The jarring around on rough roads or the changes caused by acceleration and deceleration, or for an airplane, in rough air or during maneuvers, would result in wildly varying readings that would need averaging circuitry. Further, the tank mounting would have to be set up so that the tank's weight is all on the strain gauges, without interference from clamp or strap tension, and the tank would be difficult to mount securely. I suppose a double bottom with the strain gauge between the two layers might work. The capacitance-type gauges use the dieletric constants of air and fuel. They're different, and the device's capacitance changes as the fuel level changes. Several of them spread across the tank are connected together and the capacitances summed to get a much more accurate picture of the fuel quantity than a single-point sensor can give. No moving parts, very light and reliable.
Granted - however gages have to have amplifiers and they have integration amps to smooth the waves.
Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
It's pretty common practice to weld on fuel oil tanks by filling them all the way and weld a quick patch on. As long as your floor is clean you don't have to worry much about a fire, and if it does burn it'll advance quite slowly.
Gasoline, being as volatile as it is, will burn on a clean floor and spread as rapidly as we all know it can. A pint of fuel oil on the floor below where you're welding is no big deal, a pint of gasoline would be exciting, especially if you burned a hole below the liquid in the tank.
I've had very good results welding gas tanks by rinsing them out with a few gallons of hot water and a big squirt of dishsoap. If you're feeling careful, a hard purge with CO2 before welding is a good idea. The good thing about dishsoap in the tank is that once you fill it gas the leftover water will mix with the gas and go on through.
I was cutting scrap one day at a little scrapyard, heard a mighty hissing behind me, it really made me jump. I looked and there was a flat-type GM fuel tank standing with the neck up, orange flame standing about two inches out the pipe with a thick black smoke streaming off the flame. The guy had said they had all the tanks picked up, I never saw it in the weeds.. really put the respect of gas tanks into me.
Saw another that a friend set off, the thing looked like a beach ball, remarkably round shape to it. Lucky guy that day.
Another friend of mine had a truck tank (gas) that someone had robbed the cap from get a spark in it while he was cutting on a truck next to it. It hosed his back with blazing rancid old gas, he had Carharts on and got to the hose about 20' away and ran it down his back.. went home and got in the tub, realized he was getting seriously uncommon amounts of skin peeling off the backs of his legs, went to the hospital and spent some shitty length of time laying on his belly, month and a half or two months, I forget now. Ugly scars on the calves, thighs, ass, up his back, didn't get the backs of the knees or right below his ass.. he said his jeans didn't even scorch.
I got heaps of respect for gas tanks and empty fuel oil tanks and empty barrels.. the whole universe of empty stuff.
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