quick drains on wing tanks

[phintz]

Hello everyone!, I am almost finished with my final assembly and I'm wondering what everyone is doing with the drain holes on the wingtanks!

Are you putting in the quick drains( a fellow KF owner advised me not to, he had his leak and gas ran down the bottom of wing and ruined the paint job)


or

are you just plugging the holes with a threaded plug?

Thanks again
Patrick
series 6 builder

[Dorsal]

Flush mount quick drains, no leaks yet.

[WISDAN]

Flush mount drains also. Right drain leaked at the first 5 hours, replaced it and has not leaked since....... at 100 hours now.

[jiott]

Flush mount quick drains. No leaks after 30 hours.

[Jfquebec]

Flush quick drain...no leak...0 hrs...:rolleyes:

[PapuaPilot]

The reason we have drains on our wings is to drain water or small debris in the fuel. Don't ever consider plugging them up. I would rather have stains on a paint job then an engine failure!

Often the QDs leak because of some type of debris got stuck in the seat of the valve. The debris can be usually flushed or pulled out and the valve will stop leaking. It seems that you will want to be very careful during the first hours of operation because there might be some debris that is in your tanks.

Aged o'rings will crack or chip and leak. They can be replaced on some drain valves. You might even consider changing the o'rings if your project is more than 10 years since purchase. Many o'rings have a shelf life of 10-15 years.

[Dave S]

Patrick,

Had the flush mounted quick drains in the wing tanks for 5 years....never a leak....also have a spare in the plane - JIC

Now...for the non-flush mount quick drains.....had one of them leak after 3 years...the O ring was the problem - built a little different than the flush mount Quick Drains.

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF 7 Trigear
912ULS Warp Drive

[N981MS]

About 750 hours on our flush mounts and I don't think they have ever been taken out of the tank. Hardly ever found any trash or water. Got to have quick drains though. Found small amount of water once on preflight after outside in rain. Been outside in rain other times but no water. Very rarely very small amount of trash. But, you never know when you will get some bad fuel somewhere,

Please suggest to your friend that he put his quick drains back in.

[n85ae]

The drains in the tanks don't really make sense if you ask me, since the fuel
system low point is the header tank anyway, seems to me that checking that
makes the most sense. I really don't see those wing drains as being useful.

That said mine has them, and I do check them, but every time I check I feel
like they don't serve any real purpose. Plus they occasionally weep fuel.

Regards,
Jeff

[Paul Z]

Flush mount drains on the SLSA’s

[DesertFox4]

I've flown my model 4 without wing tank drains for 11 years with no problems but will add that I live in the desert where condensing moisture is much less likely. I always sump the lowest drain on my system which is the bottom of the aluminum header tank.

My problem comes now when traveling cross country into higher moisture content areas of the country where water in fuel can be a higher possibility. Without wing tank sumps, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes for water to reach the header tank if water is introduced to the wing tanks through fueling. I refuel first then go get a soda or restroom break then come back and check for water in the fuel.

My worst instance of water in the fuel in 11 years was at Cavanaugh Bay, Idaho after a night of rain and the next morning it was heavy dew and some fog. I drained close to 10 sumps of water out of the header tank before getting a clear reading.

I think I'd put the flush mount wing sumps in if doing it over. You could check immediately after fueling to see if water was introduced.

[Paul Z]

In the years I had mine, I’ve never gotten any water in the fuel. I am hankered in a very dry hanger, with no leaks.

[Dave S]

DF4...Yeah....thats right.....arid areas don't have the condensation problem we sometimes get in the less arid areas like up here in the midwest........Personally I have not had much of anything ever show up at the wing tank drains except for a few drops of water in the bottom of the sampler - (luck would have it the one day I didn't check it would be full of stuff so I always check)..... When water drops show up that is normally correlated with high humidity overnight...warm the day before and cooler in the morning. (hangar is an old drafty machine shed)..... I always use a filter which catches water when fueling so I am hypothesizing that it is simple in tank condensation.

Of course, I have never found anything plugging the pitot, static or wing tank cap pitots ....but they always get checked too....:cool:

Dave S
KF7 TRigear

St Paul, MN

[Jch]

Are the "flush mounted" quick drains that everyone is referring to the same as what kitfox gave me with my kit two years ago? Or something that has been converted to?

[Av8r3400]

Keep in mind there is "unusable" fuel in each wing tank that can collect contaminates. This needs to be able to be drained off.

IMO wing drains are required.

[phintz]

thanks to all that put info on the quick drains, I'll be putting them in for sure! Sounds like a great safety check for water and contaminents!!

Thanks again KF people!

[N981MS]

Kitfox supplied our 6 with non flush (meaning not flush with the surface of the wing). They would be fine but I went with "flush" mount which are not entirely flush but protrude less and thus less likely to interfere with the bubble doors.

[Slyfox]

ok drains. why not? I have drains on both airplanes. I live in an area that has lower moisture as well. I haven't ever found water in my tanks. but I do find junk from time to time. My best friend is my filter I have inside the plane at the on/off valve before it goes to the firewall and to the fuel pump. I have one of those see though filters (paper) that I look at before each flight. once in a blue moon I will see a couple drops of water in there and junk. once I feel it's too much I switch the filter out. usually put in a couple a year. another thing I use the blue bing hose inside the plane. I have it before and after this filter. one little swing of the filter and I can see pretty well what's in it. I also have this filter after the valve so all I have to do is shut off the valve and replace the filter with very minimal mess, very easy.

I go straight to the fuel pump with nothing else in line from this filter. I do have a nice fitting at the fire wall that goes from bing hose to high pressure rubber line with special blue wall inside. it's called fuel injection line that I bought, stuff is great. I also use that from the fuel pump to the carbs.