Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

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levyland
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Posts: 254
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:50 pm

Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

Post by levyland »

Howdy Everyone,
THere has been heaps of discussion about the expansion of fuel and venting especially when the wings are folded. This has been a big problem with the Highlander and defueling was required with any significant amount of fuel left on board.
Being a full time wing folder I have posted several times that I have not experienced any problems with venting (through the gas caps) on my airplane. UNTIL YESTERDAY. One of the problems is that I have not had a good handle on fuel management. I did not have a fuel counter on my fuel drum so I didn't know how much I was adding. (For the record I have a 55 gallon drum on a dolly with a GPI rotary pump that works quite well.) I have subsequently put a fuel counter in line and highly recommend you know how much shit you are putting in the goose. Secondly the sight gauges are a bit go-carty. You wouldn't want to be on fumes and relying on those. So I have also put in a fuel flow sender in my Dynon Skyview that gives me accurate fuel burn and remaining. Again highly recommended. However when I folded the wings the other night I had full tanks and when I came back the next afternoon after a quite warm day the fuel had expanded and vented through the caps all over the wing blistering the paint! So here is the solution I have come up with. Try to fly your mission plus an hour (five gallons) of fuel. There is no reason to be flying around with a bunch of del if you don't need it. After you fold the wings always check the fuel level and if there is over 3/4 in the tank you will need to jack the airplanes tail up to level it out as if the wings were not folded. In previous posts I have shown a block that I place in-between the tail wheel stinger and fuselage that prevents the Fox Shock from compressing. Additionally I had made some wooden jacks that supported the tail wheel off the floor when the airplane was in the storage mode. There is a shit load of weight on that tiny 9" tailwheel. So my solution was to cut the wooden jacks shorter and screw them together as a single jack and use a car jack to life the airplane off the tail wheel.. It works really well and will jack the airplane tail up over two feet if you needed to. I have attached photos and if you have any questions please let me know. Cheers, John
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gkremers
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Location: Michigan

Re: Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

Post by gkremers »

I know this thread is SS specific but on a standard Highlander Troy told me to never fold the wings with more than 5 gallons of fuel in the tanks. He said it was not designed to handle the additional weight with the wings folded. This all may be a moot point on the SS since the wing is a total redesign.

Gary
levyland
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Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:50 pm

Re: Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

Post by levyland »

Troy or Jak would you like to comment on that?
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Gil T
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Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 10:57 pm
Location: Quartzsite AZ

Re: Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

Post by Gil T »

IMG_2738 (1024x768).jpg
I have posted previously about the wing folding and fuel situation. To kind of recap this which is an important issue here are a couple of pics to illustrate my fix. First is on fueling I use a digital flow meter. Second is my Grand Rapids EIS for the fuel flow and fuel remaining which has proven to be extremely accurate in 600+ hours of flying. I have my low fuel warning set to light up at 4.5 gallons which is about 40 minutes flying above the 2 gallons unusable that Just claims for the tanks. This last 2 gallons can be used if you like to fly wing low and skidding. That's really cutting it too fine for me. I agree that checking the tanks visually is impossible for accuracy even in the smoothest of air.

Gil T
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john2
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Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:42 am
Location: Lucedale, Ms.

Re: Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

Post by john2 »

levyland wrote:Howdy Everyone,
THere has been heaps of discussion about the expansion of fuel and venting especially when the wings are folded. This has been a big problem with the Highlander and defueling was required with any significant amount of fuel left on board.
Being a full time wing folder I have posted several times that I have not experienced any problems with venting (through the gas caps) on my airplane. UNTIL YESTERDAY. One of the problems is that I have not had a good handle on fuel management. I did not have a fuel counter on my fuel drum so I didn't know how much I was adding. (For the record I have a 55 gallon drum on a dolly with a GPI rotary pump that works quite well.) I have subsequently put a fuel counter in line and highly recommend you know how much shit you are putting in the goose. Secondly the sight gauges are a bit go-carty. You wouldn't want to be on fumes and relying on those. So I have also put in a fuel flow sender in my Dynon Skyview that gives me accurate fuel burn and remaining. Again highly recommended. However when I folded the wings the other night I had full tanks and when I came back the next afternoon after a quite warm day the fuel had expanded and vented through the caps all over the wing blistering the paint! So here is the solution I have come up with. Try to fly your mission plus an hour (five gallons) of fuel. There is no reason to be flying around with a bunch of del if you don't need it. After you fold the wings always check the fuel level and if there is over 3/4 in the tank you will need to jack the airplanes tail up to level it out as if the wings were not folded. In previous posts I have shown a block that I place in-between the tail wheel stinger and fuselage that prevents the Fox Shock from compressing. Additionally I had made some wooden jacks that supported the tail wheel off the floor when the airplane was in the storage mode. There is a shit load of weight on that tiny 9" tailwheel. So my solution was to cut the wooden jacks shorter and screw them together as a single jack and use a car jack to life the airplane off the tail wheel.. It works really well and will jack the airplane tail up over two feet if you needed to. I have attached photos and if you have any questions please let me know. Cheers, John
John,
Blistering paint is not good. What system/paint did you use? I am hoping the new Stewarts system paints will not do this.
Take Care,
John Cooley
Kit #265 converted to SuperSTOL
N265JC reserved
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danerazz
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Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:33 pm
Location: Bangor

Re: Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

Post by danerazz »

If you are using auto fuel, blistering can be a problem requiring careful planning to avoid. There are a few threads on here and other forums that discuss it.
Dane

Paralysis by analysis
#242
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john2
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Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:42 am
Location: Lucedale, Ms.

Re: Venting Fuel Tank in a Folded SS

Post by john2 »

danerazz wrote:If you are using auto fuel, blistering can be a problem requiring careful planning to avoid. There are a few threads on here and other forums that discuss it.
Dane,
I realize this. Some systems I believe will not blister, such as the Polyfiber system with aerothane as the finish coat. I have chosen to go with the Stewart's because of the health concerns of others and it is relatively easy to apply. I know Steve Dentz had issues with Stewart's blistering on his Highlander but I believe the paint formulation has changed some since then and I was simply curios as to what paint levyland (John) used and hopefully it is something I can learn from.
Take Care,
John Cooley
Kit #265 converted to SuperSTOL
N265JC reserved
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