How to drain from all tanks evenly?

[GusTurbo]

I'm working on a shuttle and my external tank is made up of 5 separate tanks. I seem to remember there is a way to set up fuel lines to get the tanks to all drain evenly, but I can't remember how to do it. Anyone have any ideas?

[*Aqua*]

The default fuel flow rule is that it will drain tank which is the most distant (in part numbers) from the engine first. If you build a fuel flow "loop" with fuel pipes the game can't find the most distant tank and will drain all tanks evenly.

Edited February 9, 2015 by *Aqua*

[AlexinTokyo]

Since you mention that it's an external fuel tank, I assume there's no engine attached directly.

In that case, running 1 fuel line from each tank in the external assembly to the main body (ensure they all terminate on the same part) should cause them all to drain evenly.

[astropapi1]

They way I've done this for stock shuttles (back in... like, 0.19) is to place one fuel line going from every tank in the ET to the shuttle's main fuel tank. That can end up looking kinda ugly though, that's why I stopped doing it like that and simply dealed with the shifting CoM.

[nekogod]

If you want a way to do it without fuel lines and aren't opposed to modding, then tac fuel balancer works a treat, just open it up and select 'balance all' and it will move fuel around so all tanks drain evenly.

It's worth noting that if you do this then your upper stages can be drained of fuel as it can be transferred across decouplers. You can prevent this by locking the tank though.

Also this mod will allow fuel transfers before you have the required upgrades to do so manually.

[cantab]

As far as stock goes, a fuel line from each tank to the engines, or to a small "buffer" tank somewhere that then feeds the engines.

[WuphonsReach]

If the external fuel tank is supposed to be a single part, that you've built up out of five smaller parts - give UbioZur Welding Continued a try. You can put all five parts together in the VAB, then weld it to create a new single part.

[GusTurbo]

Should have mentioned that I was looking for a stock solution. Thanks for all the suggestions so far.