Fueling Options

[LSaupe]

I am looking for ways to fuel our bird without needing to hoist a 5 gallon can over the wing each time. My wife can't lift a can very high and doesn't want to take the risk.

I was thinking something like:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...goatthroat.php

Anyone have experience with this or other ideas?

Or maybe something like this "if" you can hold the end in the tank and crank at the same time.

http://www.amazon.com/HMC-Gasoline-C...Y4GHEMEM3ABW9D

or

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...ontent=Default

[rosslr]

Hi Laurie,

I got an old trailer(donated from friend) and re-sprayed it, mounted a 200lt Ex Avgas drum (free from depot) on it permanently, and use a regular rotary hand pump(about $150) that delivers 0.6lt per rotation. I just drive to the local servo and fill it up and keep it in the hanger. I use a jumper cable for earthing. Easy option. I carefully mounted the drum in the middle of the trailer to balance it and make it easy to move it around by hand.

a (rather poor!) photo attached.

cheers

ross

[WWhunter]

I made something similar but changed the hand crank pump to a 12 volt electric one for the simple reason, I can fuel by myself. The problem with the handcrank type, if you are alone at the plane, is having to crank a little......check the level....crank a little more...check again. It was too easy to over fill if a guy wasn't paying attention. I never did, but the chance of doing so is their. With the electric, just connect the clips to a battery and using a typical fuel nozzle like at a fuel station, you can top off the tanks without any worry.

[jiott]

I have been using a fuel caddy with a rotary hand pump for several years. I agree with Hunter it is kind of a pain to have to pump a little then look etc. to avoid overfill. But I have avoided the electric pump because of fears of fire. One piece of advice on a hand pump-Don't go too cheap like I did; the cheap ones leak and don't prime as well.

[rosslr]

I agree on the quality pump Jim-I got one the fuel wholesaler recommended. it has a coarse filter at the base of the stem and the other filter near the pump. I also filter it going into the tank. I have calibrated it to know it pumps .6lt per rotation - 6lt per 10 rotations - that way it is pretty easy to know when you are within a few lts of full if you know your fuel gauges pretty well. I am sure the electric version is good too and probably safe if used properly - but like jim - I just wanted to avoid sparks around fuel. I should add that my setup is probably not legal - worth checking what your local regs are.

cheers

ross

[WWhunter]

I actually have one I built that I can carry via the receiver hitch on my vehicle. Basically I welded up a frame that holds a small barrel (15 gallon) and have a 12 volt type pump in it also. The pump came with about 15 feet of wire with aligator clips that you hook to the battery of your vehicle. I never worried about sparks since this is at the front of my truck while the fuel/pump is in the rear.

You can get a rebuilt one for less than $200.00

gpi.net/fuel-products/rebuilt/

[GaryNo]

Check this out.http://www.flofast.com/flofastmsrp.html I have the Professional Model series.

[LSaupe]

Great feedback. Thanks All.

[SkySteve]

Here is what I made. 35 gal barrel. The stand is the same height as the tailgate of my truck. Load the barrel in the truck. Drive to gas station. Fill barrel. Drive to hangar. Push stand next to tailgate. Push barrel onto stand. The pump handle moves up and down so I climb up on a ladder, hold the gas nozzle in the plane's wing tank and move the other hand up and down as I pump fuel into plane. Easy to use.


Later I added a drag chain and grounding cable.

[rv9ralph]

You can check Northern Tool online. They sell fuel systems for farm/ranch use. Several choices for pumps, hoses and nozzles.

Ralph