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Old 09-19-2022, 08:57 PM   #1
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Fuel consumption meter on CAT 3306?

My single engine feeds from the starboard tank. The fuel comes out of the bottom of the tank and goes through rancor filters and the engine’s fuel filter. The return goes into the same tank on the top. The engine was built in 1986, so it has a metered governor/fuel injection pump.
I would like to figure out the consumption of this engine. Is there an easy and affordable solution to incorporate a flow meter somehow? Has anyone figured this out?
I know I could just start with a full tank and run some miles and fill up again. The tank is 400 gallons and I do not plan to buy diesel just for this purpose. It would be a very costly test. Plus, I would like to figure out the consumption at different rpm’s. I do not need high accuracy. I just want to know approx what I need to a certain distance, before I plan longer voyages in the near future.
Thanks.
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Old 09-20-2022, 01:09 AM   #2
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Do you have sight tubes on your tank?
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Old 09-20-2022, 05:19 AM   #3
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If your engine is propped correctly, you could get pretty accurate numbers based on the engine's performance specs. There should be a published prop power curve that will show fuel consumption across the engine's RPM range. That will give you gph at each RPM point. Be sure to use the prop curve, not the max power curve. That should give you pretty good numbers, assuming the boat is propped correctly. To confirm it's propped correctly, at wide open throttle the engine should turn a bit over max rated RPM. Perhaps 25-50 rpm over. That will match the curve in the data sheet.
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Old 09-20-2022, 08:24 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by tiltrider1 View Post
Do you have sight tubes on your tank?


There is only a cynic tube coming out of the bottom, marked with a pen for each 50 gallons. It is not very useful for measuring consumption.
The boat was custom built over 20 years ago and there is no sophisticated anything on it.
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Old 09-20-2022, 08:27 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by twistedtree View Post
If your engine is propped correctly, you could get pretty accurate numbers based on the engine's performance specs. There should be a published prop power curve that will show fuel consumption across the engine's RPM range. That will give you gph at each RPM point. Be sure to use the prop curve, not the max power curve. That should give you pretty good numbers, assuming the boat is propped correctly. To confirm it's propped correctly, at wide open throttle the engine should turn a bit over max rated RPM. Perhaps 25-50 rpm over. That will match the curve in the data sheet.


Unfortunately there is not much documentation available on my boat. Certainly nothing about the prop. The CAT manual does not give me any directions on this. The engine is a turbo, industry converted/marinized engine. It was rebuilt in 1996.
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Old 09-20-2022, 08:37 AM   #6
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Fuel consumption meter on CAT 3306?

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Old 09-20-2022, 08:51 AM   #7
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This is an easy one.
1 way is the engine spec you can get online for your engine It will give you the gph per every 200 rpm or so.

Second way is use the 50 gallon marks on you tank. Run the engine at a set rpm every time you use the boat. Keep accurate distances you go and time of travel. Ignore idling time and slow under rpm times. do the math Gal/hrs = gph or gal/miles= gpm

third is fill the tank till the first click off on the hose. . fuel doesn't go bad. run for a set period of time say 3 hrs at a constant rpm. Fill back up.

If you dont trust the tank lines. Its normally pretty easy to figure out. Mark your sight tube, to to the fuel dock, put in however much fuel you would like. 50 gal? mark sight glass again if it goes up a 1/2 inch , or whatever increment, and its a rectangular tank. every 50 gals the 1/2 . if its a irregular tank this wont work.
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Old 09-20-2022, 09:04 AM   #8
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You can download the spec sheet for your engine from Boat diesel. You need to be a member. Mine is expired.

https://boatdiesel.com/PDFLibrary/Index.cfm#

search 3306 and look at the data sheets tab
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Old 09-20-2022, 09:11 AM   #9
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found it
diesel parts direct under cat spec sheets if below link dose not work

https://www.dieselpartsdirect.com/do...propulsion.pdf
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Old 09-20-2022, 09:12 AM   #10
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just need to know where to look.
lol
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Old 09-20-2022, 11:31 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg QS View Post
This is an easy one.
1 way is the engine spec you can get online for your engine It will give you the gph per every 200 rpm or so.

Second way is use the 50 gallon marks on you tank. Run the engine at a set rpm every time you use the boat. Keep accurate distances you go and time of travel. Ignore idling time and slow under rpm times. do the math Gal/hrs = gph or gal/miles= gpm

third is fill the tank till the first click off on the hose. . fuel doesn't go bad. run for a set period of time say 3 hrs at a constant rpm. Fill back up.

If you dont trust the tank lines. Its normally pretty easy to figure out. Mark your sight tube, to to the fuel dock, put in however much fuel you would like. 50 gal? mark sight glass again if it goes up a 1/2 inch , or whatever increment, and its a rectangular tank. every 50 gals the 1/2 . if its a irregular tank this wont work.

As already stated. Fill to the 50 gallon mark. Run for 3 hours or more and then refill to the same mark. Now you know.

For years I made a point of filling my boat to the same mark and then running Seattle to Friday Harbor and refilling to the same point. This verified that I was seeing the same data as published by Cat for my 3208’s.

I continue to always fill to this mark and track the data monitoring for change.
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Old 09-20-2022, 11:48 AM   #12
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What is the hp of the engine.
for the 335 hp fuel burn as follows

rpm hp tor bsfc fuel
2200 355 848 .388 19.7
2100 309 773 .372 16.4
2000 267 701 .360 13.7
1900 229 633 .353 11.6
1800 195 568 .350 9.7
1700 164 507 .350 8.2
1600 137 448 .352 6.9
1500 113 395 .355 5.7
1400 92 344 .360 4.7
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Old 09-20-2022, 03:24 PM   #13
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You are here....


Note, I have a Floscan meter on the identical engine, which matches this pretty precisely.
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Old 09-20-2022, 06:42 PM   #14
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Yes, I too have FloScan meters on my twin 3306 Cats. The numbers from Delfin look very close to what I see on the Floscan's. Note my motors are 1990 350 hp motors
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Old 09-21-2022, 08:03 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg QS View Post
You can download the spec sheet for your engine from Boat diesel. You need to be a member. Mine is expired.

https://boatdiesel.com/PDFLibrary/Index.cfm#

search 3306 and look at the data sheets tab


I did. I am a member, but the data sheets are for engines starting from 1997. My 3306 was built in 1986 and it was an industrial engine originally. It was converted to marine setup by the first owner who built the boat.
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Old 09-22-2022, 10:00 AM   #16
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What is the hp of the engine.

for the 335 hp fuel burn as


To my knowledge it is 220 HP.
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Old 09-22-2022, 10:04 AM   #17
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Quote:
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As already stated. Fill to the 50 gallon mark.


I continue to always fill to this mark and track the data monitoring for change.

Yes, that is my plan, regardless of the data I’ll find. That is the best method to have the real data. CAT data sheet would be useful for comparison on a 36 years old engine.
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Old 09-22-2022, 10:57 AM   #18
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I did. I am a member, but the data sheets are for engines starting from 1997. My 3306 was built in 1986 and it was an industrial engine originally. It was converted to marine setup by the first owner who built the boat.


I don’t think that will matter as long as you have the data sheet for the correct HP.
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Old 09-22-2022, 12:54 PM   #19
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I don’t think that will matter as long as you have the data sheet for the correct HP.


Maybe you are correct. I still want to know as close as possible.
When bought the boat, I was told about 3-4 gallons at cruising speed. The data sheet shows between 7-10 gallons an hour. That is a big difference on a long trip.
Well, the broker lied about my keel tanks, too. It was listed as two 400 gallons tank in the keel just recently I was able to measure them accurately, and they are only 200 gallons each. Again, important misinformation for a long range trip.
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Old 09-22-2022, 07:20 PM   #20
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I don’t think that will matter as long as you have the data sheet for the correct HP.

Don't think that matters. You'll get higher fuel burn with an A rated motor, but only at rpms that are higher than that available for, say a C rated motor. The displacement times the rpm equals the fuel burn, so horsepower is a derivative of those values, not a driver of fuel burn.
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