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Basic Carburetor Operation.....
Found this on the Web... thought you'd get a kick out of it....
Basics of Carburetor Operation
The basic secret of carb function is that inside each carb are
thousands of tiny gnomes; each with a small bucket. As you open the
throttle, more of these gnomes are allowed out of their house and
into the float bowl, where they fill the buckets and climb up the
carb’s passages to the intake, where they empty their buckets into
the air stream.
But, if you don’t ride the bike for a while, bad things can happen.
Tiny bats take up residence in the chambers of the carb, and before
long the passages are plugged up with guano (that is.... bat-****).
This creates a gnome traffic jam, and so not enough bucketfuls of fuel
can get to the engine. If it gets bad enough, the gnomes simply
give up and go take a nap. The engine won’t run at all at this point.
Sometimes you’ll have a single dedicated gnome still on the job,
which is why the bike will occasionally fire as the gnome tosses his
lone bucket load down the intake.
There has been some research into using tiny dwarfs in modern
carbs. The advantage is that unlike gnomes, dwarfs are miners and
can often re-open a clogged passage. Unfortunately, dwarfs have a
natural fear of earthquakes, as any miner should. In recent tests,
the engine vibrations caused the dwarfs to evacuate the Harley-
Davidson test vehicle and make a beeline for the nearest BMW
dealership. Sadly, BMW’s are fuel-injected and so the poor dwarfs
met an unfortunate end in the rollers of a Bosch fuel pump.
Other carb problems can also occur. If the level of fuel in the
float bowl rises too high, it will wipe out the Section 8 gnome
housing unit in the lower parts of the carb. The more affluent gnomes
build their homes in the diaphragm chamber, and so are unaffected.
This is why the bike is said to be "running rich".
If the fuel bowl level drops, then the gnomes have to walk farther
to get a bucketful of fuel. This means less fuel gets to the engine.
Because the gnomes get quite a workout from this additional
distance, this condition is known as "running lean".
The use of the device known only as the ’choke’ has finally been
banned by PETG (People for the Ethical Treatment of Gnomes) and
replaced by a new carb circuit that simply allows more gnomes to
carry fuel at once when the engine needs to start or warm up. In the
interests of decorum and respect for the departed gnomes,
I prefer not to explain how the ’choke’ operated.
You would rather not know anyway.
So, that’s how a carburetor works. You may wish to join us here next
week for electricity 101, or "How your bike creates cold fusion
inside the stator, and why the government doesn’t want you to know
about it."
Pete Snidal, Grand Forks, BC Canada
- Ride Safe, Larry
Basics of Carburetor Operation
The basic secret of carb function is that inside each carb are
thousands of tiny gnomes; each with a small bucket. As you open the
throttle, more of these gnomes are allowed out of their house and
into the float bowl, where they fill the buckets and climb up the
carb’s passages to the intake, where they empty their buckets into
the air stream.
But, if you don’t ride the bike for a while, bad things can happen.
Tiny bats take up residence in the chambers of the carb, and before
long the passages are plugged up with guano (that is.... bat-****).
This creates a gnome traffic jam, and so not enough bucketfuls of fuel
can get to the engine. If it gets bad enough, the gnomes simply
give up and go take a nap. The engine won’t run at all at this point.
Sometimes you’ll have a single dedicated gnome still on the job,
which is why the bike will occasionally fire as the gnome tosses his
lone bucket load down the intake.
There has been some research into using tiny dwarfs in modern
carbs. The advantage is that unlike gnomes, dwarfs are miners and
can often re-open a clogged passage. Unfortunately, dwarfs have a
natural fear of earthquakes, as any miner should. In recent tests,
the engine vibrations caused the dwarfs to evacuate the Harley-
Davidson test vehicle and make a beeline for the nearest BMW
dealership. Sadly, BMW’s are fuel-injected and so the poor dwarfs
met an unfortunate end in the rollers of a Bosch fuel pump.
Other carb problems can also occur. If the level of fuel in the
float bowl rises too high, it will wipe out the Section 8 gnome
housing unit in the lower parts of the carb. The more affluent gnomes
build their homes in the diaphragm chamber, and so are unaffected.
This is why the bike is said to be "running rich".
If the fuel bowl level drops, then the gnomes have to walk farther
to get a bucketful of fuel. This means less fuel gets to the engine.
Because the gnomes get quite a workout from this additional
distance, this condition is known as "running lean".
The use of the device known only as the ’choke’ has finally been
banned by PETG (People for the Ethical Treatment of Gnomes) and
replaced by a new carb circuit that simply allows more gnomes to
carry fuel at once when the engine needs to start or warm up. In the
interests of decorum and respect for the departed gnomes,
I prefer not to explain how the ’choke’ operated.
You would rather not know anyway.
So, that’s how a carburetor works. You may wish to join us here next
week for electricity 101, or "How your bike creates cold fusion
inside the stator, and why the government doesn’t want you to know
about it."
Pete Snidal, Grand Forks, BC Canada
- Ride Safe, Larry
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