That's the problem. ?The fuel filter works great as long as you never get water into your fuel system. ?When my KR was new, the seals on the recessed fuel caps didn't seal. ?It sat out in the rain for 3 days, which ensured that all three tanks had substantial amounts of water in them. ?While the fuel drains are in the lower corners of the tanks, they didn't drain all of the water. ?I was getting substantial quantities of water out of the tanks and gascolator with every flight and it took nearly 40 hours of flight time to get the tanks completely clean. ?I haven't seen any water in the fuel again in 950 flight hours.
Using a filter rather than a gascolator is fine as long as you never get any quantity of water in your fuel. ?Today's fuel delivery systems and filtering are pretty good, so getting a bunch of water has become a rare thing. ?However, I can't think of any certificated aircraft that is built with a fuel filter rather than a gascolator. ?It is an aviation standard for more reasons than an archaic FAA system. -Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Larry&Sallie Flesner > I have 500 hours on mine with a gascolator and no filters so I guess > you can go either way. I do filter my fuel before adding to the tank > and all airports are required to pump their fuel through some good > size filters and check every day for water and contaminates. > > On the issue of leaking gascolators, I can't imagine anyone running a > float type carb running more than approx 5 pounds of head > pressure. The standard gascolator, like the one I'm using off of a > C-150, should easily handle that kind of pressure. I've seen > airplanes brought in for annual that had a gascolator half full of > water. I would imagine that an in line filter that blocks all water > would have eliminated any fuel passage at that point. Six of one, > half dozen of the other. Pay your money and play the game the way you want. > > Larry Flesner
