[NSRCA-discussion] Hopper tanks

[Mike Hester]

I posted a pic of the set up somewhere. The big thing to keep in mind is that a hopper tank and a header tank are not the same thing. A header tank is used to keep the fuel pick up closer to the carb/needle, while the hopper tank is used primarily for removing unwanted air bubbles in a high vibration environment. usually, people call them ALL header tanks, and I'm guilty as charged. Hopper tanks have been used in helicopters and ducted fans (remember those?) for years.

Basically you want a 2 ounce tank (or 4+ if you need nose weight but don't want it to be permanent, as in you can drain it for the weight check LOL...I know I know, "evil"....). One line you set up like a standard fuel tank vent tube. This runs straight to the pick up of your main tank; and yes use the foam clunk that YS makes in the main tank. The other is the more important, this is a solid piece of brass/aluminum tubing that has it's end pick up geometric center of the 2 ounce tank. This leads to the engine. The way it works is, as the fuel flows into the hopper tank, any air bubbles travel to the outside of the tank, and the pickup always draws pure fuel. Since even a pinhead size air bubble can cause the DZ to caugh or sag (or worse), it's just extra insurance.

I could tell a difference, some can't, some need it, some don't. if weight ins't an issue, it's definitely a good insurance policy against that dreaded caugh under high G manuevers toward the end of the flight. The old masters and FAI patterns had quite a few of these and it was more pronounced than now, but I still enjoy the confidence in KNOWING that if my engine caughs, I'm down to about 1 ounce of fuel and I have been up WAY too long =)

I know what you're building, and I know it'll be light. Don't overthink it with that engineer noggin. Install one and call it a day. One less thing to worry about. or one more, depending on how you look at it....

-Mike

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Pavlick 
  To: General pattern discussion 
  Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 12:27 AM
  Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Hopper tanks


  OK, there's a lot of stuff there. Any specific area that I should be looking at?

  John Pavlick
  http://www.idseng.com
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Rusty Fried 
    To: 'General pattern discussion' 
    Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:57 PM
    Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Hopper tanks


    Go to sunvalleyfliers.com.

     

    From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of John Pavlick
    Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 6:02 PM
    To: NSRCA Discussion
    Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Hopper tanks

     

    I'm about to install a hopper tank for the first time. If anybody has any advice / pictures, please pass it along. TIA

     

    John Pavlick
    http://www.idseng.com



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