REFLECTOR: Water Condensation in Wing Tanks & Sump

[Al Gietzen]

Just a comment on my experience;

I always fueled before leaving; never when putting the plane back in the
hangar, so the tanks were almost always less than half. I preferred to have
as little weight as possible sitting on the gear, and since I pretty much
always used mogas with some ethanol, wanted the minimum amount of that
sitting in the tanks.

 

Over a period of five years from first engine running, and 220 hour of
flying; there was never a single drop of water at the sump drain. I realize
it depends on climate conditions, but I don't think Utah would be considered
a high humidity zone.

 

Most likely the condensation is just on your metal cap.

 

Al

 

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Dennis Martin
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 6:32 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: REFLECTOR: Water Condensation in Wing Tanks & Sump

 

I have not flown my V for a bout 2 weeks while I've been making some
changes. I was going to do some T & Gs tomorrow, but noticed today that both
fuel caps have big drops of water condensed on them when I inspected them.
It's spooky to see that much water on my fuel caps. I tasted it, and it's
definitely water. 

With half tanks, I'm sure that water is condensing on the entire top half of
the tank surface. I've read about fuel tanks being susceptible to
condensation, especially glass tanks. Has anyone had this experience, and do
you have any suggestions other than filling the tanks to the brim to reduce
condensation. I've read that this is one way to reduce it.  Otherwise, I
assume you just drain your sumps carefully. I think it may also be a good
idea to taxi for 10 minutes to shake the water loose from the tank top so it
will work its way down to through the sump drain? Then, check your sump
again before take off. 

All the best,
Dennis Martin
Chevy Powered 173 FGE

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