9712T's fuel tank.
- Thread starter Tom-D
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Zeldman
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I don't even like auto fuel in my auto.
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe
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Light and Sporty Guy
"This 150 was stored with out any preservation and sat from 1987 to last month."
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Greg Bockelman
Explain what auto fuel had to do with that. I just want to learn.
Tom-D
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The ingredients in the auto fuel give it a propensity to hold water in suspension, thus the corrosion.
That is my humble Opinion. Some one will be along shortly to argue about it.
midcap
Pattern Altitude
I guess it all depends which type of fuel. Would regular gasoline and 100LL both be hydrophobic?
Probably no E10 available in 1987
Is that a steel or aluminum tank, do you weld it up?
kgruber
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It is magnesium!
James331
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If that was the case not sure I'd be blaming it on the fuel, heck could have filled it with anything and I'm sure it would got some water in there over 3 decades!
CMongoose
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I thought E10 was the corrosion problem. Agree that it really could have come from any kind of leak or perhaps even condensation over that period of time.
Are you documenting this whole restore? The glimpses you're posting on here are rather interesting!
Are you documenting this whole restore? The glimpses you're posting on here are rather interesting!
Ethanol has been around for a long time. Much longer than 1987 anyway. It just hasn't been used in as many locations as it is now.
As mentioned, ethanol has a tendency to absorb water. I'm not aware of this being a problem with pure automotive gasoline.
GlennAB1
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That is a requirement.
It will probably be very vague.
Alcohol, yes. But I don't believe any of them were ethanol.
That's actually one nice thing about running ethanol occasionally. It should keep the fuel system relatively clear of water.
midcap
Pattern Altitude
All types
Monohydric alcohols
CH3OH methanol wood alcohol
C2H5OH ethanol alcohol
C3H7OH propan-2-ol isopropyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol
C4H9OH butan-1-ol butanol, butyl alcohol
C5H11OH pentan-1-ol pentanol, amyl alcohol
C16H33OH hexadecan-1-ol cetyl alcohol
Polyhydric alcohols
C2H4(OH)2 ethane-1,2-diol ethylene glycol
C3H6(OH)2 propane-1,2-diol propylene glycol
C3H5(OH)3 propane-1,2,3-triol glycerol
C4H6(OH)4 butane-1,2,3,4-tetraol erythritol, threitol
C5H7(OH)5 pentane-1,2,3,4,5-pentol xylitol
C6H8(OH)6 hexane-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexol mannitol, sorbitol
C7H9(OH)7 heptane-1,2,3,4,5,6,7-heptol volemitol
Unsaturated aliphatic alcohols
C3H5OH Prop-2-ene-1-ol allyl alcohol
C10H17OH 3,7-Dimethylocta-2,6-dien-1-ol geraniol
C3H3OH Prop-2-yn-1-ol propargyl alcohol
Alicyclic alcohols
C6H6(OH)6 cyclohexane-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexol inositol
C10H19OH 2 - (2-propyl)-5-methyl-cyclohexane-1-ol menthol
GlennAB1
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GlennAB1
I think most alcohol fuel additives are isopropyl. Don't most gasolines have ethanol now? E10, E15, E85, the number being the percentage of ethanol?
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jsstevens
Most mo-gas does, yes. Some places have ethanol free mo-gas (there are both Racetrac and Wawa stations within a couple of miles of where I sit that do) but ethanol content is now mandated by congress.
Av-gas does not. And most, if not all, mo-gas STCs do NOT allow ethanol.
I just wondered if somebody had put some water absorbent additive in the tank and captured the moisture.
John
ChemGuy
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Ethanol (E10) gas got really going in the early 90's after the clean air act (1990) got the gas man to start adding oxygenates to gas in several places, MTBE or ethanol are popular. In '87 even if it had mogas it was probably pure gasoline. But 30 years will do some weird chemistry to gasoline and make it more likely to absorb water and help it corrode metals. Even brand new E0 gas could have ~1% or more water. Its not hydrophillic, but it will still absorb some water by weight.
Good luck on the repairs.
Good luck on the repairs.
Yes, isopropyl, hence the name Iso-Heet on the bottle of the fuel additive.
Many places have ethanol in the fuel these days. Not everywhere though. I can still buy ethanol free gasoline at most gas stations around here.
That is indeed a possibility. If I recall correctly, Cessna did approve some alcohol additives to be used in the fuel. I'm too lazy to go look up exactly what the flight manuals have to say about it though.
Maybe ethanol got a later start in your area, but ethanol fuels have been available in the area I grew up in since the '70s (Midwest). I would agree that the type of fuel that was in the tanks of the airplane in question isn't Tom's problem though.
If you were talking about MoGas with ethanol, yes, it could hold some water. Methyl tert-butyl ether and ethyl tert-butyl ether additives, no. Although 2-propanol can be added, and could hold some water, 2-propanol doesn't seem to be added to gasoline by the suppliers because it affects the vapor pressure adversely although there are ethers that have been used with 2-propanol to keep the vapor pressure in line. So- unless he had some ethanol containing gas or added a fuel-line anti-freeze, I'd also consider condensation or water already in the tank as more of a culprit.
GlennAB1
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GlennAB1
BINGO. That's why there's less water to sump if tanks are kept full of fuel, less air/less relative humidity to condense in the tank.