karolh

I have been using 90 octane ethanol blended gas (E10) to mix my fuel since early this year and just recently I had to redo the plumbing in one of my tanks and I was quite surprised to see that the Hayes black neoprene tubing I use for all my in-tank plumbing had started to swell, which is something that it has never done in all the years I have been using it with regular straight gasoline. Has anyone noticed similar effects with this tubing and ethanol blended gasoline??

Karol

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Yes

jedijody

My Feedback: (1)

Yes and worse, over time the neoprene will actually start to disolve in the gas.

frieshoo

My Feedback: (20)

I heard they changed the formula last year.

We had several carb screens and in-line fuel filters full of the stuff...

Jezmo

I've had the exact same experience as Jody and Dennis. I'm back to Tygon for now but thinking about the other options.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

I have some old Hayes that holds up just fine but the new stuff I bought last year will swell up half again as big in just a month in the tank.

captinjohn

I needed a TX battery and ordered one from Tower H last week. I made the order and remembered how the last Hayes fuel line I got from them went bad real soon. The person doing my order talked with someone about the fuel line going bad. Anyway they sent me a new pack of line. I have not tried it yet.

The piece of line (Hayes) I used for a vent line went bad too. It got cracks and when pulled on...it would stretch out and looked like a sick rubber band! That was not in gas...but just a vent. Got to check out new batch. I was given a number to call Hayes also. So call Hayes for more information or replacement I guess. Capt,n

Ed

What a timely subject .......................... Just last week I started changing all my black neoprene back to Tygon for the same reason. I flamed out on take off two weeks ago with minimal damage, but I could have totaled it. Found a hole in the black neoprene line between the tank, and the T fitting. When I removed the line and stretched it a little, it was completely perforated with tiny holes. All 6 of my gassers are now being changed back to Tygon.

Guess I'll just have to get into the habit of changing the Tygon yearly. [] I think that it's a more reliable solution to an ongoing problem .

Ed

JohnMcGowan

My Feedback: (15)

I had a some Hayes line installed in a fuel tank on my test stand and after abouut 2 months of it being used, the line totally dissolved and turned into some type of black goo that looked like chewing gum. I guess the "E" gas reaked havoc on it so i went back to using tygon. If anyone here finds out if Hayes has changed their formula to be ethynol compatable, please report back to us and let us know. I would like to use the Hayes line again if its being made better now.

Thanks,
John

Ed

I've conditioned myself now to change my Tygon every year. I'm keeping a log on my 6 planes, and changing it over the winter months when things get slow. It's also a good oppotunity to check out other aspects of the tank, and plumbing system too. It's very easy, and reasonable maintainance, and I'm glad to do it.

Ed

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Same experience here. Jody helped figure mine out. Gummed up carb screens on two engines really screwed up my 2009 flying season. Once I realized the source of the problem I re-plumbed with tygon. All problems are 100% gone. Never use neprene for anything...except for making little lock washers for canopy bolts. Even in that application it ends up splitting after a while. It's a bit fragile.

hauckf

What about Viton tubing? Has that fallen out of favor too?

Ed

" What about Viton tubing? Has that fallen out of favor too? "


I understand that it's better, but will also eventually harden or deterioate in time. It sounds like nothing is forever when used in todays gas.

After seeing how fragile black neoprene turned out to be first hand, I'm changing yearly. I like the wall thickness, and toughness of Tygon.

Ed

karolh

Well that's it for me, back to using Tygon plus I have to go and redo the plumbing in my other two gas models. Hopefully someone will come up with an alternative that will work as well as well in ethanol blended gasoline as the Hayes black neoprene did in straight gas.

Karol

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

What ever they use in chainsaws and weedies lasts forever and always stays soft.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

I have several saws and they have the yellowish Tygon. I had to recently replace the Tygon in the oldest one (1997)

I was looking at a Homelite hedge trimmer that is over 20 yrs old and it has black tubing that I assume to be neoprene

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

All mine have some black tubing.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Yeah mine too. Lawn mower, weed wacker, snow blower all have some thick black fuel tubing. One snow blower is 15 years old. Same old fuel tubing.

beepee

What's a snow blower?

Bedford

Jezmo

Hey BeePee, bet you don't see any of that white stuff over there do you. None here in old Spring Town either. Take care.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

In your case they call them sand blowers.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

My 8 1/2 hp snow blower is about 3 yrs old and has the thick black rubber tubing for a gas line.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

I have been using the thick Viton all season and so far so good. I want to see how long it will last compared to tygon. If I have any problems I will just go back to tygon as I never did have problems with it. The only stuff I had go stiff was the generic stuff. I tried Hayes last year and my clunk fell off after less than a month. When I took the tank apart to see what happend I found the fuel line was fallling apart. I'll never use it again on anything.