Fuel tank drain with an external hose. Filter screen

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klwinter2
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Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:49 am

Fuel tank drain with an external hose. Filter screen

Post by klwinter2 »

I am servicing the fuel system on my Piet.

1. External drain - for water testing.
The tank is mounted in the nose over the passengers feet.
Water testing the tank means the risk of spilling fuel in the cockpit..

Does anyone know of a drain with a nipple that can purge the fuel to the outside into a catch pan?

2. Intake Fuel screen. The primary fuel pick up is in the bottom of the tank with NO pre-screen.
How do I add a screen?

Kenneth
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taildrags
Posts: 637
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2017 10:39 pm

Re: Fuel tank drain with an external hose. Filter screen

Post by taildrags »

Kenneth;

Can you clarify a few things about your questions?

1. You say "water testing". Do you mean checking to see if water has settled to the bottom of the fuel tank? You should have a gascolator between the fuel tank and the carburetor, and the gascolator should be the lowest point in the fuel system so that water will settle there and not in your fuel tank. If you don't have a gascolator on the engine compartment side of the firewall where you can pull a sample to inspect for water in the fuel without ducking down into the front cockpit to do it, perhaps you should consider installing one because that will put the sampling port outside the cockpit, at the bottom of the airplane, in a position where you can easily pull a sample and can also drain the tank. Please clarify what the "water testing" task is that you're asking about.

2. What type of connection does your fuel outlet hose have to the bottom of the fuel tank? If it's a threaded boss or hub, you might be able to get a standard type of "finger screen" that will thread into the boss or hub and then the fuel line fitting will thread into the finger screen fitting. Below is an image showing what I'm talking about. Be advised, however, that this type of screen is only for fairly large crud, and won't do anything to remove water.
finger.JPG
finger.JPG (19.62 KiB) Viewed 2840 times
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taildrags
Posts: 637
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2017 10:39 pm

Re: Fuel tank drain with an external hose. Filter screen

Post by taildrags »

Kenneth; one more thing. If you are thinking of the kind of water drain such as you find in many certificated aircraft where you pull a knob in the cockpit to allow the contents of the lower part of your fuel system to drain out onto the ramp, you might want to rethink that. Yes, you can certainly find spring-loaded valves that are actuated with a knob and cable in the cockpit, but you'll never know what came out of the drain unless you can inspect it, and it is no longer considered to be safe or environmentally responsible to just allow fuel to dump out onto the pavement or apron under the airplane. If you can operate the valve manually (fingers), here's one way to do it with a drain hose that you can route outside the cockpit:
curtis.JPG
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