Fred:
No matter how good you clean your tank and system you can't clean it good
enough. I spent days and days. Soap, water. multiple flushes with
gasoline, compressed air, vacuuming etc. I felt fat and happy also with
my process, nothing remotely visible or blowing around inside the tank.
Several hours of taxi and runup, compass swing time etc. before first
flight The engine burbled on the go part on a touch and go and the plane
ended up in a big mud puddle off the end of the runway just short of the
airport boundary and a 4 lane toroughfare. This happened at about 4 hours
flight time.
Solution: 2 BIG disposable automotive fuel filters downstream of your fuel
selector valve. Throw them away before first flight. Fly 2 hours with new
ones. Then go for 10. Then you can make believe you are on top of the
situation. You can get Fram's at discount stores for about 8 bucks each.
They are about 2 inches in diameter and 4 inches or so long, so there is
plenty of surface area inside.
Steve Hagar
A143
Mesa AZ
> [Oyou can'triginal Message]
> From: Fred Klein <fklein@orcasonline.com>
> To: <europa-list@matronics.com>
> Date: 6/29/2007 1:58:41 PM
> Subject: Re: Europa-List: Fuel filters
>
>
> Thanks Terry,
>
> As a consequence of previous posts which highlight the problems caused
> by swarf from the penetrations one makes in the tank(s), I've been
> particularly careful in this regard. For example, besides using the
> hole drill by drilling up into the tank which prevents most of the
> swarf from remaining inside, I've carefully peered into the tank thru
> the intake hole and the hole made for the Europa fuel gauge and located
> even the tiniest particles...then...using some reversed duct tape on
> the end of a small aluminum tube, I've found that I can pick them up
> with no trouble. I found that the swarf particles were plainly visable
> against the smoothe tank bottom. When drilling for the intake and vent
> holes in the long ranger tank, I inserted a cut down 8 oz. paper cup
> with a bent wire handle thru the large filler hole and placed it under
> the holes which caught all of the swarf...again, use of the duct tape
> on a stick allowed me to remove particles down to the size of dust. Now
> I know we can only strive for perfection, but thanks to being alerted
> to swarf-in-fuel issues by all who've gone before me, I'm confident
> (knock on wood) that swarf will not be an issue for me when I finally
> get this puppy in the air.
>
> Since I'm installing Mod 33, I'm tending toward installing line filters
> rather than a gascolator...and I appreciate your thoughts on the
> subject.
>
> Fred
>
> On Friday, June 29, 2007, at 09:31 AM, Terry Seaver (terrys) wrote:
>
> > <terrys@cisco.com>
> >
> > Hi Fred,
> >
> > The glass filters supplied with our kit had had some reported problems,
> > plugging up with tank residue (swarf) and with cracks in the glass. It
> > occurred to us that the glass filters would trap and hold tank residue
> > up against the filter material, plugging it up, with gravity helping to
> > hold it there.
> >
> > The Andair gascolator, on the other hand, has a water trap at the
> > bottom
> > of it and a fine mesh screen at the top. Not only does water settle to
> > the bottom, but also particles heavier than gasoline. We did a simple
> > test with fuel tank swarf, and found it was heavier than gas, and
> > settled to the bottom of the gascolator, where it can be drained out on
> > the next pre-flight check for water. Please note that gravity helps
> > keep the particles out of the screen of a gascolator, unlike the glass
> > filters supplied with the kit.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Terry Seaver
> > A135 / N135TD
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
> > [mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Fred Klein
> > Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 4:59 PM
> > To: europa-list@matronics.com
> > Subject: Re: Europa-List: Fuel filters
> >
> >
> > I have never been clear on the difference (if any) between a filter and
> > a gascolator...could someone please enlighten me?
> >
> > Fred
> >
> > On Thursday, June 28, 2007, at 04:27 PM, Graham Singleton wrote:
> >
> >> <grahamsingleton@btinternet.com>
> >>
> >> Raimo
> >> the best filter imho is an Andair gascolator. Easy to check for
> >> contamination before every flight, which used to be routine.
> >> I do not like the Purolator filters. Easily broken, easily assembled
> >> wrong and easily blocked by debrie.
> >> Grahm
> >>
> >> Raimo Toivio wrote:
> >>> All
> >>> I have in OH-XRT original Purolator-filters as per manual.
> >>> During the very first flight (about 10 hrs) I had an engine quit
> >>> situation /fuel pressure was near 0 and that was at the height of
> >>> 4000 ft - so no dramatic at all.
> >>> Switching reserve and fuel pump and Rotax was happy again.
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> > believed to be clean.
> >
>
>
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