 11-13-2015, 06:48 AM
David-aviator David-aviator is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TXFlyGuy View Post
There is nothing worse than being in the air, and wishing you were on the ground...
AMEN ++++
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  #12  
Old 11-13-2015, 01:04 PM
Bevan Bevan is offline
 
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Two things about a fuel totalizer...

The obvious one already mentioned... It cannot detect a fuel tank/line leak upstream of the fuel flow measuring device. While rare and unusual, you still need to know and that's one point of continuous measuring other than with dip sticks.

2) If you forget to use the "fuel added" feature, you will be reminded by the low fuel warning setting. Now you have to guess how much you bought/added and add it to the totalizer while doing all the other flying tasks or mental gymnastics. Either way it's a distraction. If you're wrong, you have inaccurate fuel level indication and will be wishing you had the floats which are great for the lower fuel levels.

Bevan
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  #13  
Old 11-13-2015, 02:23 PM
BobTurner BobTurner is offline
 
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Originally Posted by TXFlyGuy View Post
If you have fuel flow rate in gph, or pounds per hour, and total fuel burned, plus a known quantity at the start, you should be good.
...
As Gary pointed out earlier, if you fly at night or IFR having just (one) totalizer doesn't meet the letter of the law - unless you have just one fuel tank. Which tank would you select for landing? I agree this question can be answered by careful record keeping, but that's a lot of extra work.
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  #14  
Old 11-13-2015, 02:39 PM
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newtech newtech is offline
 
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If I don't turn off the boost pump on takeoff my fuel totalizer is off. If turned off the totalizer is always within a 1/4 gallon at refuelling.
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  #15  
Old 11-13-2015, 04:01 PM
TXFlyGuy TXFlyGuy is offline
 
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Location: Jazz Town, USA, TX
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We have 6 tanks, 5 quantity indicators, plus a fuel totalizer (G3X). Are we good to go? The 6th tank is a small header tank that everything feeds into before going to the fuel pumps.
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  #16  
Old 12-15-2015, 02:46 PM
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tmbg tmbg is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by newtech View Post
If I don't turn off the boost pump on takeoff my fuel totalizer is off. If turned off the totalizer is always within a 1/4 gallon at refuelling.
I've experienced similar things with my totalizer, but best I can figure, I get an inaccurately high FLOW reading, but the total quantity used figure seems accurate.

I believe the cause of this is fluctuations in fuel pressure caused by the pump making the wheel in the flow sensor rock back and forth across a count.
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  #17  
Old 12-15-2015, 03:10 PM
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Toobuilder Toobuilder is offline
 
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The military jet that I work on has a single totalizer as the only method of indicating fuel level to the pilot. This totalizer is set prior to flight by hand, following direct measurement of fuel level with a dipstick.

Personally, I'd be perfectly comfortable in a homebuilt with totalizer as long as I had a "5 gallons" and "empty" light for each tank.
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Last edited by Toobuilder : 12-15-2015 at 07:59 PM.
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  #18  
Old 12-15-2015, 07:10 PM
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rzbill rzbill is offline
 
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My EFIS, as Im sure many others do, shows combined fuel gage data as a dot on the fuel totalizer bar. Theoretically it should match the top of the bar at all times. Mine does not because the data from the tank level sensors is not linear (there is a kink in the middle which I suspect is either coverage of the outboard capacative sensor or simply tank volume geometry). I have things set for accuracy at the lower end, towards empty.

This is all moot if one follows the mantra:

Take off after filling the tanks and then drinking 2 cups of coffee. Then the fuel gages don't matter anymore.
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Last edited by rzbill : 12-15-2015 at 07:13 PM.
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  #19  
Old 12-15-2015, 08:26 PM
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DaleB DaleB is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rzbill View Post
Take off after filling the tanks and then drinking 2 cups of coffee. Then the fuel gages don't matter anymore.
Yeah, but I can't stay in the pattern ALL the time.
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  #20  
Old 12-16-2015, 09:57 AM
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AndyRV7 AndyRV7 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by newtech View Post
If I don't turn off the boost pump on takeoff my fuel totalizer is off. If turned off the totalizer is always within a 1/4 gallon at refuelling.
always until it's not
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