Time to restart after running tank dry

[Kristin Winter]

JIm,

Does she still bring it up and how many years has it been?

[MULEFLY]

Don't start pickin on us longer aged individuals...

Perhaps my encoder is slow, but I think I'm still pretty with it!

All the best!
Jim

[N3322G]

Hi Jim - my sweet husband still brings up mistakes I made too - nothing quite like having a pilot spouse critique your flying Keeps us both sharp.

On the fuel flow variation. We use the Shadin fuel computer - perhaps the processor is faster or because it is dedicated to fuel management ... don't know. Perhaps it is where the transducers are located ... not bragging but factually stating we rarely get silence, surging sometimes but not silence on the twin - even when the tip and aux were mis-wired and the dry tank was a 100% surprise, we got surge and yaw but not silence. The predecessor to the Shadin was an Aerosonic fuel computer. We won it around 1976 in an air race from a company in Clearwater FL - not sure if they became Shadin. Just happy it works well for us.

[Kristin Winter]

Maggie has a Shadin too. And to be clear, I have never gotten silent either. But the surging of the engine for 20-30 seconds doesn't make the non-aviation passenger very happy.

Pat, for whatever reason, your Shadin is a bit more stable than mine it. Mine constantly hunts a bit.

[MULEFLY]

@ K & P --

My first post was incorrect I too watch the Shadin.. and we have both in 8982Y... I agree the Shadin is more nervous... it was helped a bit when I had Cliff and the guys install straight in connectors rather than "Ls" on the input and output lines of the transducers. But still there is definitely more nervousness in the Shadin readout than the JPI's... the Shadin fluctuates about +/- 0.2 gph while the JPI circuitry wired "piggyback" is more stable. I know that my transducers are probably > 10 years old... so that could be part of it.

Jim

[N3322G]

Our Shadin can hunt a bit as well. I know when it hunts down to 4 GPH, it is time to change tanks.

Hunting decreased with the following changes:
New transducers
new fuel caps
new fuel door gaskets
new fuel inspection area gaskets (maybe not the right term) - the big opening where bladders are changed out.

new wiring and grounding when panel was upgraded ... so less electrical garbage - this gauge has always been the faster instrument to indicate any electrical problem

Mind you not all of this was done at once.

[Kristin Winter]

A new transducer on the right side would help as I replaced the left side a couple of years ago and it hunts less. The transducers had straight runs in, and elbow at the outlet. I changed that out on the right side, but it made no different. Maggie's gas caps, and gaskets are all good and the grounds are all good. The fuel tank access panels have new gaskets as well. I guess that there is probably no way to keep it from hunting unless it is some circuit in the indicator unit that is getting tired. It is good to know that Maggie's Shadin isn't the only one that hunts.

[MULEFLY]

@K... just out of annual.. Cliff and crew spoke with Shadin... as a result they grounded the transducers... during the test flight for the electronic ignition... Mark was watching the Shadin and in his report stated that the readings were "non-fluctuating. I was watching too much other stuff... so I'm not sure.

I'll verify during my next flight. Might be a couple of weeks as we are dealing with some other issues right now... but I need to get to MO... probably not next week... but perhaps the week after.

All the best!
Jim

[Paul Michel Fenouil]

With my Single 180 carburetor there are only 3 or 4 seconds before engine restart . On the JPI fuel flow indicator the FF becomes crazy just before the engine shuts down, meaning an empty tank. I experienced it by emptying a tip-tank and restarting on a main.

Let me strongly disagree with such experience over water...

Michel

[Andres Darvasi]

Merci beacoup Michel