Fuel systems / Header tanks.

[Boet]

Had a phone call this morning from someone with header tank problems. Seems the more BS you put in a fuel system, the more there is to go wrong.
In general, a header tank will hold just enough petrol so you can fire it up, (Ater having FORGOTTEN to turn ON your Fuel??), taxi to the active and get out of gliding distance of your airfield.
AND do not count on getting the engine running again after it has run dry, rather AFTA ( Always Fly The Aeroplane).
No. Two pipes from the two tanks. Into two fuel taps. Open or closed. Two pipes from the taps, int a T-piece, then thru a filter, GUD,( a nice big one), and on to the engine. No BS, and very little that can go wrong, and yes, the petrol available AFTER you have forgotten to open the taps, will not even take you to the active.
Your thoughts on this??

[Morph]

I don't think the header tank will empty if the fuel taps are closed. There will be an airlock thus a fuel lock.

I discovered this while preflighting GR8-dad's WYG before doing some circuits. Part of the preflight was to check if there was water in the header tank. So under I went and f@#$%ll came out. Then I clicked, opened one of the taps and viola could draw some fuel from the header tank.

[Mogas]

I agree, keep it simple.
But there is one very good reason for the header tank. This is the fact that you can run the fuel system dry with more than 5 litres a side in the tanks. This happens on a long decent with low fuel load, fuel flows forward exposing the fuel pick-ups.
This has happend to a couple of kitfoxes in the us causing forced landings.

[Boet]

It`s a thing called "Fuel management". Us "blik aerie" drivers knows about it, yes :D