Foretravel specs states that the fuel tank has a capacity of 194 gallons. Is that true? If so, how far have you traveled without refueling?
Best practices, since the tank runs the full width of the coach, the pick-up and fuel, despite the baffles, can slosh on turns and one can stall, is never to run below 1/4 tank. Fuel economy is going to depend on driving habits and conditions; one can use 7.5-8.5 mpg as a rule of thumb for planning purposes.
We actually ran into the 1/4 tank issue the first year we owned our coach, not realizing the stall could happen (it did, as we were pulling into fuel stops at the 1/4 tank level). Reviewing with the factory, there were no less than 5 different baffle setups for that tank and they didn't know which we had.
1,000 miles easily. Gen shutoff at 1,200 miles. Coach out at 1,500 miles.
When we were replacing the fuel lines, we had the tank partially out on our '99 U320. I took a photo of the label on the tank which indicates 201 gallons.
As Michelle indicates, we rarely even approach a quarter of a tank full. Usually start looking as we descend through half a tank.
Richard
Never played the low fuel guessing game, but it is further than the capacity of my bladder.
Mike
I never ran the fuel tank low enough to worry about the exact capacity, always started looking at half a tank. On my Mercedes Sprinter and on my diesel VW, however, there is no pump to allow roadside fill-ups, therefore running out of fuel means a TOW! Now I am especially careful.
1200 miles max... usually start getting nervous around 1k miles..
I drive about 400-450 miles a day comfortably, so can go without worrying about looking for fuel for two days. On the third day I find cheapest fuel and fill up. Made the mistake of not filling up on a short day three and my Aquahot (pulls fuel from the same pickup level as the genny) lost fuel and quit that night. Not fun. So CalflashBob is spot on. With the new discount fuel card in hand, fuel stops will be a bit more frequent! Woody.
My fuel sensor doesn't read correctly most of the time. Only often enough that I simply don't trust it.
Since I now have VMSpc, I just use 150 gallons as the default capacity and fill up when it gets close to "empty". This does not take Aquahot and generator use into account, but those numbers are not too high. I have put 160 gallons into the tank a couple of times.
Using 150 gallons and 7 mpg gives me a conservative thousand mile range.
When I measured my fuel tank it calculated out to 150 gallons. Are all 320's 200 gallons? The reason I measured was that based on 200 gallons my fuel gauge was way off, but at 150 gallon capacity, it is closer to accurate when I fill up. Like the others, I start looking at around 1/2 tank.
Larry
96 had 146? 97 has 192+
Both my Foretravel's hold 148 gallons.. The most fuel I ever put in one was 80 gallons.. With fuel stops and credit cards as plentiful as they are what's the need..Cost no more to run on the top half of the tank as the bottom. As a young man trucking cross country I drank my fill of diesel trying to siphon enough out of a refer tank to get a truck motor started.. Got a lot older and little smarter and don't intend on running out of fuel again unless something knocks a hole in the tank and it runs out.
No. According to beamalarm your coach has a 148 gallon tank, which jives with your calculations.
1996 U320 Foretravel Specifications (http://beamalarm.com/foretravel-links/models/1996_u320_foretravel_specifications.html)
Thanks for the confirmations. When I first bought the coach I thought that it had a 200 gallon tank. When it showed 1/2 full and only took 65 gallons I thought that the gauge was way off. When I calculated the volume and showed only a 150 gallon tank, the gauge was a lot closer to being right. Once again I was proven wrong in my original thinking. Do I wish that I had the extra 50 gallons? Yes I do when going down the highway, but not so much when it is time to fill up. Like so many others have said, I try to run on the top half of a tank. So far, I've never gotten down to where the generator has shut off. It's a lot less sticker shock for 60 gallons at a time verses 125 gallons.
Larry
I don't know for certain why Foretravel didn't standardize fuel tanks across all models. Might have been to leave more room for bay storage on shorter coaches, or might have been different suppliers over the years.
What I do know for certain is that my tank is exactly 180 gallons, as specified in the spec sheet going on Beamalarm.
For some years, I've been using the driver information center reading on percent of full to calculate fuel needs when filling up. If it says 50%, I tell the cashier at the station I'll be needing 90 gallons, do the math on price, run my credit card ( plus a few dollars so the pump runs at full speed right to the end), and I'm done. The result is always within a couple of gallons. Now that I'm running VmsPC, I use the fuel remaining gauge. It too is spot on.
On the other hand, I wonder about the spec sheet water capacity of 112 gallons. Being an engineer, I've invested in two external water meters, and both agree my capacity is 85-90 gallons from drained to overflow. I thought I had done something in error until I was talking with another engineer FT owner who had run similar tests with identical results. Foretravel might have included water in the 10 gallon water heater plus all the water lines.
The tank capacity maybe one thing but the actuall amount of fuel it will hold is less due to the filler kneck being a few inches below the top of tank?
I seem to remember calculating the tank volume by of course mutiplying out the measurements and that gave me what all think the capacity is but you will make one big puddle of fuel if you try to get that amount in it.
Maybe someone get out the tank schematic and check my figuring out.
I think mine worked out at 138 gallons US.
JOHNH
I use an app on my phone that some of you might find useful. Its a tank volume calculator. Can be used in Metric or Imperial (inches). Search PlayStore for "Tank Calc" by Regal tanks. For instance, on the height measurement, you can subtract the inches from tank top to base of filler neck if you fill like I do on my tank.
FWIW / YMMV / DWMYH 8)
jk
I have that same tank.
My last sailboat I used the same company to build my new tank, which was the same as the old one for a Endeavour 40. Mine had extensive electrolysis and corrosion but it was at the bottom of the bilge, a pretty poor place for a aluminum tank to live.
This tank had no such issues.
Don't know how many miles yet but I did run out of fuel, and the gen cut out, but of course my sender was fubar. But at 8mpg should get 1600 miles out of it before you coast to a stop in a place where there is no diesel. Better to figure on 1000 miles max before filling up. At least that is what I would do. I carry 2 5 gal bottles as well. so another 80 miles max there.
Another thing is, probably don't want to fill it all the way up and that is probably where the lower number comes from.