How much flame is normal on turbine startup? I'm getting 8-12 inches of flame from most cold starts on my Kangaroo using straight coleman propane. I've seen obvious hot starts at some events where 3-4 feet of flame shoots out of the tailpipe. Mine doesn't approach that. I've only had one aborted start that I know was due to EGT. Is it possible to get a start with no visible flame on some engines? What, if anything, can be done to reduce this?

Only had 6 starts so far on a Wren MW54 on a test stand so not the most experienced to reply, but never seen flames on any start. It has a full autostart ECU so other than connecting the gas and turning the tap there is not much that i could do wrong, the ECU see's to that. Not much use to you perhaps but proves it can be done.

sounds like too much fuel on ramp-up. Dial down the fuel pump start voltage a point or two....
What engine.... What ECU?

Turn down your propane until it just pops
and use a shut off valve in the feed to the pump
sometimes you can get fuel into the turbine when refuelling,most common cause of hot starts and when you pour it out the residue still ignites.

Brian

Make sure that when you are fueling your jet that fuel isnt leaking into the engine.


SJ.

Hi Brian

Just love your beach

Yet to install my Wren into aircraft so interested in your comment. I had assumed that nothing would get through the pump and fuel solenoid when refuelling, so is the case you describe for wet starts only applicable to manual plumbed systems? I had not intended to fit a shut off valve relying on the solenoid instead.

John

My friend had this problem with his jetcat p-80.

It has both a fuel.pump and electric shutoff valve :-)


The remedy for him was just to turn on the reciever/ecu in his plane when fueling.
We guess that the valve holds tighter when power is on ?

Thanks, I hadn't considered that it sounds like a good idea.

Must get back to Tivoli Gardens sometime, just loved those open air concerts on a friday night

yea...isn`t Tivoli great :-)



SJ.

Hi John
The sunsets are nice too

We used to use plasma bags with no problems except you never knew when the
bag would fail due to the effects of the fuel on the plastic so we went to
hard tanks and electric pumps ,No problems with air bubbles because we use BVM UAT`s but the pressure would force fuel thro the pump and flood the turbine
now we use a Festo ball valve, no more hot starts.

All part of the learning curve
We operate AMT Netherlands turbines which have an auto start system
but all fuel systems are manual plumbed,my F15 has three tanks + a UAT
front tank empties into the two mains then both drain equally.

regards

Brian

AMA states you need a manual fuel shut off valve in your system to fly in the US at an AMA field. You list KY in your Profile so I assume you are in the US.

I purchased a couple Festo shutoffs and the Jetcat shutoff. I'll install one of those in this system and see if that helps. Mine just has the solenoid for shutoff right now. My older Simjet ECU doesn't allow me to adjust anything. I was wondering if a starter motor wearing down could cause this? Mine spins the turbine pretty well but it is used so could be slowing.