Oil & Fuel Oil siight / Temp guage

[ponytug]

Dear WF,

Before you tear it down, I would look at the tank and watch the oil movement. I think it might help you in your selection of location(s).

Personally, I would want to play around with one in tin can or a bucket to get a feeling for how much angle and how much turbulence they can stand. Some oil, and paintstirrer on a drill and and you could save yourself some headaches.

Just my $0.02...

All the best,

Peter

That looks like it should run vertically (the engine switches) but runs horizontal? I would say that Ponytug and MR have the solution.... I have to replace all my intake hoses this spring so maybe I will drain the tank and do some drillin....

Question, If you put it above the intake, would the fluid pull (the sucking) effect the switch? I am sure there is a lot of pull on that system if it is churning a tank over once a minute... (1850 = 18GPM)

 

[Gravy]

Gravy... Problem with the center guage (at least on the 1850) is that there is the tunnel and the oil level is not very deep in that area.

Also, I really want to stay away from any wires on the top of the tank. Between getting dinged going under the hood, and the general thrashing my PT takes in the blackberries, wires are easy to grab and remove.

Carl

Details, details... They only pay me for the Concepts, y'know?

Whadd'ya mean, they ain't payin' me? I'll get back to ya Real Soon Now, OK?

 

[Gravy]

And now for today's "Well, Duh" moment:

The float switch doesn't need to be centered. It needs to be placed just above the main suction fitting. The pump doesn't care about the oil level in the tank. It only cares whether it is sucking oil or wind.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Gravy... Elaborate please.

Also I must apologize to the PT guys. Realized my typo today... Eyes are getting bad in my old age...

 

[toy]

You know I was just thinking if you had a sight glass on the side of the oil tank and it got hit and busted then you would have in effect created yourself a problem. If the sight glass was on the side of the tank or on the cover plate and you were on the machine running it then you couldn't see the sight glass. If you wasn't on the machine running it then you could just check the oil, and I know that the oil is kinda hard to see on the dip stick, but it is doable. When I lost my rear wheel motor a few months back I knew by the sound of the machine that something wasn't right and I began looking around to see if I could tell where the leak was coming from while I was running the machine and I had a pretty good idea where the general area of the problem but I didn't make a fuss about it because my wife was there and she would have panicked and I needed to work it just a little longer but when the machine began having robotic movements I knew I needed to get her home. I put a few quarts of oil in it and headed for the garriage, when I saw the oil tracks I was leaving behind then I began to be panicked, thought I had waited too long but I made it. On my dip stick I engraved a line where the full mark should be. The dip stick on my pt for the hydraulic didn't have any markings on it , did any of yours have a mark for full and add?

 

[Gravy]

Gravy... Elaborate please.

Also I must apologize to the PT guys. Realized my typo today... Eyes are getting bad in my old age...

I had just realized something that Peter had actually previously pointed out. I somehow missed his post. Having the sensor centered is good design if you are trying to accurately keep track of the actual oil level, but that's not what is really needed. The pump doesn't suck from the centerline of the tank. The pickup on mine is near the rear bottom corner on the right side. Therefore the sensor ought to be placed as near to that as practical to monitor the oil level where it really matters.

 

[SpringHollow]

i can not believe a traditional float sensor on a shaft will work in these flow conditions. The electronic sealed style? I do not know. Pressure would be a whole lot easier but you would get almost no warning - you would probably notice the changes in the machine first. Hooked up as a shutoff device might save you.

Ken

 

[Gravy]

I think the float switch might have to be baffled to damp out some of the sloshing, but I think it would probably work well enough to provide some warning in most circumstances. It probably wouldn't be perfect, but it would be a lot better than nothing.

I've probably got a suitable stainless float switch that could be installed on a drop pipe from the hydraulic tank cover plate. I'd rig it to a bright warning light. It's just a matter of finding the time to do it.

 

[MossRoad]

Make yourself a circuit that has a time delay in it. Set it for 5 seconds. If the switch bounces around it will not trigger the alarm. If it makes for 5 seconds, then it will go off.

Just thinking...

 

[BobRip]

Make yourself a circuit that has a time delay in it. Set it for 5 seconds. If the switch bounces around it will not trigger the alarm. If it makes for 5 seconds, then it will go off.

Just thinking...

Or just let it go off occasionally and that way you know it works. If will probably go off at the same places or conditions and you will learn how it behaves in normal conditions and will notice abnormal.