How accurate is your fuel gauge? Mine seems to reflect the correct amount, compared to fuel flow, till it indicates 1/2 tank. After that, the fuel gauge starts dropping rather quickly. When mine indicates almost empty, I have only consumed about 120 gals. This means I have 60 gals left when indicating empty. Considering getting the system fixed when I am at FOT next month, but may not if everyone's is that inaccurate. It may be my aviation background, but I want to know exactly what I have left when it gets low.
Mine is just about the same in my 1994 U300 with a tank size of 160 gallons.
Steve, do you have a driver information center so you can track the two readings? My gauge and DIC both track the same and I believe give accurate readings. When refueling I usually level the coach and fill till I can see the fuel level at the tank spout. I guess my obsession to cram in all i can comes from only having a 29 gallon tank on Superduty pulling 5th wheel for several years. So it takes a long time for my gauge and DIC to leave 100 percent, but when it does it appears to track accurately. The lowest I have ever allowed the fuel level was 1/4 tank per the gauge, 25 percent per DIC. Number of gallons to fill was around 130 gallons or so if I remember correctly. Once my gauge and DIC leave 100 percent, first and second halves rate of usage appear to be the same. I hope it would be a simple calibration procedure to get yours tracking usage properly. Good luck!
Mine reads accurately from full down to 1/4 tank, they drops very quickly to the top of the red zone. When the needle is in the red and just above the empty line I loose the generator. At that level I have 40 of the 180 gallons remaining and if I make a long sweeping turn the engine will starve for fuel and quit.
We just had the sender replaced on our 1996 U320--- found out the hard way that it was inaccurate right after we bought the coach. The old style sender has a potentiometer calibration adjustment on the top. If you still have that style, you might try adjustment ( there is a procedure that Foretravel service will share with you). The new style sensor lacks this potentiometer, but has a procedure for auto-calibration. The sensors are interchangeable. The new style sensor is about $100 and is easy to change (on my coach).
The new sensor gives a pretty good sense of how much fuel you have, but it's not aircraft accuracy!
It takes a while to come off full, then pretty accurate in the mid range, and drops more rapidly as you get closer to empty, at least that is my experience. As a result I try not to go below 1/4 tank before fill up.
Here is the instructions for calibrating the Centroid Fuel Sender,
Centroid Fuel Sender Calibration (http://beamalarm.com/Documents/Centroid_fuel_sender_calibration.html)
What John and several others posted is common: "It takes a while to come off full, then pretty accurate in the mid range, and drops more rapidly as you get closer to empty"
Centroid fuel sender calibration: CENTROID PRODUCTS (http://centroidproducts.com/tableofc.htm)
Our experience was the same as above. We now monitor fuel using the Silverleaf product. The Silverleaf shows Miles to empty and how many gals left in the tank. I rarely look at the fuel gauge any more.
Reality-- I fill by MILES, not gauge. And, then, only after consulting GasBuddy.com - Find Low Gas Prices in the USA and Canada (http://www.gasbuddy.com/)
Very easy to save $.30-.40 per gallon without going out of your way.
Mine has the DIC and I also fill by miles, that's how I knew the gauge was so wrong. I just like everything to work right. Problem with just filling by miles is while I was parked for a week in 12F temperatures, I was uncertain exactly how much the generator and aquahot were burning. Turns out they consumed about 30 gals during the trip.
To compensate for the generator factor I always fill up shortly after we leave to go to a new spot. I also fill up before we park.
An excellent idea-- minimizes condensation in the fuel tank.
As I don't trust my gage I dip my tank and that way I know exactly how much fuel I have.
Same here. The large footprint and interior baffle design of the fuel tank contribute to the sloshing on turns that causes this. One of many several reasons it's best not to run below 1/4 tank.
It takes between 90 and 100 gallons to fill our "150 gallon" tank when the gauge reads 1/4 full. Therefore, it appears that the tank is about 1/3 full when the gauge reads 1/4. I don't know how many usable gallons are in the "150 gallon" tank, but I'm satisfied with the gauge's accuracy.
I have a spreadsheet that has an entry for all the legs of our trip(s). We'll drive between 4-8 thousand miles a year. This year possibly a little more.
I use Delorme's Street Atlas to plot the route which gives me anticipated mileages for all the legs. I don't try for the entire trip, just the current planning horizon.
Periodically I'll take the actual odometer readings from my trip log and update the sheet to actual miles traveled.
As I log a fill up in the spreadsheet it will reset my estimated tankage to 120 gallons (my conservative figure for tank capacity) and using 8 mpg will recalculate fuel remaining for the future legs. I don't like an anticipated fuel state at the end of a leg below about 35 gallons so I'll insert a fuel stop prior to the end of that leg and use Gas Buddy to find a good fueling stop some where along the way.
I don't think I have ever taken on more than about 90 gallons at any time.
As we go along it is easy enough to change the spreadsheet to reflect future stops.
We like to have a reasonable idea where we'll sleep at night.
My fuel gauge shows 9/16 when full and 3/8 with 70 gal left but never goes lower. It's been that way since I got the coach 4 years ago. My VMSpc tracks fuel use very well. If I haven't been using the generator or Aquahot and it says I can use 100 gallons it will be only a couple gallons different from that to fill. I rarely get below 70 gallons and as Brett says, use Gas Buddy to look ahead for good prices and easy in and out stops.
AAA has a really good free app for travel planning. Easy to put in any number of waypoints to get time and miles between them and good directions. It also shows fuel stops and prices, campgrounds, rest stops and lots more. This is one of our most used travel tools.
Roger