My 2 cents on plastic cans. They should never be used for gasoline for anything, lawn mower, car, truck, airplane, nothing.
An Exxon refinery (Baton Rouge) had an experience with a maintenance crew that involved plastic gas cans, a plastic pickup bed liner, and some very badly burned people. They had it on video and used it for training purposes for several years. The vapor pressure and flash point of gasoline just doesn't mix well with the static charges that build up with gasoline flowing through plastic. You can probably have a long and healthy relationship with plastic cans if they are used for water and diesel/kerosene. All the talk about grounding has brought up a couple of old memories: When I was first taught how to fuel aircraft, the fuel truck had 2 wires on it; one went to the plane and the other to a ground rod on the ramp. Does anyone else remember that? Syd was correct about the grounding, but it really should be called bonding because it is all about equalizing the electrical potentials of everything involved, fuel, fuel container, and aircraft. After all of the potentials are equalized, you should be safe to proceed. There is one factor that gets overlooked during cold weather and that is the use of synthetic fabrics for coats. A typical nylon shell jacket can build up a charge just by walking around and that charge will have to go somewhere. At my hangar I use only metal cans and have a piece of wire with 3 alligator clamps on it, one clips to the fuel can, one to the airplane exhaust pipe, and one to ground. This should equalize all existing potentials and provide a path to ground for any stray static. I also make it a practice to not wear synthetic fabrics when around the plane: working on or flying. Maybe its over kill, maybe its too much ARFF training over the years, maybe its too many line service training courses; I don't know. I do know that I haven't blown myself up....yet. Tommy N93929 ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of OLiver Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 8:33 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Grounding while fueling What happens when you use the plastic cans from wallyworld and a siphion pump?????? Oliver
