Fuel Gauge

[GaryP1007]

Would you trust your wing fuel gauges over your G1000 gauges or vise versa?

 

 

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[kortopates]

Odd question because they don't provide the same information:

The wing gauges are calibrated to tell you how much fuel is in the tanks ON the Ground (where nose is pitched up)

The G1000 gauges are calibrated to tell you how much fuel is in the tanks in Level Flight

Thus they should not agree, but close - but both are accurate, usually very accurate else they need attention.

[larrynimmo]

I verify my wing gauges every refill….then I anticipate my fuel useage and compare.

I don’t fly IMC where I am going to land with less than 10/10.

 

[Niko182]

21 minutes ago, GaryP1007 said:

 

Would you trust your wing fuel gauges over your G1000 gauges or vise versa?

 

 

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The ones on wing will show about 3 to 4 gallons less than the ones on the G1000 in flight.

[GaryP1007]

Odd question because they don't provide the same information:
The wing gauges are calibrated to tell you how much fuel is in the tanks ON the Ground (where nose is pitched up)
The G1000 gauges are calibrated to tell you how much fuel is in the tanks in Level Flight
Thus they should not agree, but close - but both are accurate, usually very accurate else they need attention.

So I’m going to double down on asking stupid questions…..but knowing one is a reading on the ground and one in the air (+4 gallons) who runs out of gas first?


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[Niko182]

2 minutes ago, GaryP1007 said:

So I’m going to double down on asking stupid questions…..but knowing one is a reading on the ground and one in the air (+4 gallons) who runs out of gas first?


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When running a tank dry your wing gauges will stop moving for a while before you actually run out of gas. They stop being accurate under 6 to 7 gallons and stop indicating anything. Then usually you have another 30 minutes give or take until you run the tank completely dry. The g1000s should show it at 0 when the tank runs out of fuel. My engine starts to stumble about 30 seconds to a minute after my G3X fuel gauge jumps from 1 gallon to 0. 

[A64Pilot]

I don’t trust gauges, they lie, sometimes stick and just break.

Having said that if we had capacitance gauges instead of floats I’d trust them.

But faced with trusting simple mechanical over electric my vote is mechanical, most accurate fuel gauges I’ve ever had on a GA airplane are the ones in my C-140, simple mechanical gauges, but they work and are accurate.

If I had two gauges (I don’t have wing gauges) I’m believing whichever one says I have the least fuel, figure that’s safest, but I keep a log if you will of fuel burned from each tank as I fly, cause I believe my gauges just may be inop.

[GaryP1007]

I don’t trust gauges, they lie, sometimes stick and just break.
Having said that if we had capacitance gauges instead of floats I’d trust them.
But faced with trusting simple mechanical over electric my vote is mechanical, most accurate fuel gauges I’ve ever had on a GA airplane are the ones in my C-140, simple mechanical gauges, but they work and are accurate.
If I had two gauges (I don’t have wing gauges) I’m believing whichever one says I have the least fuel, figure that’s safest, but I keep a log if you will of fuel burned from each tank as I fly, cause I believe my gauges just may be inop.

Agree….I’ve been “trusting” the lowest.


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[carusoam]

9 hours ago, GaryP1007 said:

So I’m going to double down on asking stupid questions…..but knowing one is a reading on the ground and one in the air (+4 gallons) who runs out of gas first?


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That’s a trick question….

Because… your Ovation has two floats that average out the answer to ‘how empty is my tank’….

By the time you are near empty… one float is sitting on the bottom…. The other one is closer to the cabin….

If you check which float stops operating first… it will be the one further up hill….(most likely the mechanical float/gauge)

 

Either way…

The wing mounted gauge lines are in 5gal intervals….  Hard to use for that last 5gallons…  (it might even stop moving as a few gallons are further downhill than the float….)

The Ceis fuel floats have accuracy of 0.1gal when calibrated properly…

 

Sooo….

If you have a real concern… get the Ceis fuel floats and calibrate properly….

 

The wing gauges are great for filling the tanks properly, when you have four people… (their main purpose)

Nowwwww….

If you were thinking a back-up fuel level system would be good to have…

You might have that as well….

The non-G1000 planes use a separate FF/totalizer with 0.1gal accuracy also…

what does the G1000 use as a fuel totalizer?

 

A few reasons to not use wing site gauges for in-flight fuel info

1) They are designed to be accurate for filling on level ground… with the LB’s nose up attitude of several degrees.

2) They are accurate for filling, but a few gallons go in the tank before the gauge can even register anything….

3) The five gallon intervals are a good rough estimate… but can leave you disappointed if you need to know if you have a few gallons left… before dipping into your reserves….

Go O!

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic…

Best regards,

-a-

[Horis]

In my M20M I can have 30 gallons in the tank before I get 0.6 inch on my manual fuel hawk.  I use it to measure the actual amount of fuel then fly by time and GPH. I recently landed and indicated 5 gallons in the right and 10 in the left.  When I added a specified amount of fuel to each wing and measured, I actually had 11 gallons per side. I am putting in a JPI930 and hopefully it will be more accurate than the factory gauges.  I will still measure with the fuel hawk and fly by time to be safe.