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I think everyone needs to contact Jeffco and find out
what they know about ethanol etc. If there is a problem, they need to be
coming out with it....my tanks in my Lancair are sealed with this stuff, and if
there is a problem, I want to know about it. Not going to pussyfoot around
the issue.
Greg Ward
Lancair 20B N178RG in progress
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 9:33
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Jeffco
Problem...worst day as a builder
Chris,
My heart sank when I saw those pictures. I
have been concerned about my plane having the same problem. Florida has gone to all
10% ethanol all over the state, so pure gas is not available. I need to
fill my tanks in order to calibrate the gages but the gas will be in the tanks
for a long time. Probably till I fly.
My tanks were sealed with ProSeal and I really don’t
know how resistant it might be to ethanol.. Have you had any ethanol in
your tanks?
I hate to fill the tanks with av gas because of
the plug fowling problems, but I would REALLY hate to be facing your
problem.
Bill B
From:
Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Christopher Barber
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 10:29
PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Jeffco
Problem...worst day as a builder
Well, this was the worst builder
day I have had. That includes the day I realized I had to build a new rotary
engine, which, btw, was running better each day before this fuel issue
developed.
As the collective from the various list I am on may recall,
I have had persistent fuel leak issues. A few weeks ago I had a visit from the
fine men of the Ellington/JSC/NASA fire department when I leaked a few gallons
on to the hangar floor while I was at home sleeping late. Also, I thought my
original clear factory tubes failed due to ethanol. They had turned color and
became brittle (turns out they had not YET leaked.
I tried sucking new
Jeffco into where I thought the leak was (very hard to reach area behind the
spar. I found a loose hard point and since I was having some fuel seep through
the floor of my cabin I thought maybe the fuel was seeping in behind the hard
point into the foam to the cabin floor. Since the two hard points from the
strake fuel line were both put in per plans years ago (before my choice to use
a rotary, thus auto fuel) they were installed with EZ-84/flox. Since the flox
around the loose hard point seemed a bit "off" I decided to redo both of them
with Jeffco. At the same time I also took out the factory fuel elbow fittings
as mentioned above and installed Vance Atkinson's gages. I did this over the
last few days.
I thought all was well, but when I added fuel to the
right strake only, I still had fuel seeping through the cabin floor. So, I am
having fuel leak though the inner foam. I spoke with Velocity, Inc who stated
I could either go into the inner skin around the stake storage area or cut a
hole in the top of the strake to find the leak. I chose to go into the top of
the strake as I thought it would be better to not try to patch a leak from the
outside. So, I cut a hole in the strake to apply Jeffco to try to find/cure
the leak.
EEEEEEAAAAAKKKKK. I opened up the top right strake and the
Jeffco on the top of the strake was sitting in the bottom of the tank.
OMG!!!!. Almost all the Jeffco from the top of the strake had fallen off. It
was all flaky and not adhering. Also, a number of places from the sides and
bottom had also fallen off.
I called Velocity, Inc and they said they
had never had this issue before. They suggested I look in the other stake to
see if the problem was there too. We discussed when I applied it and how. Now
guys and gals, I am not a complete incompetent. I know I sanded stakes before
I applied the Jeffco, I mixed it well and per instructions. Also, the top
strake Jeffco was applied at a different time/batch from the sides/bottom. The
Velocity top strake is a pre-built piece and is laid on the strake
sides/bottom in a separate step and the Jeffco is applied to the top before
you seal it, then you seal it with more Jeffco.
I have never had more
than about 20 gallons of fuel in the system (about 60 total capacity). I have
had the fuel sit in the strakes for a long while though. I used the Jeffco
since it is supposed to be more resistant to fuels like diesel and auto, even
with ethanol...at least that was my understanding. Some ares of the strakes
seem pretty good (but I don't trust any of it now). I did get TWO, one gallon
kits of Jeffco back when I did this part of the build. My first thought is
that perhaps one of the buckets was a bad batch. Donno.
I did cut into
the pilot strake too. It was not as bad. The top of the strake looks good, but
I do have some flaking on the sides. There are four compartments in each
strake. I cut into one on the co-pilot side, and three on the pilot side so
far. One on the pilot side seems perfect (so far). The inconsistency has me
confused currently. But to be honest, after dealing with this for a while and
trying to be philosophical about it...such as I would much rather find it now,
I walked away and worked on re-attaching my ailerons after balancing them.
So, it seems many of those other
fuel issue may have not been the problem I thought they were....this does seem
to be the cause for when the fire department came out as that leak just seem
to happen. When I pressure tested this system a few years back, all
seemed fine.
I am posting the pix on the Canardzone but I am posting
this message on a few sites like FlyRotary and the Velocity Builders site. The
factory asked me to post too so they could have a look and determine if this
may be a isolated incident (such as me missing something big) OR if it could
be a bigger problem. Well, here are some of the pix I took....if they are
blurry, don't worry, it is only my
tears......
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