CK5
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Clear tube for fuel site gauge?
- Thread starter BadDog
- Start date
Ken, ah, I see. But AFAIK, there are 2 main AV gas choices. One is just high octane without the automotive smog additives. The other, Jet-A, is pretty much just Kerosene. Is there another? Kerosene would be relatively mild on the tubing, and the other does not have some of the additives that could do damage like detergents, oxygenating additives, and/or alcohol. Still, good to know and that "Bing" sounds great. May have to give them a call.
Jason, great idea! Simple and elegant. Pyrex tube lab tube or something would work even better...
Brook, never heard of that stuff. Looks like good stuff and I would only need 1 foot so the price is no biggie.
Cool idea Bob, never thought of that.
Matt, that thought has occurred to me...
Thanks everyone. Got some very good alternatives here. Not sure which way I'll go, I'll post up with the final solution.
Great ideas guy! This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for!
Jason, great idea! Simple and elegant. Pyrex tube lab tube or something would work even better...
Brook, never heard of that stuff. Looks like good stuff and I would only need 1 foot so the price is no biggie.
Cool idea Bob, never thought of that.
Matt, that thought has occurred to me...
Thanks everyone. Got some very good alternatives here. Not sure which way I'll go, I'll post up with the final solution.
Great ideas guy! This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for!
Hey Russ
Here at work we get all our clear tubing from www.usplastic.com
The reinforced polyethane tube is perfect for gas and oil..
3/8's Stock no.56501...it's $1.91 ft.
Here at work we get all our clear tubing from www.usplastic.com
The reinforced polyethane tube is perfect for gas and oil..
3/8's Stock no.56501...it's $1.91 ft.
BadDog said:
OK, going way off topic for a moment...
Avgas and Jet A are vastly different animals:
- "Avgas" is aviation gasoline for reciprocating engines. Used to be available in many grades, but now the only common one is 100LL (100 octane [lean mixture] with a Low Lead content). It has some additives in it (antifoaming, mild biocide, a little detergent), but not as many as the pump gas for cars.
- "Jet A" is a type of aviation turbine engine fuel. Three types are available; Jet A (most common), Jet A-1 (semi-rare), and Jet B (very rare). Jet A and Jet A-1 are basically kerosene, with lots of additives (antifoaming, anticorrosion, biocide, others), and Jet B is a blend of kerosene and gasoline with all the Jet A additives. Military fuels are a little different, but basically they stack up like so: JP-8 is Jet A, JP-4 is Jet B. JP-5 is different enough that there's no true civilian equivalent, although it's freeze point is similar to Jet A-1.
Turbine engines will run on avgas, but the lead will leave deposits on the power turbine blades, and reduce engine efficiency. Recip engines (with a couple exceptions) will not run on Jet, and this has been the cause of numerous crashes over the years.
The homebuilt/experimental aircraft community has been playing with alternatives to these expensive fuels (both avgas and Jet A are running well over $3/gal for the General Aviation community...) for a while now; there's quite a few homebuilts running on regular pump gas, along with a diesel engine for the homebuilt market designed to run on Jet A. Most ultralights and powered-parachutes run a Rotax engine on pump gas.
I personally think the Bing will be your best bet; it's made specifically as a fuel line. But hey, I'll stop trying to sell it to you, so the decision's yours.
Hey, no problems here, I very much appreciate the info and advice. That's basically my understanding of AV fuels (although I didn't even know about Jet-B and know zilch of military fuels). When I was flying the little Cesnas we were always cautioned to double check the fuel we were getting because the fuel guys couldn't be trusted to, even if the tankers said 100LL on the side.
Looks like Bing and Taygon are the winners in tube only solutions, and the pyrex lab tube with black rubber ends also looks promising. Looks like Bing and Taygon are about the same cost, and I only need 1 foot of it. I'll have to check and see what the minimum lengths are.
The pyrex solution is cool, but really is less ideal for 2 reasons. By the time I add the 90*, a nipple, and the rubber hose to use as a coupler, I'll loose at least another 1/2-3/4" of visilbel fuel column top and bottom. It will also be more likely to fail due to damage.
That's basically my understanding of AV fuels (although I didn't even know about Jet-B and know zilch of military fuels). When I was flying the little Cesnas we were always cautioned to double check the fuel we were getting because the fuel guys couldn't be trusted to, even if the tankers said 100LL on the side.Looks like Bing and Taygon are the winners in tube only solutions, and the pyrex lab tube with black rubber ends also looks promising. Looks like Bing and Taygon are about the same cost, and I only need 1 foot of it. I'll have to check and see what the minimum lengths are.
The pyrex solution is cool, but really is less ideal for 2 reasons. By the time I add the 90*, a nipple, and the rubber hose to use as a coupler, I'll loose at least another 1/2-3/4" of visilbel fuel column top and bottom. It will also be more likely to fail due to damage.
