I know there is an Ercoupe group out there to ask this but I don’t have an interest in joining another group for just 1 question (at least not yet). The question is how does one manage the fuel in an Ercoupe with 2 wing tanks and a header tank. I understand the engine is fed from the header tank and fuel is pumped from the wing tanks to the header tank. Is it like a Cherokee where you pump from left tank and right tank balancing the weight between the wing tanks? Is the transfer pump engine driven with an electric backup? How do you know when the header tank is full? Is there an overflow on the header tank that returns excess fuel to the wing tanks? Are the fuel gauges all sight gauges or are there electric fuel gauges for the wing tanks?
Lastly are they enjoyable to fly but very impractical for taking a 3 hour trip with minimal luggage?
Hi Ron. I’m kind of late to the party but welcome to the Ercoupe world. I assume you have things figured out by now. I have owned my 415-C for about six years. I love it. C-85 Stroker engine that lets me cruise right at 118mph. That’s a pretty decent cross country plane that’ll outperform any other type in its class.
As far a fuel management.. I burn about 5.3 mpg at cruise near redline. I’ve only dipped into my header tank twice. Meaning that I just don’t often fly long enough to exhaust my wing tanks. I consider the header purely a one hour reserve. Normally, I plan stops about every two hours or so as a matter of personal comfort.
One time, the headwinds were stronger than forecast. I admit to having been lax about watching the header float gauge because I was confident of arriving with fuel still in the wings.
But, I suddenly noticed that the header float was down an inch or so. It was frightening because I didn’t know how long it had been going down. I was about 30 miles from the destination but did not want to be the guy in the six o’clock Dallas news, so I did a 180 and headed for an airport ten miles behind me.
I added a little over 19 gallons. I COULD have made the destination. I just didn’t KNOW it!
Two lessons here. 1) Make the header gauge part of your panel scan. Even if you think you have hours to go, your fuel pump could fail and you’ll immediately start draining the header.
2) Because the header tank is a weird shape and is narrow at the top, the gauge goes down quickly at first. Frighteningly so. Then it slows down. When it first hits bottom, you’ll have about three gallons left, or roughly half an hour. You’ll need to be on the ground very soon.
The gauge is RIGHT THERE in front of your nose. You can’t miss it, but guys do. I almost did.
I know of one guy who had just bought an awesome Ercoupe in Houston and was flying it home to California. He didn’t even get out of Texas before running out of fuel in the West Texas desert, totaling the plane! He was okay.
My second time to dip into the header was by design. My flight planning told me I could reach my fuel stop with 19 gallons burned. There were plenty of alternates on my route so no worries if the burn was more than planned.
The header gauge started going down about ten minutes before planned arrival, right about when I expected it to.
There are a couple of great Ercoupe groups that you should join. You’ll gain a lot more specific knowledge in a specialized group than in a general one like this one.
Facebook: Ercoupe Owners and Enthusiasts
tech@ercoupe.groups.io
Cheers!
Ken