If you decide to go with these low-cost hoses and fittings, you still need to protect them with Aeroquip Firesleeve.įlexible fuel lines can be made using Aeroquip or similar hoses. Less troubling is not the same as best practice. For 3/8-inch lines, the maximum recommended unsupported length is 16 inches.įuel systems typically run at low pressures, so it is less troubling to use push-on hoses and barbed fittings for fuel lines than it is to use them for oil lines. Secure them with cushioned Adel clamps just as you would oil lines, and don’t forget to allow some slack for engine movement. Fuel-line penetrations through the firewall should be made with steel bulkhead fittings.īe sure to route fuel lines as far away from exhaust pipes and mufflers as possible, with an absolute minimum clearance of 1½ inches. This is mainly to protect it from fire but also to reduce the likelihood of vapor lock in the fuel lines. Any fuel line forward of the firewall should be covered with Aeroquip Firesleeve or its equivalent. Larger powerplants may require half-inch diameter fuel lines, at least for gravity-fed systems.Īluminum fuel lines can be easily fabricated with these tools: (left to right) tubing bender, tubing cutter and aviation flaring tool.Īll fuel lines need to be protected from heat and fire as much as possible. The IO-390 engine needs just about the full capacity of a 3/8-inch fuel line. If you need a fuel pump to achieve that, then you need a backup or boost pump in case your primary pump fails.įuel lines for four-cylinder Lycoming engine installations are pretty much standardized at 3/8-inch diameter. Size your fuel lines so that you can get 150% of maximum fuel flow even at a 15˚ angle of attack (up or down).The only exception would be if you needed to install ferry tanks for a very long flight. It can be a right/left/ both/off valve, but there should never be more than one. Your fuel system should be controlled with one, and only one, fuel valve.Vent lines should have no low points other than the fuel tank and the outlet for the vent line. ![]() For planes that can be built as trigears or taildraggers, builders need to consider that taildragger versions may have low points in the fuel system that trigears do not. Low points in fuel tanks and fuel lines must have drains. Remember that water will seek the low points of any fuel system, and it must be eliminated wherever it collects.Keep the number of fittings and bends to a minimum.Complexity and reliability seldom go hand in hand. Some bad fuel systems are also simple, but no good fuel systems are complex, at least not on the types of airplanes we are concerned with here. Good fuel systems are simple fuel systems.
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