Filter your fuel!!
 

I was having trouble with my fuel pump today and finally sat down to fix it. After alot of eliminating i found that my fuel filter was insanley ristrictive. I reached my knife in there and popped out the tiny screen. HOLLY $%$%$%$. The filter was full of crap all the way up to the end of the nipple. I mean, there was sand, hair, and fibers jammed in there. NO wonder my pump wasn't working well. It looked like the lint that comes out of our washing machines. And to think that it could have gone through my engines.


Just wanted to remind everyone, to filter your fuel!

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

How do you figure all that got into your fuel? I do use a filter and I have never cleaned it out. I do check it when I refill my fuel can and I have not any build up at all. Just wondering??? Good Luck, Dave

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

To be honest, i have no idea. Just happy i caught it. :D:D

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

Do you keep your fuel closed when it's stored? Very strange that you would have that much foreign matter. Do you have a filter on your engine?

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

i use a fuel filter on the pickup in the bottle for my pump, and one in the carb feed line... i never really seem to have much debris in my carb filter, i think in 3 months ive had 2 or 3 bits of s*** but maybe a bit more in the pump filter

funny thing is, when i was having trouble starting the MDS i dug out a big bit of grass that was stopping the fuel flow... it was after the fuel filter so i have no idea how it got into the fuel line in the first place, letalone past past the second filter

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

My fuel goes through 4 filters before it reaches my carbs!

1)The fuel pickup line inside my 1 gallon fuel jug has a built in filter in the "clunk"
2) I have an inline filter between the fuel jug and the pump
3) The fuel filler fitting on the line after the pump (inserts into the plane's fill line) has a built in filter
4) On all of my aircraft I have a filter between the fuel tank and the needle valve

(1) & (2) above is admittedly double filter between the 1 gallon jug and the fuel pump, and I could get rid of one of those. (3) above filters anything I suck back into my 1 gallon fuel jug, so if debris gets into my aircraft's fuel system somehow, it will hopefully get removed by this filter before entering my pump while I defuel the plane. (4) above keeps any debris in the aircraft's fuel tank from getting to my carb, and it provides an nice place to fuel and defuel the plane (disconnect this filter and pump fuel in/out of the clunk line in the tank).

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

I only use a single filter on the line from the jug to the plane. When I defuel the plane at the end of the day, it gets backwashed back into the jug. I've only had one occassion when something got flushed from a tank that blocked the needle valve. Resulted in a dead stick.

Using multiple filters is only moderately effective, as anything that gets past one filter will get past the others. Best to use one filter just prior to entry to the tank. A filter on the line between the tank and the carb might be a good idea if you're worried about contamination from the exhaust line or degradation of the fuel lines inside the tank.

Brad

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

As described above, the multiple filters were to filter out debris from multiple sources, not to filter out finer particles...

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

I have a filter on the line going into the jug, then I filter again as it goes into the tank. I also have a filter in the fuel line when the plane is running. I know this may sound a bit extreme, but it really is not. I had a bunch of clogging problems with my plane when I did not have all of these measures, now I have no problems at all. Before I did this I had multiple dead sticks because the engine flamed out due to a fuel line clog, since then I have had no problems with fuel.

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

I would like to add to everyone who is wondering why i had so much junk in the line. I fly off a hard packed dirt strip and i hadn't cleaned it for over 20 gallons [X(]

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

everyone is concerned about filtering the fuel that goes into a tank but no one ever wonders about the contamination that enters a tank through the pressure fitting from the engine. If the fuel gets contaminated with junk in the tank, then when you empty the fuel back into the fuel can you load the top of a filter with crap that gets flushed back into the tank on the next refueling. I think it is much better to have a fuel filter from the tank to the engine for insurance that an engine gets clean fuel.

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

I actually have filters on my muffler lines to the tank on my helis to keep crap out of the tank... never went that far with my planes, though... just have filters between the tank and needle valves for those. As you say, as long as you have a filter from your aircrafts tank to the needle valve you should be set...

RE: Filter your fuel!!
 

Cambo,

I use only one filter in the jug and it is made out of a porous stone material that is copper in color and is cone shaped. I do put filters on my planes with cowlings and this is most of them. I have blown through the hose in the jug filters line in the opposite direction of fuel flow to see if it is clear by looking for small bubbles a couple times over the years to make sure it isn't getting clogged but have never experienced your situation. Maybe you got a bad gallon of fuel somewhere in the past and it is now just showing up. Factories make goof ups all the time.

Gibbs