Tank Tender

mixman

Livin' the life.
Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
RO Number
25362
Messages
3,996
Does anyone have experience with this system:

http://tanktender.com

My 1976 refit project boat has no Tank monitoring currently other than a marked dowel for dipping the fuel tank. I'm considering the Tank Tender system for diesel, water, and holding tanks.
 
Only on a friend's Northern Bay 36 .

He likes it a lot , but it does not appeal to me very much.

It is very accurate it terms of indicating depth , since you manually pump a little soft bulb on the panel until the additional pumped air escapes from the down tube in the tank.
That shows the maximum pressure ( over ambient) needed to overcome liquid column pressure and relates consistently to depth no matter how irregularly-shaped the tank may be.
You need to set up a log of fills at various depths so you gradually have a very accurate conversion reference sheet : displayed pressure vs gallons(or liters) of liquid to refill the tank at that pressure. ( Liquid Used).
If desired , you can subtract that gallons(L) figure from tank full capacity to add Fuel(or other liquid)-Remaining data to the reference sheet. With appropriate model Tank Tender you can just pump air into whichever tank you want to check so you only need the 1 Tank Tender dash panel.
It does require an air hosefrom the dash panel to each tank as desired and hose connections must be tight enough to seal the very low pressure involved when checking.

Of course, for those tanks with existing and working gauge senders, one can do the same thing diagramming in your log book the gauge and (E,1/4, 1/2,3/4, F) register marks ( and helpfully add a few more in between with a marker on the lens or bezel) and show the gallons it took to fill at each needle position or digital level % number.
Then your dash gauge eventually becomes very accurate ( ~~ =/- 1gal) as well.
 
Thanks, Sandy, great information.
 
We had the system in Freedom. We never bothered to note how many gallons equated to what indications. However we did note where full was. Depending on the shape of the tank bottom and sides you will see the values drop or rise fast.
You have to be careful with the system. If pressure builds in the tank and you select that tank and peg the needle the gauge will be damaged. There is a small internal lever of the gauge that rides on the bellows (metal like a barometer) and it will bend. Ask me how I know?
It can be reshaped and installed again. I was able to but it will test your patience. One of the tendr to tank tubes got brittle after 30 years and I was able to replace it with nylon tube acquired on the net. The stiff straight tubing in the sewage tank let go on us and had to be replaced as well. You can only expect something to put up with sh1t for so long.
Otherwise it was trouble free for 17 years that we owned the boat and worth having aboard.

If I had to do it over again, in the case of fuel, I'd run the tank down quite a bit and mark that spot. Then I would fill it up noting the values every 50 gallons (or less depending on capacity). When full I'd note the gallons between full and the last measurement and back down the gauge through extrapolation to come up with 50 gallon readings.

Different values for the same amount of fuel will occur due to boat loading and etc..
 
Back
Top