Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

[minuteman62-64]

I have the Walmart 6 gallon portable fuel tank that does not have a sight gauge. There is a circular indentation molded in the top of the tank about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Today, in West, I saw a very simple fuel level sight gauge (Mouller, about $12) that looks like it would be clamped over a hole in the top of the tank.

Anybody know if I could drill out the circular indentation in the top of my tank and install this sight gauge? I looked on the Mouller site and couldn't find this unit or any installation directions.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

And seal it with?????? Nothing will stick to that plastic. You will get air leaks / fuel leaks and probably ruin the tank.

I just usually "know" when I have burned enough to switch taks and I shake the empty one.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

Don't drill the tank. The plastic crap gauges in plastic tanks are crap anyway. If you really need a gauge, buy an older metal tank on E-Bay with a gauge and it'll last you for years.

 

[Don S]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

Those tanks are such thin plastic, all you have to do is look at the side of tank in the light and you can see the level of gas in it.
The tanks that have those gauges are designed for them, they are not an add on.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank



Don: You forgot to say that eventually they all leak. The plastic warps and the gasket deteriorates. It is a certainty. The only question is when they will leak.

 

[sschefer]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

If your in the Northern California area, specifically Santa Rosa, I have a 6 gal Moeller with a guage that I'll give you. Just come and get it. It's had fuel in it so I'm not going through the hassels of prepping it for shipping. If you want it, it's yours.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

OK, sounds like a bad idea.

On one of the other threads I saw a suggestion about carrying one of those 2-gallon tanks, like you'd use for your chain saw/lawnmower, as a reserve. Just run till I'm about out of fuel and then dump the reserve into the 6-gallon tank. The 2 gallons will get me back from anywhere I would go. I can store one of those tanks nicely in the space under the transom splash shield, and use a dip stick if I really want to know how much fuel is remaining in the 6-gal. tank. So, I'm thinking that's the way to to.

Sschefer, appreciate the offer, but, I'm in So. Cal.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

A lit flashlight planted against the side of a plastic tank will act as a fuel guage.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

Here are some cheap suggestions.....

Keep a notebook and records of fuel use so you know what to anticipate in the future......

Make a dipstick from wood (like a small dowel) and carve marks into it to represent 3/4,1/2, 1/4, 1/8 on one side and the other side just divide into thirds..... one third out, one back and one for safety

Even the "standard" metal tanks with a float gauge are not as accurate as people would like.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

IF you really want a sight gage try this. It may take a bit of digging to find one, But their right it dosnt work very well I use a tank stick made from a wooden dowl picked up at lowes

http://www.boatmania.com/fuel-systems/fuel-tanks/fuel-tank-cap-with-gauge.html

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

Why not buy a fuel filler cap that has a gauge built into it. I suspect the WalMart tank has a standard filler cap thread. They may even have the gauge style cap. If not, any marina or boat dealer can supply the correct unit.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

Why not buy a fuel filler cap that has a gauge built into it. I suspect the WalMart tank has a standard filler cap thread. They may even have the gauge style cap. If not, any marina or boat dealer can supply the correct unit.

They are built for specific tanks with specific dimensions. If your tank wasn't designed that way, the cap from any other tank won't work, even if the thread size is the same.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

They are built for specific tanks with specific dimensions. If your tank wasn't designed that way, the cap from any other tank won't work, even if the thread size is the same.

As long as the depth is right, it will work just fine.

 

[M9.9]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

You can adjust the float by bending the arm if too long and I'd keep it off the bottom slightly when zero'ng the gauge, you'll have a wee-bit of tank-bildge reserve in the bottom that way, if too short or plastic that's a problem needing a little more ingenuity. When I work with plastic tanks doing mods requiring a hole I use O rings and stainless steel washers to make a seal.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: Can I Install a Sight Gauge in my Portable Fuel Tank

My education continues. I now have a home-made, delux, hardwood, dip stick. Calibrated at 1 gal., 2 gal. & 3 gal. for now (taking the boat out tomorrow so didn't have time to do much fine tuning). Long enough so I can reach down from the pilot station to use it. I don' need no stinkin sight gauge!

Also picked up a 2 gal. tank at Walmart that I'll use as a reserve.