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#1
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Anyone had fuel tank air vent icing up?
Vents are not installed in the direct impact slipstream, so
ice is not usually a problem in a well designed system. "Peter" wrote in message ... | Is there any known case of the above happening, on an aircraft flying | below say FL200? | | On a known-ice aircraft, the vents are normally heated. | | One reads a fair number of stories of pilots picking up a huge amount | of ice (inches) but not (that I have seen) of engine failures caused | by vacuum in the tanks. |
#2
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Anyone had fuel tank air vent icing up?
Jim Macklin wrote: Vents are not installed in the direct impact slipstream, so ice is not usually a problem in a well designed system. Entertainingly, I had a fuel/ice encounter on an Aztec some years back. Rather than suffer airborne icing, plain rain water got in under the cap, and froze in the fuel vent line leading to the high-pressure underside of the wing. That caused an impressive fuel leak out the fuel cap as soon as we were airborne (= low pressure formed above the wing). - FCHE |
#3
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Anyone had fuel tank air vent icing up?
Key thought, well designed system...
"Frank Ch. Eigler" wrote in message ... | | Jim Macklin wrote: | | Vents are not installed in the direct impact slipstream, so | ice is not usually a problem in a well designed system. | | Entertainingly, I had a fuel/ice encounter on an Aztec some years | back. Rather than suffer airborne icing, plain rain water got in | under the cap, and froze in the fuel vent line leading to the | high-pressure underside of the wing. That caused an impressive fuel | leak out the fuel cap as soon as we were airborne (= low pressure | formed above the wing). | | - FCHE |
#4
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Anyone had fuel tank air vent icing up?
Aztec = Stupidest fuel cap/hatch cover design that I've seen. Cap has a
concave in the center to allow room for the over-center thermos type expansion mechanism, it holds about a shot glass of water. Also directly in the center is an air inlet hole, to allow air into the tank. The fill holes and caps are below a flush type access door, with a rubber gasket sandwiched between the two door surfaces. Want water in your fuel? Noooo problem... just let the rubber gasket get old, or it may not fit well, so it leaks, let the plane sit out in a rain storm and water will settle directly on top of your fuel cap, which has... remember? a HOLE in the middle of it! The interior of the hatch is vented overboard, such as Frank mentions, and is subject to frost and freezing if plugged, but first the center of the cap needs to fill up with water because it's lower than the flange of the cap or the vent/drain. We keep our caps covered with an FAA Approved PMA'd plastic cottage cheese container cover, that only fits if "bent" so it will shed any water directly into the drain rather than settle onto the cap, yet also allow air to enter the tank. Jim "Frank Ch. Eigler" wrote in message ... Jim Macklin wrote: Vents are not installed in the direct impact slipstream, so ice is not usually a problem in a well designed system. Entertainingly, I had a fuel/ice encounter on an Aztec some years back. Rather than suffer airborne icing, plain rain water got in under the cap, and froze in the fuel vent line leading to the high-pressure underside of the wing. That caused an impressive fuel leak out the fuel cap as soon as we were airborne (= low pressure formed above the wing). - FCHE |
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