100LL as a belly cleaner...

jimmyjack said:
This could not be more concisely stated. I'm only in my 30's, but I am shocked, shocked I tell you, at how safety-minded this country has become.

From the parroted "think of the children" nonsense (for every little thing) to not being allowed to wash your plane, being safe to a fault is detrimental to society as a whole.
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You do realize some people depend on a healthy environment for their livings?

Don't screw it up for them.
 
Stewartb said:
Talk to your airport management and get some facts. They may have a reason for their rules. My airport put a wash rack in. It's about 100' from the lake. The lake used to get polluted by runoff de-ice fluid from the adjacent big airport. The big airport had to put in containment. Lake Hood got a high volume deep well to flush the lake. The wash rack came soon after. It all makes sense. The result is cleaner lake water and now we have a significant weed problem so they have a thresher running most of the time to keep the lake clear for seaplane ops. It's better than the old dead lake with polluted water.
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Interesting.. I am based at Jackson Hole.. The ONLY airport located in a National Park ( Grand Teton National Park) and the board and airport manager there claims Deice fluid is perfectly harmless....:confused:....:no::no::no:..
 
Tell him to prove it and have him drink a tall glass. Ice is optional.
 
Stewartb said:
Tell him to prove it and have him drink a tall glass. Ice is optional.
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Ha....
I pulled that trick a few years back.....

You guys don't know 1/100 of what I am up against.. I will post my battle online soon.. It will make Erin Brokovich look like small potatoes..:redface::(
 
my family leases property to a gas station chain. They had an underground leak. We got dragged in for the legal fun. We're talking OMG legal fees. I take EPA and DEC issues much more seriously now.
 
Stewartb said:
my family leases property to a gas station chain. They had an underground leak. We got dragged in for the legal fun. We're talking OMG legal fees. I take EPA and DEC issues much more seriously now.
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Which is why every little mom & pop independent gas station was driven out of business, leaving nothing but corporate chains that can afford the herd of lawyers they need to keep on retainer.

There are three of them in my little town of 3500 people. All were forced to close and fill their tanks with sand or remove them. They were replaced with three Stripes stations, which are a Seven Eleven clone.
 
bluerooster said:
Yep! WD40 in the fogger can works great!! Just spray it on, and wipe it off. :D
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WD-40 is an almost miraculous cleaner. Each of our housekeepers has a can in their tote, and they use it every day to get tar, tree sap, etc., off of our tile, vinyl, and wood floors at the hotel.

We've tried other products. Nothing works better.
 
Remember, burning leaded gasoline is NOT friendly to the environment or people...so don't sweat the soap and water....
 
I've used purple power, in a spray bottle twice on the engine and on the bottom, rinsed it off real good. Worked very very well..but I'm sure it's probably considered a no no. It caused no damage. Got it at Napa where I also got a generator and a voltage regulator for my cessna 195 when I owned it.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Which is why every little mom & pop independent gas station was driven out of business, leaving nothing but corporate chains that can afford the herd of lawyers they need to keep on retainer.

There are three of them in my little town of 3500 people. All were forced to close and fill their tanks with sand or remove them. They were replaced with three Stripes stations, which are a Seven Eleven clone.
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Most likely because they had old steel single walled tank that were rusting and leaking fuel into the ground water supply. Good they were shut down if they didn't replace the tanks.
 
Stewartb said:
my family leases property to a gas station chain. They had an underground leak. We got dragged in for the legal fun. We're talking OMG legal fees. I take EPA and DEC issues much more seriously now.
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:rofl: I'm still waiting to see how the EPA takes itself to task for the Colorado river contamination with heavy metals!:rofl:

How many violations of their own rules will they be charged with? :rofl:
uh,none?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/10/us/colorado-epa-mine-river-spill/
 
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I don't use avgas because it is so much work and then does a poor job.

Just spray "Gunk Engine Brite" on and hose it off. All you MSDS people.......don't even bother.

61o5YTyX0SL._SY355_.jpg
 
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jimmyjack said:
This could not be more concisely stated. I'm only in my 30's, but I am shocked, shocked I tell you, at how safety-minded this country has become.

From the parroted "think of the children" nonsense (for every little thing) to not being allowed to wash your plane, being safe to a fault is detrimental to society as a whole.
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Wait until you have to look a man in the eye and say you're sorry that he was injured while working. Or you have to do the same with a spouse of the injured or dead person.

It isn't exactly fun.

Of course that isn't the real reason we've become more safety conscious. The lawsuits are. The insurance companies do not like paying claims and they have the leverage to force change.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
I can guarantee one thing.....the 10 or 20 gallons of fresh well water used never even makes it off the taxi way or grass....or the drain.

It evaporates..... What a load of fear mongering regulations....:rolleyes2:
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Water vapor evaporates.

Many of the chemicals remain behind.
Ever drive on a slick freeway after a light rain following a long dry spell?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Clark,

Rather than "safety minded" I think Jimmy meant to say "risk averse". If that is what he meant, he was right. People thing life should be risk free. That ain't gonna happen.
 
JoseCuervo said:
Water vapor evaporates.

Many of the chemicals remain behind.
Ever drive on a slick freeway after a light rain following a long dry spell?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I think you see the trees....but are missing the forest.


Think freeway....and you're getting warmer. :goofy:
 
Norman said:
Clark,

Rather than "safety minded" I think Jimmy meant to say "risk averse". If that is what he meant, he was right. People thing life should be risk free. That ain't gonna happen.
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That could be what he meant.

I do know that the regulatory environment is moving towards lowering risks. Specifically, risk of death should not be part of any job description. This one gets really weird when discussing law enforcement or military jobs.

I've also been in meetings where the financial burden of settling lawsuits which resulted from injury and death were discussed and operational standards were altered as a result. The reality is that change is forced by accident results (lawsuits) and reducing risk becomes corporate and government agency goals.
 
UngaWunga said:
Most likely because they had old steel single walled tank that were rusting and leaking fuel into the ground water supply. Good they were shut down if they didn't replace the tanks.
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They may have had steel single walled tanks. But suppose they weren't leaking. Just for spits and giggles, let's suppose they were given the choice to either shut down, or replace their good tanks with new double walled tanks, along with all the expensive sensors and electronics that go with. Which, for them was not cost effective. A buddy of mine was faced with that problem. He came up with a solution, that was way cheeper, and effective. Saving him several hundreds of thousands of dollars. But If you don't have the room (acreage) to install several above ground 10,000 gallon tanks, yer screwed.
 
To the OP. Some one posted something to the effect that you may be lucky for years with 100LL but the day that you aren't lucky is a very bad day. I can confirm that from my experience.

At age 72 (many years of mis-using gasoline, including 100LL) with no bad experiences, my bad day happened. Two months off work, months longer of limited duty, and skin grafts on my hands and arms with lasting scaring. If you are going to use avgas this way, at least make sure that you are outdoors, that there is a breeze, and that the breeze is blowing the fumes away from you.

I am still amazed by how much more sensitive human skin is than clothing. I was in the middle of an intense fire for a few seconds without protective (Fireman) clothing. I am still using the straw hat and trousers I was wearing. I threw the shirt away because it was stiff from the melted and fused plastic content, no discoloration. A piece of paper in my shirt pocket was smouldering.

If I had been wearing long sleeves and gloves, I would have had no injuries on my arms and hands.

My face looked like hell for awhile but healed. I'm a little disapointed because now, I have no ecuse for being ugly.

If there are products that essentially accomplish the purpose as well without the risk, why not use them.

If you want to keep using 100LL, all I can say is that stupid can't be fixed.
 
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Graueradler said:
To the OP. Some one posted something to the effect that you may be lucky for years with 100LL but the day that you aren't lucky is a very bad day. I can confirm that from my experience.

At age 72 (many years of mis-using gasoline, including 100LL) with no bad experiences, my bad day happened. Two months off work, months longer of limited duty, and skin grafts on my hands and arms with lasting scaring. If you are going to use avgas this way, at least make sure that you are outdoors, that there is a breeze, and that the breeze is blowing the fumes away from you.

I am still amazed by how much more sensitive human skin is than clothing. I was in the middle of an intense fire for a few seconds without protective (Fireman) clothing. I am still using the straw hat and trousers I was wearing. I threw the shirt away because it was stiff from the melted and fused plastic content, no discoloration. A piece of paper in my shirt pocket was smouldering.

If I had been wearing long sleeves and gloves, I would have had no injuries on my arms and hands.

My face looked like hell for awhile but healed. I'm a little disapointed because now, I have no ecuse for being ugly.

If there are products that essentially accomplish the purpose as well without the risk, why not use them.

If you want to keep using 100LL, all I can say is that stupid can't be fixed.
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Thank you for posting this. I too used gas as a cleaning solvent for many years. I was really lucky with a couple fires.

People need to stop arguing that it is okay just because it has been done that way in the past.
 
JoseCuervo said:
Water vapor evaporates.

Many of the chemicals remain behind.
Ever drive on a slick freeway after a light rain following a long dry spell?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Water vapor doesn't HAVE to evaporate. It is evaporate by definition.

The stuff on the freeway is oil, hydrodynamically forced to the surface by the heavier rainwater.

WOuld you folks PLEASE get rid of the Tapatalk ads?

THanks,

Jim
 
Jay Honeck said:
What scares me is that you are probably 100% serious.

I started writing a dissertation, breaking down your argument, point by point -- but I came to the sudden realization that it would not matter in the least. Therefore, suffice it to say that I am very, very glad to be based at an airport that still adheres to the belief that cleaning your airplane with a hose and some soap is your own business, and that the children will likely grow up straight and tall despite this horrible environmental violation.
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Jay, how many rivers in Texas can you drink from? we have many, and are proud of them and do our level best to keep them that way. The Skagit River at 5' you can still see the bottom and salmon swimming there.
 
weirdjim said:
Water vapor doesn't HAVE to evaporate. It is evaporate by definition.

The stuff on the freeway is oil, hydrodynamically forced to the surface by the heavier rainwater.

WOuld you folks PLEASE get rid of the Tapatalk ads?

THanks,

Jim
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Exactly. Even if you think everything "evaporated", the oil, detergents, and other chemicals are still on the ramp, slowly migrating, somewhere unintended.
 
With the amount of static electricity my aircraft builds up from just wiping it with a towel, my luck the thing would go up in flames. For fiberglass I stick with something a little less flammable.
 
Velocity173 said:
With the amount of static electricity my aircraft builds up from just wiping it with a towel, my luck the thing would go up in flames. For fiberglass I stick with something a little less flammable.
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a well grounded wiper helps with that....:goofy:
 
R-11 is another excellent solvent --- also used for decades by industry for cleaning parts being manufactured
 
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N801BH said:
Interesting.. I am based at Jackson Hole.. The ONLY airport located in a National Park ( Grand Teton National Park) and the board and airport manager there claims Deice fluid is perfectly harmless.
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The only airport besides the two in Death Valley national park? :dunno: McKinley (Denali?) has airports too.
 
C-4 is a excellent polishing clay for stubborn paint deposits. Just soak it in 100ll for a little lubrication.
 
rwellner98 said:
Excellent, thanks for that.

I saw someone mentioned Gojo and Aviation Simple Green too.

Gojo tends to leave a film behind so you're going to want to make sure your belly is clean when your done so that dirt and other filth don't stick to the film. Some people just use a bit of Wing Wipe (or other leading edge treatment) to achieve this.

Aviation Simple Green doesn't leave behind a residue, but does have a higher pH. We had some issues with it, which is what lead us to develop our products.

Anyway, our customers love Buddha Belly and keep coming back. e.g. "Well, I tried out the Buddha Belly, and it is sooo much better than the Aviation Simple Green. Thanks for setting me straight on that." http://planeperfect.us/pages/frontpage

I've created a flash sale for PoA members who want to clean their bellies before winter arrives.

Buddha Belly is here:
http://planeperfect.us/collections/all/products/bbb

Use this discount code this weekend only and get 20% off:
POABUDDHA0904
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Since several of you have bought some, I thought I would just remind everyone that this POA special ends at midnight.
 
overdrive148 said:
Holy crap, what were you doing?? Cleaning with 100LL and it went off? :eek:
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Lighting a brush pile at the airport with waste 100LL. I did check the flag to see which way the wind was blowing so I would know which side to light it from. There was absolutely no wind. I would say that due to complacency from years of being lucky, the significance of no wind didn't register.

I am always trying to learn things but that is one lesson I could have done without.
 
I did that one time using mixed waste oil/contaminated gas. The pile didn't light so I moved closer. When it lit I was surrounded by fumes that had spread away from the stack. The pressure when it lit off was like a bomb. I lost lots of hair and had flash burns on all exposed skin. My face especially turned very dark and peeled over several days. My friends nicknamed me Torch. What a dumbass thing to do, and yes, it hurt. My wife and kid were watching so I got to hear about how stupid I was long after I'd healed, too. Yippee.
 
Graueradler said:
Lighting a brush pile at the airport with waste 100LL. I did check the flag to see which way the wind was blowing so I would know which side to light it from. There was absolutely no wind. I would say that due to complacency from years of being lucky, the significance of no wind didn't register.

I am always trying to learn things but that is one lesson I could have done without.
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It just flared up and hit you in the face? Did you use a match to do it, and how much did you use?

I nearly learned that same kind of lesson with my dad on a much more stupid event. Had some left over R/C fuel that had been sitting for a long time. Decided to use it to help burn some papers on a fire that was already going. We poured some on the fire and it flared up nicely. Poured some more, even better. Pour-- *FWOOMP* the fire ran up the stream or vapors and ignited the rest in the jug.

The jug was 1/3 full and disappeared straight out of my dad's hand in less than a second. We never did find it. Talk about stupid, especially in retrospect.
 
Tom-D said:
Jay, how many rivers in Texas can you drink from? we have many, and are proud of them and do our level best to keep them that way. The Skagit River at 5' you can still see the bottom and salmon swimming there.
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Excellent. Good to hear. Thank God you stopped washing your airplane at the airport! :rolleyes:
 
"To the OP, don't wash your plane with 100LL, it's dangerous, stupid and you should know better. Ask me how I know."

How do you know?

"Oh, I purposely started a fire using it."

And not just you, but apparently two more stories similar to yours.
 
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