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Thread: Fuel ON or OFF?

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    Vienna Austria
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    50

    Default Re: Fuel ON or OFF?

    Quote Originally Posted by jiott View Post
    I used to leave my fuel valve ON all the time, but now turn it OFF after the day's flying. What changed my mind is someone left his ON and some debris or something caused his float needle not to seal off and the next morning he found a large puddle of gas under the engine where it had run out the overflow tube during the night. Imagine what a spark could have caused when he turned on the lights or something with those gas fumes filling the hangar. I know its a long shot but it very well could happen, so I now turn mine off. Its easy enough to do.
    Thanks. Certainly something I hadn't considered.

  2. #12
    Senior Member
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    Jun 2008
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    wales,ny
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    710

    Default Re: Fuel ON or OFF?

    Quote Originally Posted by alexM View Post
    I haven't run any plumbing yet, but 3 valves? I only know of the one on the center console.
    Alex , this is from a discussion from an old thread on why I installed two tank to header fuel valves

    Quote Originally Posted by airlina View Post
    Hi Ross, It is a bit disconcerting for new kitfox pilots to watch the fuel drain from one tank - you always wonder will that tank run dry or when does the other tank start feeding? I know that was my reaction when I started flying mine 12 years ago. Also walking around at OSH one year ,I saw fuel peeing out of one of the fuel tank vents on a freshly fueled kitfox. The plane was parked on a slope and the high side tank was pushing all his expensive fuel out of the low wing. So how to fix this-well John covered it pretty well, the fix for me was to install 2 inline fuel shutoff valves on both tank to header, fuel lines. This allows several things 1) inflight fuel balancing, especially helpful on cross country flying. Before the fuel valves were installed, I would fly uncoordinated to try to balance fuel loads, now I shut the appropriate valve and burn from the heavy tank. 2) Shut one of the valves after parking on uneven slopes so your kitfox doesn't pee while you are away. 3) maintenance- sometimes during maintenance work I need to isolate the wing tanks from the fuel system, and these valves allow this . Now for the cautions! Make sure the valves are large enough and do not restrict flow(good idea to redo fuel flow check at engine after installation). At my advanced age it is easy to forget I shut one or both valves, so whenever I touch one of them I have a big red flag (one of those remove before flight jobbies) that I clip on my throttle be it on the ground or inflight. Also to avoid inadvertent movement ,I made a simple locking device on each valve. Have fun Bruce N199CL

  3. #13
    Senior Member Dave S's Avatar
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    Oct 2008
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    St Paul, MN
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    Default Re: Fuel ON or OFF?

    Question for Larry,

    You mentioned it is advisable to have shutoff valves for the wing tanks - do you have them on Mangy?

    If you have them, where did you get them?
    Dave S
    Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
    912ULS Warp Drive

    St Paul, MN

  4. #14
    Super Moderator Av8r3400's Avatar
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    Jan 2009
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    Merrill, WI
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    3,044

    Default Re: Fuel ON or OFF?

    Yes I do have a valve at each wing tank. I sourced them through the aviation department at my local ACE hardware. Just a standard ball valve.

    I plumbed my system with a short length of fuel injection hose from the tank to the valve, which is solid mounted to the airframe, then hard lines to the header tank. Then hard line from the header to the aux facet pump and on to the main shutoff on the firewall (remote operated ball valve). At that valve I have a bulkhead fitting through the firewall to fire-sleeved fuel injection hose on the engine side to a metal bodied filter just before of the mechanical fuel pump. From the mechanical pump to a pressure sensor and flow sensor and finally y-ed to the carbs, with no return.

    Wing to header shutoff - Link

    Main shutoff - Link
    Av8r3400
    Kitfox Model IV
    The Mangy Fox
    912UL 105hp Zipper
    YouTube Videos

  5. #15
    Senior Member Maverick's Avatar
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    Mar 2017
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    Phoenix
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    295

    Default Re: Fuel ON or OFF?

    I bought some ball valves off Amazon
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I put them on the vertical that runs behind the pilot/passenger seats right above filters that I also bought from Amazon
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I used yellow Tygon fuel line. There is a short piece between the bottom of the valve and the top of the filter so that I can disconnect the fuel line and attach a hose for draining the tanks at annual. The valves and filters are secured to the vertical with UV resistant zip ties that I'll change annually.
    EAA, AOPA
    KF5 (N49FK & N36KJ)
    Phoenix, AZ

  6. #16
    Senior Member Dave S's Avatar
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    Oct 2008
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    Default Re: Fuel ON or OFF?

    Larry,

    Thanks for the detail on your system. I can see the merits of a ball valve as it eliminates any obstruction/resistance to flow compared to other types of valves.

    Blue skies
    Dave S
    Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
    912ULS Warp Drive

    St Paul, MN

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