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I"ve got mine mounted on the lower firewall, I don't know when I'll change it, probably about the 100 hour mark, and will also cut it apart for inspection. You should see a pressure drop when it starts clogging at higher throttle settings. The filter element is rather large, so I would guess that it would take quite a bit of debris to clog it. I have a cowl access door on the right side of my engine cowl, it allows me to sump the fuel filter, check the alternator/water pump belt, and check the oil sight glass on preflight. It is as easy as replacing an oil filter when it needs changing.
If you have a gascolator, I would think that this would replace both the gascolator and fuel filter.
Brian Trubee
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Bradburry <bbradburry@bellsouth.net>
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Wed, Jan 19, 2011 7:04 am
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: MAP table corruption? Nope! fuel filters!
Brian,
How often will you change the filter? If you have just one, how do you determine that it is clogging so you can get safely on the ground? Is the replacement filter one that can be easily accessed when/if you need to replace it?
Tracy, could you please answer the same questions?
Is anyone finding that black granular material in the filter? If it is coming from the pump, is that normal for a new pump or is it a sign of pump failure? I have run a total of maybe 50-60 gal thru my engine most of it thru this same pump. That seems early to have any kind of failure??
I would really like some pictures if installations for ideas. I have my pumps and filters mounted in a vertical line up one side of the firewall. If I remove the existing filters, I would have about 5 inches of vertical space to mount the canister filter. If it was 8.5 inches high like Brian’s filter, it would not fit in the space unless I shimmed it out a couple of inches to clear the pumps below. This seems like it would not be sturdy??
Bill B
I have one of the big oil type fuel filters- I got it from Jegs, and it has a spigot on the canister to drain moisture off, so it doubles as a gascolator.
I imagine it would take a lot of crud to clog one of these.
Well, the MAP table was ok. The problem was my high pressure fuel filter on the primary fuel pump. There were a lot of black particles in the filter that had it blocked. The secondary filter was clean but had only been run for a few minutes. This is the second time I found black material in this filter. The first time was about 40 gallons ago. This previous material was somewhat gooey and I thought that it may have come from not properly cleaning my hoses out after I made them. This time the material looked like tiny black particles. I don’t think they came from the hoses, but if not, they must have come from the pump itself.
My fuel system is ..from the wing tanks: a finger strainer in the outlet of the tank, then to a fuel selector valve, then thru a boost pump, then to a Gascolator, then to either of primary or secondary fuel pump, then a filter after each pump, then fuel rail, then fuel pressure regulator, then excess fuel returns thru the selector valve to the tank I am using from.
I haven’t yet checked my finger strainers because they are a bitch to get to, but my Gascolator did not have any of the black particles in it. It had a small amount of white fuzz that is probably fiberglass dust from my fuel tanks in it. This leaves me a section of -8 hose about 14 inches long or the fuel pump to be the source of the black particles. Oh yeah, the finger strainers and the Gascolator are both able to move fuel. I emptied both tanks of about 15 gal of fuel so that I could try and check the finger strainers. The boost pump filled a 5 gal can in 2 or 3 minutes pumping thru the strainers and Gascolator. My fuel lines up to the FI pumps are all either ½ inch or -8 in size. After the FI pumps the fuel lines go to -6 to the regulator and -4 to return to the tanks.
Is anyone else seeing this kind of material in their filters?
Also, since this occurred with about a tank of gas since I last cleaned the filters, I am concerned about the capacity of the fuel filters I am using. I am using Summit filters like the one here.
This filter has a small screen that is about ¾ inch in diameter and is 40 microns, so when it gets very little contamination, it plugs. I am thinking it would be fine for a drag car, but not for hours of flight unless your system was so clean you didn’t need it in the first place.
I originally had one filter in the system, but became concerned and added another one. Now I am wondering if I should go to the type of filter that looks like an oil filter and if I do, would one be sufficient or should I try and put in two filters of that type. I have very little space to add this type of filter and I don’t know if it would even be possible to add two of them. I would really appreciate any input you guys could give and possibly some pics of your installation if you are using the oil filter type. Do these type have the capacity to flow fuel when they get contaminated or will they block like these small in line filters?
Fuel starvation is a major cause of experimental plane crashes and I am close enough to be thinking of flying. :>) Hep me! Hep me!
From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Bill Bradburry
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 5:24 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Apex seals and MAP table corruption?
I may be taking it back what I said about the MAP table. During my runup today, I noticed that the fuel pressure was dropping. At full WOT, the pressure dropped to below 20 psi. I engaged the secondary fuel pump and the pressure came back to the 40 lb range. It appears that my fuel filter after the primary pump may be partially clogged. I will clean them tomorrow and let you know what I find.
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