Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 9:26 PM

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: gauges

Group,

 

Fixing to get oil pressure gauge and am concerned about the quality of the electrical sending units.  How likely are they to leak or come apart and cause complete oil loss?

Using a mechanical gauge eliminates the sender but uses a capillary tube that can break. What are the pros and cons to electrical gauges?

 

Wendell

Feeding a pressurized fluid into the cockpit to operate a boiler gage will get you a lap full of that fluid when the bourbon tube inside the gage eventually fails. We did that in the race car with a fuel pressure gage, and sprayed the driver with fuel for a full lap. Now there is an isolator under the hood, and only pressurized glycol or water if you prefer, enters the cockpit. If there is a gage failure, the isolator blocks all flow of the measured fluid.

 

Another case where an electric gage would have been ideal.