On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:30:09 -0700, Hustlin' Hank wrote:
I know this probably sounds stupid to you, but have you ever thought of
filling the gas tank full before you start to mow? If you do this, you
will never run out of gas and will not need a gauge.

.... unless your yard takes more than a tank (mine uses a tank and a half,
so I have to fill up even if I start off full).

On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:40:28 -0700, Midnite wrote:

On Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:24:45 -0500, willshak
wrote:

You know, the kind that has a solid plastic float that operates a flat
screw type axle to turn a needle in the cap showing the amount of fuel
left. These plastic floats seem to allow gas to permeate the float,
giving a less than correct fuel level.
I suppose I can buy a new cap/gauge/float assembly for this particular
tank, but that would only solve the problem for a while until that float
gets heavier.
I wonder if I can paint some sort of material on the float to make it
more resistant to permeation of the gas? I know the material has to be
non-soluble in gasoline. Ideas??


Pretty much have to buy a new cap. If gas has already soaked into the
float, then no type of sealer is going to stick. Even if it did, it
would weigh down the float and give you a wrong reading, which is the
problem you are trying to solve.

Well, the float will sit more or less on the surface; in my lawn tractor
the tank's maybe 10" deep, so even if the float sits 1/2" lower with
sealer, that's "only" a 5% error (I say only because the thing bounces
around so much in use that it's pretty much impossible to take an
accurate reading anyway).

It's possible to get car body filler that's rated for gas contact, so
that might be worth a try if the float is holed in a single place (but if
it is, a soldering iron would probably work to melt the plastic and seal
the hole anyway).

If the plastic's deteriorated and is letting gas through all over, I
think I'd be looking at cutting the old float apart and somehow attaching
a new one to it...

cheers

Jules

On Mar 15, 8:27�am, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:30:09 -0700, Hustlin' Hank wrote:
I know this probably sounds stupid to you, but have you ever thought of
filling the gas tank full before you start to mow? If you do this, you
will never run out of gas and will not need a gauge.

... unless your yard takes more than a tank (mine uses a tank and a half,
so I have to fill up even if I start off full).

Sounds like you need a bigger tank, mower, or smaller yard.

Hank ~~~mows for 3 hours on 1/3 tank (15 gal tank).

On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:38:03 -0700, Hustlin' Hank wrote:

On Mar 15, 8:27�am, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:30:09 -0700, Hustlin' Hank wrote:
I know this probably sounds stupid to you, but have you ever thought
of filling the gas tank full before you start to mow? If you do this,
you will never run out of gas and will not need a gauge.

... unless your yard takes more than a tank (mine uses a tank and a
half, so I have to fill up even if I start off full).

Sounds like you need a bigger tank, mower, or smaller yard.

Hank ~~~mows for 3 hours on 1/3 tank (15 gal tank).

Yeah... we've got a little over 2 acres of grass, normally takes me
somewhere between 2 and 2.5 hours to cut (blades are somewhere around
40" - I'd have to dig the mower out to check for sure though). I don't
think the tank's much over 2 gallons, though - so it takes about 3 to cut
that much (usually every 2 weeks during growing season)

I keep wondering about getting a "full sized" tractor with a mowing deck
(it'd be useful for other stuff too), but I'm not sure what the running
costs would be like - although it'd save time, I don't know if it'd
necessarily save on gas.

cheers

Jules