Fred and co,
Between you and Brian I think the best option might be to dangle the lead down
during refuelling, and pull it out again for flight. Would you agree that is
the best optioin, and if not, what are you doing or going to do with your a/c?
As I recall you are going diesel with a significantly lower flash point,
volatility, so maybe your fuel type dictates you don't need to worry, but what
if you were using a 914 and MOGAS???
Reg
Tony Renshaw
Sydney Australia
><brauchfu@pcocd2.intel.com>
>
>
>> That would be braid dangling inside the tank, wired to electrical
>> ground? It won't do anything during refueling to suppress static
>> charges, since fuel is essentially nonconductive.
>
>It is because fuel has a low conductivity that the braid is required! A
>great deal of the static created in a nonconductive tank is due to the
>turbulence of the non-conductive fluid as it flows down the refill pipe.
>There is a very interesting experiment where distilled water is flowed
>between two tanks that are insulated from each other. A spark gap between
>the tanks will start sparking as the charge builds.
>
>The braid bleeds off the charge as the fuel flows around it - the close
>contact between the two is required due to the low conductivity of fuel.
>The main goal is to prevent any sparks from occuring near the filling point,
>where the mixture can be low enough to support combustion - the center of the
>tank has too rich a mixture.
>
>> FAA is clear about the lightning hazard problem with composite A/C. The
>
>Perhaps making the braid removable would solve the lightning problem?
>Lightning is such bad news (as well as icing and severe turbulence which tend
>to go along with it) that I plan to stay far away from thunderstorms and
>associated weather.
>
>Brian
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