Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Pressure testing fuel tanks
I finished my long range tanks tonight and have pressure tested them with 1.5 PSI for two hours with no drop on the gauge. I sprayed them down with soapy water and check for bubbles fixing any leaks that I found. I also thought about filling them with red food dye and water and leaving them to sit over night on white sheets to mark any leakage. I'm open to suggestions on further testing.
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fuel tank psi.jpg, 2 MB -
fuel tank done.jpg, 2.3 MB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David J. Beaulieu on
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Looks like nice work! For my pressure test I used a schrader valve fitting to pressurize the tank and a rubber glove sealed over the fuel cap inlet as a pressure relief and indicator. The glove stayed inflated (with a subjective firmness) for 24 hours - I considered that good to go. My tanks were built by Zenith and were previously pressure tested by them.
Dave
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Permalink Reply by John Austin on
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Jesse,
Looks like you've got a good set of tanks! However, the next most-frequent source of leaks are around the fuel sender gaskets. When I mounted my wings, I left the top skins off between the tanks and the fuselage and painted them separately. Then, when the plane was fully assembled, I filled the tanks with 100LL (the blue dye makes a great leak detector!) and let it sit for a few days to be absolutely sure there would be no leaks! Only then did I install the top skins and just touched-up the rivets with paint.
John
N750A
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Permalink Reply by Jesse Hartman on
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Well I went out to the garage this morning and still had 1.5 psi in the tanks. I will have 60 gal in the wings and a small header tank, so I have 2 more to make. My theory is, you can never have too much fuel..... unless your on fire.
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My theory is, you can never have too much fuel..... unless your on fire.
...or out of runway. ;)
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