Ok, I’m looking for an answer from a FIRE expert here. I don’t want to be listed under the heading above as another flight 800 type incident.
The fuel gauge was giving me some screwed up indications so I pulled it last weekend to see if I could find the problems, I did! First off, I’ve never seen an original 1950 AD sender so I can’t be sure but I think this is a replacement sender. I would like to see a couple of pics of one if any one has one for comparison.
The first thing that came to mind when I pulled this thing out is that the wire wound variable resistor sits right down in or out of the fuel depending on the level. I expected a sealed case of some sort. In other words you have a hot wire right down in the fuel tank. As long as the liquid fuel is covering the element it isn’t going to start a fire. When the level is down and the element is exposed and in the fumes, if there is a spark you could have an explosion. You say how could you get a spark? Well, the wiper is probably going to be in contact with the element at all times so it would be rather unusual for it to spark.
But if something fails and the circuit is broken there could be a spark. Now in my case there is a 3” long .004” band that connects the wiper to ground and allows the float lever assembly to move over its entire range. This flexible band on mine broke into four pieces and they were lying loose in side the unit and could easily have shorted the hot side to ground causing a spark. And it would be my guess that this thing had sparked quite a few times before I discovered it. If there was enough oxygen present it seems to me that this could have been a disaster.
Are there any opinions out there??
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
p.s. I’m attempting to rebuild the sender, I’ll let ya know if I’m successful if ya care.
