Fueling in the rain?

Jim_R

Jim_R

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Jim
I'm considering an IFR flight in a few hours, but I expect there to be light rain at the departure field. I'll need fuel...this will be the first time I've had to fuel in the rain, and I've never thought about it before.

The rain should be relatively light. If I shield the filler neck with my hand or something else, I am sure I can minimize water intrusion, but there will probably still be some sheet flow over the wing that will drip into the tank. At any rate, I can't think of a way to guarantee no water intrusion while the cap is off.

Is that likely to be significant? Should I plan to wait xx minutes and sump before departure? What should xx be to ensure the water settles to the bottom?
 
This one drives me nuts too. No matter how much I dry around the cap before I remove it I'm sure some gets in. I always wait 5+ minutes & sump. My Tampico has nice sloped tanks that do a really good job of guiding everything to the drain, but I rarely have water in there when I sump.

Maybe I am doing a good job of drying around the cap before I fuel or visually check level.

Jim
 
Have an umbrella out.
Dry around the cap with a towel.
Depending on which way the water is likely to run towards the tank, place the towel on that side of the tank.
Fill.
Cap.
Wait 5 minutes.
Sump.

Besides putting it in a hangar and drying it, that is about the best advise I got for fueling in the rain. Had to do it a few times while working line and the pilots never seemed to sump any water out of the tanks.
 
Good suggestions--many thanks! Seems like the rain has broken for a little bit, so I may yet get lucky today, but I'm sure I'll still face this situation at some point.
 
I myself have never had any problem fueling in light rain. I have fueled in light rain, snow, sleet, light hail and freezing rain. I did use a towel to dry around the filler before removing the cap, then covered the nozzle with the towel while fueling for extra precaution.

Here in the high desert it is the blowing sand that drives me nuts.
 
Zeldman said:
I myself have never had any problem fueling in light rain. I have fueled in light rain, snow, sleet, light hail and freezing rain. I did use a towel to dry around the filler before removing the cap, then covered the nozzle with the towel while fueling for extra precaution.

Here in the high desert it is the blowing sand that drives me nuts.
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Nice segway to the punchline of a bad pirate joke!
 
I would just drive up to the pumps, fill my gas cans in the protection of the back of my jeep, pull the plane out of the hangar while still being covered by the swing up door, and fill my plane that way.
 
Gucci Pilot said:
Have an umbrella out.
Dry around the cap with a towel.
Depending on which way the water is likely to run towards the tank, place the towel on that side of the tank.
Fill.
Cap.
Wait 5 minutes.
Sump.

Besides putting it in a hangar and drying it, that is about the best advise I got for fueling in the rain. Had to do it a few times while working line and the pilots never seemed to sump any water out of the tanks.
Click to expand...

Basically

And if you get a couple drops in there it isn't going to be the end of the world.

Go forth and log some IMC.
 
Refueled Cherokee Six in driving rain back in March. Son held umbrella while I fueled. No problems.
 
Jim_R said:
I'm considering an IFR flight in a few hours, but I expect there to be light rain at the departure field. I'll need fuel...this will be the first time I've had to fuel in the rain, and I've never thought about it before.

The rain should be relatively light. If I shield the filler neck with my hand or something else, I am sure I can minimize water intrusion, but there will probably still be some sheet flow over the wing that will drip into the tank. At any rate, I can't think of a way to guarantee no water intrusion while the cap is off.

Is that likely to be significant? Should I plan to wait xx minutes and sump before departure? What should xx be to ensure the water settles to the bottom?
Click to expand...

You're kidding, right? You have a pilots license and can't figure this out? Whoa!:yikes:
Maybe you can get your money back?
 
Last edited:
James331 said:
Basically

And if you get a couple drops in there it isn't going to be the end of the world.

Go forth and log some IMC.
Click to expand...
Yep!!


FWIW and I certainly do not recommend this at all. I know a person, and he was active here at one time so I won't say his name, who would not sump his tanks. Parked his plane outside and upon landing had one of his two engines crap out. They pulled a quart of water out of his fuel tank when troubleshooting the issue!

If the engine handled that much water for a while. I would think a drop or two would not even be noticed.
 
Hi Jim and everyone.
In addition to what others said, a good technique is rocking the bird from side to side, about the longitudinal axis, push pull on the strut / wing, to make sure that if any condensation exists you get down, especially if only partially full, wait 5 min then drain. TV
 
Of course if there's convective activity you may wish to delay fueling. I watched a guy standing on top of a fuel truck pumping fuel into it during a thunderstorm and the fuel was freefalling into the truck. About the only thing he could have done to "improve" the technique would have been to be smoking at the time.
 
Use your judgement. If you're in the middle of a torrential downpour, you'd rather not get a gallon of water in your tanks. But if you did, you could drain it. I've flown planes with leaky gas caps that allowed rain to accumulate in the tanks where it took several purges of the drain cup to get rid of the water. Once the water is gone, no problem.

I see no problem with the OP's question.
 
Ah, PoA... Several useful replies, a few non-useful ones, and a handful of insults. It's a wonderful place!

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.
 
KA550 said:
Agreed. Very well said.
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No, it's not. First of all, why chime in if you don't have anything constructive to add? Secondly, maybe many of you have 1000+ hours and half as many certs. But others of us are brand new PPLs and have never flown in the rain. Until last week I never had to pump my own fuel before (flight training out of an international airport). The OP's question had never occurred to me either.

If you don't have the patience for newbies, hang out in the more advanced topic threads.
 
Jim_R said:
I'm considering an IFR flight in a few hours, but I expect there to be light rain at the departure field. I'll need fuel...this will be the first time I've had to fuel in the rain, and I've never thought about it before.

The rain should be relatively light. If I shield the filler neck with my hand or something else, I am sure I can minimize water intrusion, but there will probably still be some sheet flow over the wing that will drip into the tank. At any rate, I can't think of a way to guarantee no water intrusion while the cap is off.

Is that likely to be significant? Should I plan to wait xx minutes and sump before departure? What should xx be to ensure the water settles to the bottom?
Click to expand...

Umbrellas work, unless you are going to be flying high enough where the water is going to freeze in the fuel, or you get enough to overwhelm the Gascolator, a few drops from rain aren't going to hurt you.
 
Carry a small umbrella and a towel. Place towel around fill cap while fueling.works for me unless it's gusting heavy winds ,then I don't want to fly anyway.
 
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