Centroid tank level senders

[Diver Down]

I've been looking at Centroid Products' (www.centroidproducts.com) tank probes/senders as a replacement for the mechanical fuel guages on my 58 YF. Have any of you had any experiences with this company's equipment or any suggestions as to alternatives? Thanks in advance for the input.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I used Snake River Systems. Good system at a reasonable price. They were recommended by other forum members and I have been pleased with the system.

 

[Vic Clevenger]

I have two Centroid water tank senders on my boat and have had good service. No problems with them for the four years I have had them. Vic

 

[Fanfare]

I have had four Centroid senders for about 25 years. Two fuel, two water. They have been great. The two water senders went out about 10 years ago--factory said that these were DC current and the exterior wire had electroplated itself onto the interior wire. They had changed to an AC system in the interim so the plating would be self-reversing. I figured 10+ years was fair enough, so didn't complain and bought another set. They are extremely accurate and since then have been trouble free. No problems at all with the fuel senders themselves. These are capacitance readers, and have no moving parts to wear out as the boat bobs. The trouble is that the senders measure fuel levels, not fuel quantity. The fuel tanks (but not the water tanks) are champaign-glass shaped, with the greatest depth (but not volume) in the keel. With that shape it tales a long time to get down to 3/4 because the tank is so wide at the top. When the sender says I'm down to 1/4 that means I'm in the narrow stem of the tank reading the keel only, and I'm actually nearly empty. Still, that's very helpful compared to knowing nothing.

Two years ago I added FloScan gauges to monitor both gallons per hour and total fuel usage per tank/engine. This has made refueling a lot easier. Knowing I used almost exactly 200 gallons per tank means I can put 175 gal. in each before I have to worry about overfilling and getting diesel in the water. Having both systems is a sort of belt-and-suspender check on running out of fuel, which, having once had it happen to me, is well worth the extra cost. (Yes, I do do fuel/distance calculations. However, following a complete engine/transmission rebuild by DD my fuel consumption nearly doubled, leaving me well short of my destination, which I had travelled perhaps 25 times without incident in earlier trips. Believe me, THAT was a memorable voyage! ((If I have 300 ft. of anchor line, how do I anchor in 5000 ft. of water? Will the anchor set before I drift onto the reef? Fortunately all turned out OK, but still embarassing.)) Once was enough!!

 

[Nonchalant1]

I have the Snake River tank gauge system. It works well. It can do a combination of up to 8 fuel, water and holding tanks measured to tenths of a tank.

 

[Penalty Box]

I know this thread is old but I need to add a comment on it. Don’t use the Centroid products.They don’t stand behind anything they sell and if you have an issue with it you will have to deal with Joel in there tech support via email only.You can’t talk with anyone live and I think everyone at the company is well over retirement age and just doesn’t care anymore.I’ve been fighting an issue with one of there sending units on our boat and they just don’t care.I ended up calling WemaUSA and talked with someone there and they told me the issue. I purchased a new unit from them and it solved my problem.WemaUSA was very professional and I was able to talk with someone on the phone.You can’t do this with Centroid.They think they make the only product out there and are very rude and not professional at all.

 

[MVCaprice]

We used WEMA senders in our tanks. May be worth looking into.

 

[Westfield 11]

I put four Centroid senders in my lake boat a few years ago and while the units themselves were great, the folks on the phone left much to be desired. I recall dealing with a woman on the phone that was completely exasperating and only after getting past her was I able to get my only installation question answered. Fortunately, I never needed to have any more contact with them.

 

[SEVEN]

I replaced both of my fuel sending units with originals from Sam's. After I replaced them I took the old ones home and found a good cleaning would have saved me 250.00 plus. Try cleaning first. However if you just want to replace call Sam's and keep her original. Have fun.

 

[tonytrakovich]

I had an old Hart Tank Tender in Bella Sophia monitoring 7 tanks. Hart uses small nylon tubes and air pressure to read tank level by pressure. Over time the tubes have gotten brittle and I have small leaks. Also I suspect the head unit with the gauge on it has some issues. Tomorrow I will be installing a Maretron FPM100 and 6 PTS senders. This will give me qty in each tank based on pressure of the fuel. I will be using a DSM401 color touchscreen to give me readout. It is all run through my existing N2k backbone. My low fuel switches were all inoperable so I will be using the existing Hatteras wiring for the sensors. Slowly I will be monitoring everything through N2k and get rid of the troublesome Systems monitor.

 

[bobk]

I too have the Hart Tank Tender and find the tubes do go bad, but in my case they were real easy to change. The tubing is inexpensive from Grainger. The only frustration was the Tank Penetration fitting in the holding tank. After changing this and the associated dip tube a lot of times, I designed one from silicon bronze which is holding up very well. Hart asked for the design, so they may have made the change.

Bobk

 

[tonytrakovich]

Got the Maretron tank level monitor installed. Also new gauges for the pilot house. Will redo the whole dash next year.

 

[SEVEN]

Once you complete the helm please post the before and after shots on a post called show us your helm.