Does anyone know of/have problems with current fuel nozzles? My friend said he gets splashed when fueling up and I'm not sure what he means. I really want to design a perfect but incredibly inexpensive nozzle. Please let me know what needs to be changed!
Problems with fuel nozzles
- Thread starter Bobby
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Tom-D
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Tom-D
Tell him to turn the pressure down.
denverpilot
Tied Down
"Incredibly inexpensive" and "fuel nozzle" doesn't sound like a very good mix to me. They're typically a once a decade or longer purchase with the hoses wearing out long before the nozzles do. I'd assume there's some sort of minimum standards on how they must be built to stop spills, etc, also. What's the application and why so cheap? If you're looking for cheap and already built, I bet the gas fill up "stations" on "toy hauler" RVs have incredibly cheap and just barely legal fuel nozzles on their hoses. Might see if you really need to design one, or if you can just retrofit to use one of those. Really decently built ones can also often be found in farm supply stores in rural areas. Think "pickup truck bed tank for fueling the tractor with off-road diesel or gas", here. $100 for one that looks almost as well built as one off the local gas station pumps.
Graueradler
Pattern Altitude
As far as I'm concerned, the biggest problem with aviation fuel nozzles is some code or standard that does not allow them to have automatic shut off like the ones at auto filling stations. Staring down onto a tiny black hole mostly obscured by the nozzle and surrounded by a brightly sunlit wing surface makes it very difficult not to have some overflow. Grummans and RVs are among the worst.
Dr. O
Pattern Altitude
If you can't fuel it without making a mess you probably have no business flying it.
Sounds harsh, eh?
Well, first you should know within a gallon or two how much the tank is going to take. If you don't it means you are doing flight planning and flying based on the the little gauge on the panel. Not good. Sooner or later the ground shall rise up and smite thee.
Second, once you are within 4 or 5 gallons of the expected, let off on the lever. This isn't take off - you don't need full power. If necessary, stop pumping every one half gallon to one gallon and stick your finger in the hole. (several really juvenile comments come to mind, but I'll let it slide)
And lastly - what dude? Are you telling me you don't have one of the hi-intensity LED flashlights in your pocket.
Sheesh, I hope never to be stuck on a desert island with you. That is essential flight equipment. No pilot is airworthy without one.
Go turn in your Man Card.
cheers
Sounds harsh, eh?
Well, first you should know within a gallon or two how much the tank is going to take. If you don't it means you are doing flight planning and flying based on the the little gauge on the panel. Not good. Sooner or later the ground shall rise up and smite thee.
Second, once you are within 4 or 5 gallons of the expected, let off on the lever. This isn't take off - you don't need full power. If necessary, stop pumping every one half gallon to one gallon and stick your finger in the hole. (several really juvenile comments come to mind, but I'll let it slide)
And lastly - what dude? Are you telling me you don't have one of the hi-intensity LED flashlights in your pocket.
Sheesh, I hope never to be stuck on a desert island with you. That is essential flight equipment. No pilot is airworthy without one.
Go turn in your Man Card.
cheers
geneseib
Line Up and Wait
If you can't fuel it without making a mess you probably have no business flying it.
Sounds harsh, eh?
Well, first you should know within a gallon or two how much the tank is going to take. If you don't it means you are doing flight planning and flying based on the the little gauge on the panel. Not good. Sooner or later the ground shall rise up and smite thee.
Second, once you are within 4 or 5 gallons of the expected, let off on the lever. This isn't take off - you don't need full power. If necessary, stop pumping every one half gallon to one gallon and stick your finger in the hole. (several really juvenile comments come to mind, but I'll let it slide)
And lastly - what dude? Are you telling me you don't have one of the hi-intensity LED flashlights in your pocket.
Sheesh, I hope never to be stuck on a desert island with you. That is essential flight equipment. No pilot is airworthy without one.
Go turn in your Man Card.
cheers
I agree. The only real issue I have is that with some nozzles it's difficult to get a slow flow when you get nearly full. They are off or full on. Probably too much pressure.
Brad Z
Final Approach
If you can't fuel it without making a mess you probably have no business flying it.
Sounds harsh, eh?
Well, first you should know within a gallon or two how much the tank is going to take. If you don't it means you are doing flight planning and flying based on the the little gauge on the panel. Not good. Sooner or later the ground shall rise up and smite thee.
Second, once you are within 4 or 5 gallons of the expected, let off on the lever. This isn't take off - you don't need full power. If necessary, stop pumping every one half gallon to one gallon and stick your finger in the hole. (several really juvenile comments come to mind, but I'll let it slide)
And lastly - what dude? Are you telling me you don't have one of the hi-intensity LED flashlights in your pocket.
Sheesh, I hope never to be stuck on a desert island with you. That is essential flight equipment. No pilot is airworthy without one.
Go turn in your Man Card.
cheers
What if his friend happens to be a lineman? Is he still expected to know how much fuel it will take?
So most fuel nozzles dont have adjustable pressure? Do they form a tight seal around the nozzle or is there a gap where gas could spill over?
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
Really?
I guess you and Dr. O have never flown a Cessna with the notorious uneven fuel flow issues.
I certainly know how much fuel I need in total but, unless I've dry tanked, I definitely don't know how much each tank will take.
Besides, even if you know how much a tank needs, unless you have eyes in the back of your head, you typically can't keep track of both the tank and pump counter at the same time.
i.e. you two can get off your high horses now.
To the OP: I think you're trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Or, worse case, is a very minor problem that's not worth your effort.
Clark1961
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And I too hope never to be stuck on a desert island with you...
Dan Thomas
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AFAIK in Canada, based on experience as an airport manager, there's no ban on self shut-off nozzles for avgas. We used them. There is a ban on the little catch that holds the valve open. The automotive nozzles are smaller and will take considerably longer to fill big tanks, but at least there's not much chance of pressure-shocking the tanks as can happen with big nozzles and no auto-shutoff.
Dan
Graueradler
Pattern Altitude
Am also an airport manager and am not in Canada.
Graueradler
Pattern Altitude
I'm not flying it, I'm filling it.
Airport Manager,
Arkansas Airport of the Year, 2008, 2009
Dan Thomas
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Dan Thomas
So you should be able to come up with the requirements for such stuff.
Here's the American handbook on it:
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...8Mt6a28Wcw9atng&bvm=bv.59930103,d.cGU&cad=rja
No mention of any bans on auto-shutoff nozzles, but the ban on latches is there. Page 21.
Dan
SoloEqs
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K W
The cheapest way to design a no-splash nozzle is to just stick a notice on it to wrap the rag around the fuel filler spout.
SoloEqs
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K W
From the Foreword: "This Departmental Manual Handbook, as authorized in 351 DM 1, sets forth the objectives, standards, specifications and procedures of the Interior Aviation Fuel Quality Control Program."
That is merely a policy to be followed by employees of the Department of the Interior, and page 21 is in the section labeled "Government Fueling Operations."
docmirror
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Cowboy - yeehah!
Yeah, have that LED flashlight handy to check the level. Then, like the lineman in Deming NM, you can look down in there real close - then drop the thing in my fuel tank, you scheizzkopf. Next, my lovely wife with the slender wrists gets to dunk her hand and arm in a tank of leaded fuel to fish it out. Lucky it was a vintage plane with the 'milk bottle' tapered bushing filler neck.
Gah!
Gah!
iflyatiger
Pre-takeoff checklist
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iflyatiger
Can I suggest that with a Grumman Tiger you should have no trouble fueling it if you aim the nozzle tip toward the fuselage rather than the spar or the wingtip. It helps..
Graueradler
Pattern Altitude
The Grumman that I was thinking of is the two seater where the hollow tube wing spar is the fuel tank and the filler is small and on the very end.