Will,
Two things:
I never had a total fuel delivery failure due to a clogged filter using the
two stock Purolator filters supplied in the kit since Mod27 (1996 vintage)
. Of course I check my filters every 25 hour oil change/inspection per my
mx manual.
I believe in redundancy, so I use an easy change fuel filter on the main an
d reserve sides. I also use the supplied fuel selector (although I prefer t
he Andair which wasn=92t available when my fuel system was designed). I ta
ke no chances with assured fuel delivery. I find the Europa fuel system po
st Mod 33 (water drains) to be sound and reliable so I haven=92t done more
than change the tank fitting style once in a while to suite a fuel drain in
stall.
History: I=92ve only gotten bad gas twice in 50 years of flying. In the E
uropa I=92ve gotten bad gas in Louisiana and during climb it took a bit of
time and then engine Manifold Pressure dropped and I couldn=92t maintain 50
00RPM on the Airmaster, I turned on the aux pump and it cleared up, then at
cruise with the aux pump still on, the engine sagged again a few minutes l
ater. I switched to the reserve side and it ran fine. I landed in Texas a
bout 30 minutes later to check and suspected a fuel pump failing or filters
. On inspection the main side fuel filter was full of white diatomite like
material from the previous FBOs fuel. The reserve side was also quite dir
ty. I called the Louisiana FBO and informed him. He got back with me and
his fuel system had just been cleaned by a contractor and the 0.5 micron fi
nal filter was installed improperly. He wanted to pay me for the trouble.
I get a free lunch if I ever fly through Hammond Louisiana again for the r
est of my life. Too bad he=92s retired now.
I always carry a spare filter ready to go. I have quick change fuel discon
nects on either end of my filter under my seat which made for a quick chang
e simply by removing the seat cushion and ply support. Since I only had on
e spare filter on hand, I flushed the reserve side filter out with clean ga
s and reinstalled it. I pressed on a short way to my final stop and my fri
end brought some fuel cans to the airport and I flushed the tanks by simply
using the aircraft fuel pumps to cycle the gas through my filters, shaking
the plane and pointing the nose down a bit and pumped through a short hose
attached to the feed line out into the cans then back into the tank until
the filters were clean. After a 30 gallon flush, all was clean enough with
out pulling the fuel bosses off. I flew home from Kansas checking my fuel
at all three stops and although there was a tiny amount of white powder, th
ere was nothing worth cleaning out enroute. I checked my carbs and tank on
my annual and the reserve side of the tank still had a minor amount of the
white filter material. Through this minor ordeal, there was nothing in the
carb float bowls. So no debris entered my carbs.
Lessons:
1. Carry a spare filter (or two) and know how to quickly change the filt
ers without defueling.
2. Clear filters are best for inspections (my opinion). Mr. Gasket filt
er for the Europa supplied filter insert is 5 microns or .00002 inches.
Note: Minimum gascolators micron required by the Rotax install manual is .
1mm or .004 inches. This is quite large at 100 microns (Andair gascolator
is 70 microns). You can see dirt that size as it is about Portland cement
sized material. That sized material you can see easily in your float bowls
also. Hence I use a fine filter rather than gascolators. Unfortunately,
some countries require gascolators. Choose wisely.
Also note: Andair was the only experimental gascolator that can be used pr
ior to and after fuel pumps as it seals very well. Cheap gascolators must
have some fuel head and will leak air under suction. I inspected a plane o
nce with the gascolator about 6 inches off the floor behind the tank. As t
he main fuel dropped down to the saddle (below 5 gallons), the gascolators
began to leak air from the engine fuel pump suction. Switching tanks did n
othing as there was insufficient head to get from the tank up to the gascol
ators. Since the fuel pump had little suction, it would not pull fuel thro
ugh the leaky gascolator. I tilted the tail down, the fuel ran aft to the
gascolator and the aux pump was able to pull fuel to the engine. It took a
while to find that bit of info out. Gascolators should be the lowest poin
t in the fuel system, and at least even with the bottom of the tank and be
able to pull suction. Later, when the gascolator was replaced with an Anda
ir, it was moved to the cowl bottom, after the aux pump and prior to the en
gine pump, lines were covered with fire sleeve, and ample air vented to pre
vent potential vapor lock, it never gave me another problem in flight test.
Cardinal rule, mount the gascolators(s) lower or as low as the bottom of
the tank and use a gascolators rated to pull a vacuum.
1. The clear Purolator filter can loosen and leak unfortunately. Alway
s tighten to snug, then after fuel has been in it for a while give it anoth
er =BD turn. I wait overnight with a paper towel under it on annual change
out of the filter. I also have a drain in my seat pan if it leaks.
2. Consider a filtered fuel funnel (Mr. Funnel) if concerned about fuel
quality. It slows refueling on cross country though, but not by much. Min
e is a 5 gallon per minute flow rate Mr. Funnel. Which is about half of wh
at the plane will fuel at from the pump on low flow. Micron rating is abou
t 5-6. It is very good at stopping water with a trough for large particles
and the filter stops water. (I also have found it is really getting hard
to hold a 5 gallon bowser up for that first half minute of fueling the funn
el.)
3. If paranoid about dirty fuel and using auto fuel (10 micron filter is
common for auto pumps) there are filters that can hook to the pump from th
e nozzle to the tank but the flow rate is terrible. Auto fuel pump filter
standards are better than your gascolator screen so a car gas pump isn=92t
all that bad from when purchased from a quality gas station. If concerned
use a Mr. Funnel.
Best regards from the Department of Redundant Redundancy.
Bud Yerly
Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Window
s 10
From: William Daniell<mailto:wdaniell.longport@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 1, 2020 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Re: Connecting both sides of the fuel tank
I too use the two tanks as a single tank with both fuel cocks on all the ti
me(i have two separate taps). I wonder if anyone has had the engine stop
while on the main. I dare say it's quite exciting.
William Daniell
+1 786 878 0246
On Sun, Nov 1, 2020, 11:02 Monoman <mike@nyumba.co.uk<mailto:mike@nyumba.co
.uk>> wrote:
@nyumba.co.uk>>
Reading this thread has prompted me to calibrate my contents gauge over the
winter and maybe invest in a red cube flowmeter.
My question is while calibrating should I jack the tail to approximate the
flying attitude?
Thanks
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