Hal, on the Howell system, I just put a hose barb in the fuel filler neck,
and run a piece of gates barrier hose to it. Works well and does not fill
one tank more than the other one.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Or
78 GMC ROYALE 403

James Hupy wrote on Wed, 03 May 2017 14:39

Hal, on the Howell system, I just put a hose barb in the fuel filler neck,
and run a piece of gates barrier hose to it. Works well and does not fill
one tank more than the other one.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Or
78 GMC ROYALE 403

I have the same return setup with my Howell/EBL. While it is true that until I am more than 1/2 empty the tanks go down equally. However, in my case, when I get low, the tanks do not fill equally. As a result, I have to keep switching tanks back and forth to keep from running one tank dry. Reminds me of what has to be done in some airplanes I've flown.

Just my experience.

rjw wrote on Wed, 03 May 2017 15:47

James Hupy wrote on Wed, 03 May 2017 14:39

Hal, on the Howell system, I just put a hose barb in the fuel filler neck,
and run a piece of gates barrier hose to it. Works well and does not fill
one tank more than the other one.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Or
78 GMC ROYALE 403

I have the same return setup with my Howell/EBL. While it is true that until I am more than 1/2 empty the tanks go down equally. However, in my case, when I get low, the tanks do not fill equally. As a result, I have to keep switching tanks back and forth to keep from running one tank dry. Reminds me of what has to be done in some airplanes I've flown.

Just my experience.

Haven't flown for a while, but what I remember is generally only high wing aircraft have a "Both" option on the tank selector, as a gravity fed fuel system can pull from both tanks, whereas a pump fed system cannot as a steep bank can expose the fuel pickup on one tank and not the other causing the pump to draw in air. In situations like figure 8s where you bank from side to side, one pickup would always be exposed, whereas if you are running one tank only, you at least get fuel half the time

I also have the Howell system with the fuel return running to the fuel filler on my coach. However, I only have a fuel sender on the front tank. The way I manage the fuel is I run the front tank down low, then switch to the rear. While on the rear tank, excess fuel is returned to the front, and my fuel gauge "magically" goes up while on the rear tank. When it gets back up to just under a half, I switch back to the front tank and then run it down till I fill up again. Works well unless driving through the mountains, where fuel can slosh from tank to tank on hills... Then I'm back to jockeying back and fourth if I decide to run the tanks that low...

(Anyone wanna place any bets that Hal comes up with a way to return the fuel to the tank using it?)

You'd mentioned your coach has a 3rd tank as well, right? Are they 3 divorced tanks, or are all 3 linked like the 2 stock tanks?

Hi All,

Have you considered using a Ford dual function reservoir?

https://www.amazon.com/F1uz9b263b-Reservoir-Assembly-Selector-Valve/dp/B0042HFX68

This would work as long as each of your fuel tanks has an internal fuel
pump.

If one of the tanks fuel pumps is on, that shifts the internal valve so
that the fuel return is pointed to the same tank that is pumping the fuel.


Eric


On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 6:49 PM, Ken Burton wrote:

> Hal,
>
> Here is my idea because of the unique filling design of our tanks. Since
> fuel constantly travels back and forth between the tanks until you get below
> the 7 gallon level (per tank), It make no difference where you dump the
> return fuel until you get below where 14 total gallons remains.
>
> So let's address only the return when below the fuel level is below 7
> gallons per tank. My thought is to simply dump all of the retrun fuel in
> the
> reserve tank. If the reserve contains 7 gallons or more then the excess
> fuel will travel it's normal route from the reserve to the main tank. This
> process will continue until the main tank is completely empty and assure
> that the same 7 gallons is left in the reserve. At the point of an empty
> or
> near empty main tank you can switch tanks and know that you still have
> seven gallons left to tun on. Also while in this switched to reserve mode,
> all
> return fuel will still be placed in the reserve tank. So you will get to
> use the full 7 gallons from there before you have to start walking or hitch
> hiking for more fuel.
>
> This method of plumbing requires no additional switching valves and only
> needs one return hose while assuring that the maximum amount of fuel is
> available for eventual use.
>
> Ken B
> --
> Ken Burton - N9KB

Hal,

Here is my idea because of the unique filling design of our tanks. Since fuel constantly travels back and forth between the tanks until you get below the 7 gallon level (per tank), It make no difference where you dump the return fuel until you get below where 14 total gallons remains.

So let's address only the return when below the fuel level is below 7 gallons per tank. My thought is to simply dump all of the retrun fuel in the reserve tank. If the reserve contains 7 gallons or more then the excess fuel will travel it's normal route from the reserve to the main tank. This process will continue until the main tank is completely empty and assure that the same 7 gallons is left in the reserve. At the point of an empty or near empty main tank you can switch tanks and know that you still have seven gallons left to tun on. Also while in this switched to reserve mode, all return fuel will still be placed in the reserve tank. So you will get to use the full 7 gallons from there before you have to start walking or hitch hiking for more fuel.

This method of plumbing requires no additional switching valves and only needs one return hose while assuring that the maximum amount of fuel is available for eventual use.

Ken B