Fresh Water Tank Gauges

[MAKANA]

The fresh water tank gauges in mu 1978 53 MY do not work. Dials are OK.
It appears that there are two ways to fix:

First, remove old float and replace.Easier said than done. Coluld not get
the float nut out.

Second,put in some other type of gauge such as tank minders etc.
I am open nto suggestions.

Will appreciate any advice on how you have solved this problem. Especially
your experience with other types of gauges including their cost.

MAKANA

 

[Traveler 45C]

This system will monitor up to 8 tanks: http://www.snake-river.org/

 

[DAlter]

Try this place: www.wemausa.com I used their guages for my holding, fuel, and water tanks. Good products and easy to install.

 

[Will]

I have a Hart Tank Tender for both fuel tanks and the water tank. One unit can monitor multiple tanks. Its all solid state and easy to install. No electric supply needed. It's also very simple with little chance of failure. Only problem is that it probably would work with a holding tank because of the solid matter.
Will

 

[Captned]

I just replaced the orignal Bubba setup with the Wema gauge and sender for my water tank. It is great! I am going to replace my fuel gauges soon with more Wema's....

Captned
78 46 CON

Oh yea, make sure and remove the origanal one and order the right size replacment. I thought I could just drill a new hole next to the origanal and install one. NO SIR! The tank on my boat has v sided sides and you wont get to the bottom of the tank.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

The cheapest way is to replace the waterlogged corks on the old Rochester gauges. Just unscrew the gauge (you may need a big socket and a long cheater bar to break it free. Then pull out the spiral rod and clean it up good. Next find a new float. Cork works fine if you can find something the right size. I used a foam ball that was from the pet dept at WalMart. I think it was actually a cat toy.

If you don't want to mess with that, the Hart Tank Tender works very well once you figure out how to convert inches to gallons. The Snake River system may be fine too for a water tank, but they do not work on holding tanks.

 

[hcalmar]

For what its worth my cork was waterlogged and the gauge useless for the last two years. I took four wine corks and a razor blade shaved & slotted them in an effort to replicate the old cork, wrapped with wire and after a half hour had it working again.
Hal

 

[hattitude]

I was thinking of going to the WEMA gauges, does their 1.5" NPT screw into the location of the factory gauges....?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

For what its worth my cork was waterlogged and the gauge useless for the last two years. I took four wine corks and a razor blade shaved & slotted them in an effort to replicate the old cork, wrapped with wire and after a half hour had it working again.
Hal

Nice work, Hal.

I drilled a hole in that foam ball I bought and slid a length of plastic drinking straw in the center of it to help it to slide well without catching. The key is to get it heavy enough to fall was that level goes down, yet bouyant enough to rise as the level goes up. Test your work in a bucket of water before you reinstall it and you'll get it just right.

 

[GJH]

Because of the dual tank set up on my 56MY, the Tank Tender really doesn't do much good. We anchor or moor a good deal of the time, so accurate measuring of water usage is important to us. We installed one of these a few months ago and have been very happy with the result:

https://birdoff.com/watercounter.php

So, we now know what it takes to run the laundry, or dish washer, or various lengths of shower etc. We have a much better idea of exactly what we have left, and manage water better as a result.

No connection, other than we did subsequently have supper with the owners when we went through Savannah and they are nice people.

George

 

[luckydave215]

I have a tank tender setup. It's plumbed to the forward diesel tank, the fresh water tank, and the waste tank. When you pump the line clear to take a reading, it apparently clears the line, even the waste tank line.
It works great, never any problem.

 

[Nonchalant1]

On my 1978 53MY, I replaced the waterlogged cork with new cork. The way to get the cork float assembly off of the spiral rod is to gently bend the rod so that it slips off the little spike at the bottom of the twin rod frame. Like Sky said, clean up the spiral, make a new float to fit the old stainless top and bottom guides and refit it to the spiral and then the rod frame. There are 2 small bronze rods stuck inside the cork to get the right buoyancy. Experiment with these in your new float, just so it'll operate the spiral going down and up. Not hard to do.

Doug

 

[DAlter]

I was thinking of going to the WEMA gauges, does their 1.5" NPT screw into the location of the factory gauges....?

The WEMA senders do fit directly in the original 1.5 NPT opening. They come in different lengths so you will have to know the depth of your tanks(s) before ordering. Also, they make senders for holding tanks that will not get all "gunked" up with you know what.

 

[drburke]

I like the look of that Snake River stuff for my application--thanks for the heads-up, Greg.

(Gotta love this forum; lots of folks knowing lots o' stuff...)

DAN

 

[sandspur1966]

does Sam's carry replacements for the OEM guages?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

does Sam's carry replacements for the OEM guages?

Yes. You can also buy them on the Rochester website.