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Dave S
11-22-2013, 08:03 AM
There have been many threads on the list regarding fuel hose. It is pretty clear that the old standard SAE auto fuel hose has sufficient permeability so that its use in the cockpit plumbing results in a constant fuel odor.

At the time out plane was completed, the solution was to use the lined fuel injection hose which was pretty expensive (around $5 per foot) compared to the old SAE standard hose; but, it solved the fuel odor problem. The choice to use auto fuel hose rather than mil-spec is based on the recommended use of auto fuel by the engine manufacturer (rotax) ...auto fuel hose should certainly be compatible with auto gas.

A couple list members have indicated their use of a fairly new product made by Gates which is branded "Barricade".

Since it was about time to replace the fuel hoses in our plane, I decided to see how Gates Barricade worked.

1) The first good news is Barricade costs about $3 per foot, not $5.

2) It does not have the blue liner the older fuel injected hose has. It is imprinted with identification on the outside including the date of manufacture.

3) Barricade appears to be slightly more rigid than the older fuel injection hose. Probably a good thing in the interst of minimizing kinks/collapse, although proper routing/installation should preclude this problem anyway.

4) After a week with the Barricade hose installed, there was absolutely no fuel odor in the cockpit. (also have the aluminum header tank)

5) The product is listed as multi fuel and bio-fuel compatible. (probably a good thing even if we do not use corn gas since there can be cross contamination in auto fuel)

6) The product is listed as EPA compliant 15 grams/square meter/day (permeability). This factoid causes me to speculate that the product was not designed with aircraft homebuilders in mind, but for complying with standards related to evaporative emissions from cars.

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF 7 Trigear
912ULS Warp Drive

St Paul MN