Twin fuel tanks

[toby4594]

Trying to find a remedy for the poor range on my rib ,Plastimo do a 50l tank that would replace the 25l suzuki back up tank , that has a permanent home strapped astern ,can I link the two together so the engine is drawing on both at the same time and what would I need to do it.

[Neil Harvey]

Guess you could do it, but don't really understand why you'd want to have them both drawing at the same time.

I would have thought it makes sense to draw off the main tank, then connnect or switch over to the secondary tank when the main runs dry. Then you always have your secondary tank to get you home or to the nearest refuelling station. Also, if anything is wrong with the fuel supply from the main tank you have a backup.

I have a 70ish litre main tank and two 25litre backup tanks. The backups have their own connectors and lines so I just switch over quickly if the main is running low. Works for me, but intrigued as to why you'd want to draw from both at the same time, as maybe I'm missing a trick?

[Downhilldai]

A simple 'T' piece in the delivery hose will enable you to draw fuel simultaneously from both tanks, but as they have different capacities, one will empty before the other and the fuel pump will then fail to draw fuel from the larger tank, due to the open nature of the delivery tube in the empty tank. This can be overcome by disconnecting the fitting from the smaller tank when it runs dry.
A better option would be to fit a changeover valve, rather than a 'T' piece and simply switch the lever over, when the first tank empties.
You could, of course, do what everyone else does and swap the delivery hose over from the empty tank to the full one.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by toby4594

Trying to find a remedy for the poor range on my rib ,Plastimo do a 50l tank that would replace the 25l suzuki back up tank , that has a permanent home strapped astern ,can I link the two together so the engine is drawing on both at the same time and what would I need to do it.

If you link the two straight together you'll draw air in when the smaller tank empties.You'll have to have a way to close the vent on that tank if possible when it runs out.

Having to change tanks is a good reminder of fuel levels anyway. Gauges aren't always accurate.

[Nos4r2]

Or like Dai said

Depends if your tanks have detachable fuel lines or not.

[toby4594]

Neil ,you are not missing anything ,I was having a silly moment to myself,of course very important to have a back up tank ,and having to change it over obviously makes you aware of your remaining fuel situation,my back up is fitted with quick fit type connectors .