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Aux Fuel Tank for the Manifold Flame Heater

Wildchild467

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Last night’s project was this. Like many of you out there, who knows what i put in my fuel tank. It could be used motor oil, some diesel, kerosene, old gasoline, maybe some lamp oil that my grandma wanted to get rid of in her shed, who knows. it is all filtered of course. we know the multifuel engine is not too picky of what it burns, but the flame heater on the other hand is a bit more picky.

What i did here was removed the flame heater line and compression fitting that came off the injection pump and just capped it with a 1/4" NPT plug. I had a old fuel tank that came off a 1960's Briggs and Stratton engine kicking around and decided to use that for a fuel tank. Most small engine metal tanks have a 1/8" NPT fitting on the bottom, but i lucked out with this one that it was 1/4"NPT. The original fitting screwed right in the bottom of the tank nicely. It will work for now, but my concern is about moisture. Maybe I need a sediment bowl on the bottom, although I would prefer not glass. A spin on filter would be ideal, but a bit over kill. Anyway, I mounted it right under the mounting foot for the heater and put a spacer on the other side. I know I have some air in the line and need to bleed it. I found out that the flame heater pump does not do well at self priming from a tank like this. Hence when it is normally hooked up on the truck, it receives pressure from the in-tank pump. Without the intank pump, the flame heater has a hard time working. That being said, I may have to put a small fuel pump on it also (maybe one similar to what is on my MEP-002A). More field testing will determine that after I bleed the line from the tank to the flame heater pump. It was nice to mount the tank lower than the flame heater nozzle itself to make sure there is no pressure on it in case it leaks (inside or outside turbo) when the truck just sits. Tonight I am going to bleed the line and see how it works. It worked fine when I had it temporarily plumbed the other night with the line bled. I have seen this modification mentioned before on a post, but never saw a write up on it. The one picture is blurry, but you get the idea of how it would be to add kerosene or diesel to the tank, not too bad. [thumbzup]
 

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orren

Active member
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Live Oak, Florida, USA
I'm designing something similar and larger. Don't know if flame pump will be able to
work right without an assist. If assist is needed a few pounds of air maintained in tank
should do it so high mounting would not be necessary.

Would recommend adding a check valve to fuel line if tank is lower than pump. Hopefully,
this will help keep pump primed enough to work OK. For water removal I'll use a drain
plug in tank. The pickup tube will be about an inch above bottom of tank since fuel line will be coming from the top.

Good luck with yours and please keep us posted on your progress.
 

Wildchild467

Well-known member
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Milford / Michigan
As long as the tank is higher than the pump, you shouldn't need an additional pump for it to work.
Good call. My plan is to keep the pump in the original location... but definately could lengthen the harness and some plumbing and i would be all set. It might even prime faster your way. We'll see :)
 

Wildchild467

Well-known member
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Location
Milford / Michigan
Using this set up, do I still need to have a return line coming from the flame heater nozzle (and go back to my kerosene tank) similar like it was originally? Can I just put a 1/8” NPT plug in the return port on the flame heater nozzle?
 

mill424

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San Antonio, TX
did you guys have any issues removing the 1/4" NPT fitting from the back of the IP?! Mine's being a big PIA and I'm afraid I'm going to damage it in some way by trying to back it out....it doesn't seem to be budging.... Any help would be appreciated!
 

rustystud

Well-known member
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Woodinville, Washington
did you guys have any issues removing the 1/4" NPT fitting from the back of the IP?! Mine's being a big PIA and I'm afraid I'm going to damage it in some way by trying to back it out....it doesn't seem to be budging.... Any help would be appreciated!
You might have to destroy it. Sometimes the knuckleheads who installed them got a little carried away !
 

gimpyrobb

dumpsterlandingfromorbit!
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Location
Cincy Ohio
did you guys have any issues removing the 1/4" NPT fitting from the back of the IP?! Mine's being a big PIA and I'm afraid I'm going to damage it in some way by trying to back it out....it doesn't seem to be budging.... Any help would be appreciated!
Try heating it with a torch. Yes there is fuel close by, yes be careful and have an extinguisher near by. Bla bla safety bla.
 
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