Originally Posted by
INTAIRCO
Thanks Roger,
Well I'm sure the facts won't stop the debate.
Shame though when you think that Festo is a fairly large multi national company with an enormous library of easy to access data and specifications for their products.
Cheers
Peter
Some have been commenting that, even though the festos ARE rated for vacuum, they are NOT rated for usage with fuels and they tend to not last much when exposed to kero/diesel, tending to leak under pressure OR vacuum after some time. Personally, I believe festos are OK to use if treated with respect, as anything should be when it has to fly.
1) use as few as possible
2) only use polyurethane tubes
3) change them out, along with the fuel pickup lines, at least once every 2 years
4) do not make tight turns right out of the connector (rather, make a loop and keep the line straight out of it)
So far, following these few points kept me from having any flameout in the 6 years I've been operating turbine engines, and all my planes use 4 or 5 festos each, one or two always on the suction side.