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You are correct. You should be able to fill all three tanks. I don't know
how the O-200 electric system differs from the standard system. The
standard
system with the mechanical pump has a restrictor in the outlet of the pump
that regulated the fuel flow so that it gives what the engine needs at
full
throttle. So at less then full throttle the flow is too great so it
overfills the header tank and it returns to the mains. Is the electric
system regulated with a restrictor or is there a resistor to tweak the
electric current to the pump to change its speed?
Yes you could fill both wing tanks from one side if you wanted to wait for
it to bleed over to the other side. Some aircraft are designed this way.
My
Navion only had a filler on the right wing. You filled both wing tanks and
waited for it to flow to the left side. It had a 2 inch hose so it did not
take long but you did need to nurse it and watch the line boy to make sure
the gave it time to settle. Be careful how you park with full tanks. If
you
park on a slope with one wing lower then the other it will bleed to the
low
tank and come out the vent hole.
I have the 15 gal wing tanks and no header on this coupe. I do miss having
the header tank. It is reassuring to look at that 6 gal of fuel there.
Kevin
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim and Martha Briggs [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 9:26 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Fuel system questions
----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any
advice in this forum.]----
Ercoupers;
My new Ercoupe has the O-200 Mod with the electric fuel pump. The pump
comes
on after start, runs continuously until fuel in the wings is exhausted, at
which point a light comes on to tell you your wing tanks are dry and to
secure the pump. Fine. The sellers told me to never "top off" the header
tank when I fueled the plane. They said, just fill the wing tanks and
then
let the electric pump fill the header tank. They made it sound like the
header tank would overflow at some later point if I fueled it. That
didn't
make sense to me. If I understand the system correctly, the fuel pump
continuously pumps fuel to the header tank. Lines at the top of the
header
tank return any excess fuel back to the wing tanks. How could the header
tank possibly get overfilled??
For example: If you exhausted all your wing tank fuel, and a portion of
your header tank on a long flight, it seems to me you can refill the
header
tank to capacity first. Any fuel above the level of the return lines will
flow down to the wing tanks. Then you fill the wing tanks. There can
never
be "too much" fuel in the system, ...right??
One more question. The wing tanks have a crossfeed line between them so
the
fuel level always stays balanced between the tanks. (Bless Mr. Weick for
thinking of this detail) In fact, the fuel flow to the header tank comes
out of just one of the wing tanks (left?). How fast can gas transfer from
one tank to the other? In theory, I could only fuel one side, wait for
things to balance out and keep filling that one tank.... right? I know
from my first few fill-ups, that it doesn't happen that fast - although I
think the second wing tank to get fueled always took a little less than
the
first. Maybe I should let things settle out for a minute and then go back
and check the wing tanks when I fill. The crossfeed could result in less
than maximum fuel in the wing tanks.
In my opinion, the Ercoupe fuel system is the safest in GA. No switching,
balanced tanks, obvious indications of pump failure and a healthy reserve
even if your pump fails. Each time I fly, I think I've forgotten to do
something - it is that simple.
Tim
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