Fueling Equipment

[jiott]

I try to run mostly Mogas in my 912uls, but there is only one airport in Oregon that has it, so most of the time I have to get my 92 Clear Mogas from auto service stations, which are not hard to find. I have been using 5 gal cans, but its been kind of a pain to pour in 2-4 cans to fill up. I recently purchased the Wurx fuel transfer sytem, which consists of a 20 gal plastic tank and an electric pump with hose and fuel nozzle with on-off lever. Works like a charm; I fill up the Wurx tank at a service station, then at the airport I slide the tank from my pickup onto a roll-around cart and roll it to the airplane, plug the pump into a long extension cord, turn it on and dispense fuel into my airplane tanks.
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[Flybyjim]

That looks like a good unit. It looks like you have carpet in your pick up bed so I would be a bit concerned sliding that plastic across the carpet and static building up and have a very unpleasant day. I have seen folks using a grounding wire in a like situation, just a thought.

[Eric Page]

How long does it take that unit to pump 20 gal?

[jrevens]

I don't remember if I already posted about this sometime in the past, but about 3 years ago I decided to have a tank made to mount in the bed of my pickup. I made a drawing of exactly what I wanted and had a company in Florida build it for me. They make them to DOT standards so it's safe and legal on the road. It holds about 40 gallons. It's not connected to the trucks fuel system, but I can transfer fuel to the truck or whatever, if I want or need to. The ethanol-free premium gas is not quite as available around here as it probably is where you live Jim, but I can get it, and that's what I use too. I have a fancy pump, hoses, nozzle and fuel gallon meter, but ended up not using them... it's a hassle to get it all out and set-up, then take apart & drain after using. I got a neat little pump called a GasTapper that I can plug into the cigarette lighter port. It's extremely handy for draining gas from tanks also if you need to. It's relatively slow compared to the other pump - it pumps & filters about a gallon/minute, but it's extremely convenient and versatile.

[jiott]

How long does it take that unit to pump 20 gal?

The pump puts out 4.5 gpm so you do the math. It pumps at about the same rate as pouring from a 5 gal can.

[jiott]

I also thought about an in-bed mounted tank, but I like a canopy over my pickup bed and the forward mounted tank does not work well with that. This Wurx setup is completely portable and moves easily in and out of the truck. I also was leery about a truck mounted setup because I didn't want to frequently maneuver my truck close to the airplane for obvious reasons; I guess a real long hose might have mitigated this problem.
This Wurx setup, pump plus 20 gal container is only $240, and you can buy extra 20 gal containers for $110 each and they are stackable. Maybe I'm sounding like a dealer for them, which I am not, but it's working well for me and I thought others might be interested.
I always filter Mogas thru a large funnel/filter (you can see it in one of the photos) before it goes in the plane. I am looking into locating an inline filter I can install on the pump to make it even more convenient.

[109JB]

Looks good and is more reasonably priced than some other options out there.

[jrevens]

I also thought about an in-bed mounted tank, but I like a canopy over my pickup bed and the forward mounted tank does not work well with that. ...



Yes, wouldn't work very well with a canopy. You can see in the pictures I have a bed cover. I can open up just the forward section to fully expose the tank, or I can open up the cover from the rear to expose the rest of the bed and leave the tank covered. I've got a full-size bed, so still have a lot of usable bed space.

Your setup looks great, Jim! A lot less expensive than what I did also.

[DSL farms]

I try to run mostly Mogas in my 912uls, but there is only one airport in Oregon that has it, so most of the time I have to get my 92 Clear Mogas from auto service stations, which are not hard to find. I have been using 5 gal cans, but its been kind of a pain to pour in 2-4 cans to fill up. I recently purchased the Wurx fuel transfer sytem, which consists of a 20 gal plastic tank and an electric pump with hose and fuel nozzle with on-off lever. Works like a charm; I fill up the Wurx tank at a service station, then at the airport I slide the tank from my pickup onto a roll-around cart and roll it to the airplane, plug the pump into a long extension cord, turn it on and dispense fuel into my airplane tanks.
2734427345 I LIKE this setup!

[kmach]

Jim,
Is the pump 12V dc or 110/120V ac, or both?

Seems like you mentioned a long extension cord.

[tracstarr]

Yeah I've been looking at the WURX myself for a while. I'm in a similar situation. The only reason I didn't get one yet is shipping to Canada is like $140 last I asked them. Don't have a truck so a nice built in option doesn't exist. The hose doesn't look as long as I expected though. Was hoping I might be able to just pull up the car and pump it from the trunk. Is it possible to switch out the hose with a longer one? What kind of fittings are used?

[Utah-Jay]

I have had the WURX for a while now, great setup and WURX :) like a charm.

I have it in the back of my Mini Countryman and the hose/nozzle reaches no problem

[Flybyjim]

John, is that a steel or aluminum tank?

[jrevens]

John, is that a steel or aluminum tank?

It's aluminum, Jim.

[jiott]

Kevin, the pump comes standard to run on 110/120 vac so I use a long extension cord. Wurx says they have an adapter to run on 12 vdc.

Tracstarr, the hose is 6' long. The fittings are non-standard plastic, I think, so lengthening the hose might take some study.

This setup is inexpensive and probably not something that will take a lot of abuse and last for 20 years. The 20 gal tank itself seems quite sturdy; the pump/hose/nozzle is where the low cost shows up. Its a step up from plastic jerry cans and seemed worth a try for me.
The threaded bung that the pump fits into appears to me to be the same size as the bung on a steel 55 gal drum. I'll bet if you wanted to upgrade the pump/hose/nozzle you could buy a standard barrel pump (hand crank or electric) and install it on the Wurx 20 gal tank. This combo could give a fairly heavy duty setup with the convenience of the smaller 20 gal tanks.

[bumsteer]

Jim

Did Wurx replace your pump that died? Wondering about their customer service.

Rick

[Utah-Jay]

Wurx is great, I drove up there (90 minutes) and got a tour of the factory. I have the electric pump which works great, just wish the hose was a couple of feet longer

[jiott]

Rick, yes Wurx replaced the electric pump with no hassle at all. I just called them and they immediately put a new unit in the mail and just asked that I send the failed unit back to them in the same box with a prepaid shipping label. Can't ask for better service than that. The new pump is working fine so far.

[Cherrybark]

Built this fuel trailer to keep MoGas in the hanger. Other than the DOT tank, parts are from Northern Tools. Cost was around $1800. It's a more expensive solution but fewer trips to the gas station. I'll be building a second trailer to park in the barn to replace a number of jerry cans. I've learned to hate lifting and splashing fuel from jerry cans. PM for a parts list if interested.

[jrevens]

Nice looking rig, Carl! I like your tail art too!

[Cherrybark]

Thanks John. I saw that decal on a gorgeous, white Kitfox and got permission to use the artwork for my own decal! :)

[Eric Page]

Shutterstock has it (http://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/vector-image-fox-design-on-white-193521830?src=C2Xb1t_YMu3qIZR7XffLNw-1-34) as a vector image, but it's available elsewhere (https://www.subpng.com/png-19ff92/) as a PNG. If you want to have a decal made, get the vector so it can be enlarged without loss of resolution.

[jrevens]

As I detailed in a post, many moons ago, Shutterstock is where I got the design. I had it on my airplane quite awhile before Kitfox announced it as their new logo. No one but some local friends and family had seen it on my plane at that time. As I said to John McBean, “I guess great minds think alike”. The Kitfox announcement was a little bit of a shock to me, as I had been searching for something I liked that was different from everyone else. Obviously, my mission failed. I waffled between the horizontal and vertical versions (I have both), but ended up doing the vertical one, because I didn’t want to split it between the fin and the rudder.

[kenjfrance]

For operating on floats, I use plastic 5 gal. (imperial) can with the vent cap. I put an air valve in the vent cap and made a brass washer with nipples on both sides and added appropriate lengths of inlet and outlet hoses. I also soldered a copper wire to the brass washer and ran a ground wire up the hose with a grounding clamp attached to the wing tank filler hole. Simply attach my little car tire inflator compressor and in about 4 - 5 mins. all the fuel has been "pumped into the wing"....(about the same amount of time it takes to siphon it in from the top of my ladder in the hanger. Of Note: when all the fuel is in the wing, you must not shut off the compressor before removing the hose into the wing tank, or it starts to siphon back into the plastic gas can.

[jiott]

That is really cool.

[efwd]

I agree. Now if I could only source ethanol free fuel.

[rv9ralph]

I agree. Now if I could only source ethanol free fuel.

Eddie, that will be almost impossible in California. About 5 years ago I found a website that listed ethanol free fuels, back then there were few sources in California... mostly farming centers and boat docks. I checked in the last year and there no sources for ethanol free fuel in California. Now your only choices are 100LL and UL 94.

Ralph

[KenZ]

Ethanol free gas . Try this App or website "pure-gas.org"
I noticed that is isn't up to date but it does have phone numbers you can call