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Fueling Backsplash
I have a 98 Prevost with fueling inlets on both sides. What I’ve discovered is that if I let the tank fill at high speed truck pumps I’ll get a gush of fuel come bacl out when the pump shuts off. I thought I’d just slow down pumping before it was totally full. Unfortunately, it didn’t need quite as much fuel as I thought. I’ve only filled from the driver’s side, so I don’t know if the same will happen from the other side. I’ll try that in the next couple days.
Does anyone have a fix, other than using car pumps?
Thanks,
Gil
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12 Replies
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There are a couple of options. Prevost has a kit that when installed with stop fuel spillage. It is a DIY project or Prevost can install it.
The second option is to determine how much fuel you will need to fill the tank(s) and go to the slowest setting on the nozzle 20 gallons or so prior to reaching the calculated amount of fuel. I can say that short of using the car diesel pump it is a crap shoot regarding if the fuel will puke out or not. I have lost a pair of shoes and a pair of new jeans to fuel pukage (a new technical term). My first single side fill coach never puked, my 06 two side fill does not puke, my 97 puked unless I used car pump fueling rates.
The worst part about the fuel spillage was despite my best efforts using the big boy pumps spillage was random. Sometimes the nozzle would click off without a drop spilling. Other times the nozzle would click off followed by a wet burp. The bad part of the latter was there was about a one or two second delay between shut off and the splash which often would take me by surprise.
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Many of the 45’s do it, the 40’s don’t.
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My 45 doesn’t do it. My previous 45 did it about 90% of the time. The 40 footer didn’t do it but it was only single side fill.
Filling at the auto pumps it doesn’t do it, but it takes forever to fill 230 gallons because my previous 45 had long range fuel (298 gallons capacity)
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My 40 has fills on both sides. The drivers side always pukes but the passenger side pukes rarely.
Needless to say, I never use the driver side fill.
I think the problem lies in the angle of the filler neck; the shorter (and thus steeper angle) the better. -
Could there be a GPH factor…Truck fueling stations pump much faster than auto locations. That said,having grown up in a gas station and pumped gas into many many different cars/trucks while growing up,we always knew which ones would “Burp” and spill precious fuel on us and the customers car. I remember quite well when the auto companies went to the rear gas tank opening behind the license plate,that we had to learn to listen and then slow down the speed of the pump to avoid spillage. I wonder if there is a difference in fueling spout “runs” from the opening into the tank between the H and XL models and/or 40/45 footers? Of course the tanks are shapped much different that an auto,but even the physical shape of the top of the fuel tank with a heavy flow under pressure could cause a “Burp” I don’ think the truckers have this problem due to the shape/access to their fuel tanks being direct flow instead of any curvature or shape of their fuel tanks. Look at the speed race vehicles are fueled as well as aircraft.
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My 45 XL fills from both sides and is 208 gallons. I only use both sides when in the Flying J RV lanes. It does kick off sometimes without being full when I do that but doesn’t spill. I occasionally use the RV lanes when they are wide open. I can spare the extra time fueling there because I am also emptying the holding tanks and topping off the fresh water although not with the same hose…
I use the Driver’s side when fueling with the trucks and I have never had any overflow.
DKO
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I have had the problem. Now, I used the air suspension to lean the caoch away from the side from which I am fueling. So far so good. Not perfect, but much better.
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My only experience with fuel puking was on my 97 and I think the XL had different fueling characteristics than the H3.
It would puke from either side. Slowing the rate of flow helped significantly, but the lowest truck lane flow was often greater than the car or RV lane flow so puking of fuel was almost a given if I wanted it full. I tried all the tricks. I tipped the coach, went to the lowest flow possible, and even listened for the change in sound and tried to shut off the flow before the nozzle shut itself down. Since more than 70% of my fueling was amounts greater than 200 gallons the auto lanes just were out of the question.
What I hated most was not that the fuel spilled, but the manner in which it did. The flow would stop when the nozzle clicked off. But I learned the hard way to wait a few seconds before reaching for the nozzle because the nozzle would click off then a few seconds later fuel would burst from the fill pipe. The fact that fuel puked did not signal the tank was full. It could be full, or it could be as much as 25 gallons below full. Frustrating.
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I think the problem is the fact that the tanks fill inlet enters the tank at least 8″ below the top of the tank. So when the fuel gets to the level of the fuel nossle you have the top air pocket under pressure which forces fuel out the tank inlet. Too bad there is not a air vent in the very top of the tank.
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I remember a similar conversation from when I first logged into another Prevost related site (not sure if it is still around or not) almost a year and a half ago. This has yet to happen to me, and I only use the truck fills.
BTW, have you guys (and gals) been staying up to date and posting to the PUP site too? You should!
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If you haven’t read the episodes of Boxcarokie on PUP, your missing a laugh…
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My Coach will do the same. However if I open the cap on the other side I NEVER have an issue,TRY IT, It works for me every time.
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