REFLECTOR: Fuel Consumption Performance

[Alex Balic]

I ran one of the glass tube filters on my boat for over 10 years- always
kept a spare element though- never lost fuel pressure, but I checked it
pretty often- it was good to see if I had bad gas, rust in the tank, even
checked to see if the fuel pump was working. I would think it is a good
thing to see if you are still getting junk from your tank, but the large
paper element unit would clog up a lot less slowly, allowing you plenty of
time to get around to changing it- hard to call....

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Scott Derrick
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 7:39 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Fuel Consumption Performance

Doug,

You experienced my worst nightmare concerning that Wallmart special
filter!   I'd be thinking real hard about installing a real fuel filter!

I installed one like this, I'm assuming because the filter is so large
it can handle a huge amount of gunk before clogging up. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fram-HPG1-fuel-filter-assembly-housing-HPG-1-
racing-NIB_W0QQitemZ170365927073QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090730?IMSfp=TL090730
1510002r9576

it just makes no sense to use a $0.75 fuel filter in a $125K-$250k 
airplane, does it?

Scott

Douglas Holub wrote:
> I have the same filter. Glass so I can look at it and see if it's
> getting clogged. I've been cleaning fiberglass dust out of it about
> every 20 hours. We were flying through some very bumpy air for about
> an hour earlier that day, so I'm thinking that fuel was splashing in
> places that don't normally get splashed and washing fiberglass dust
> down into the tank, or that the agitation had the effect of
> distributing the dust in the cylinder evenly around the element,
> instead of settling at the bottom like it usually does.
>
> Whatever the cause, I noticed that over a period of about an hour I
> needed to keep pushing the mixture knob in a little to keep the EGTs
> where I wanted them. It should have registered sooner that something
> was wrong, but when the mixture knob was full rich and the engine was
> running 50 degrees LOP at 10,500 feet I finally said to myself, "This
> is not right." I thought that maybe a screw was backing out somewhere
> in the mixture control linkage and decided to make a precautionary
> landing. We were near an airstrip, but by the time I figured out
> everything I needed to know to land there I was a few minutes past it,
> so I decided to head for the next little town about 20 minutes away.
> Also because the AFD described the one we were near as unattended, and
> I thought I might need some help. Just when I decided to keep going,
> the engine started to die like it does when I lean it too much. With
> my heart in my throat, I pulled the power back and the engine started
> running ok again. I landed on the deserted field with construction
> equipment on the runway. The rest of the story is a pretty good one,
> but I won't clog up the Reflector with it.  It involves being very
> hungry and thirsty, making a gasket out of two coke cans and some
> slick magazine covers, and spending the night at an airport in the
> middle of nowhere.
>
> Doug
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Derrick" <scott at tnstaafl.net>
> To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:08 AM
> Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Fuel Consumption Performance
>
>
>> _______________________________________________
>> To change your email address, visit
>> http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
>>
>> Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
>> user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
>> Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
>> Check old archives: http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html 
>
> _______________________________________________
> To change your email address, visit
> http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
>
> Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
> user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
> Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
> Check old archives: http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
>