Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Fuel Filter
Jabiru recommends a NAPA 3001 plastic fuel filter. My question, where to mount it? My Zodiac fuel system pipes fuel first to the selector valve, then the gascolator, then the electric fuel pump (on the engine side of the firewall) then the engine-driven pump.
There is no easily accessible place behind the firewall to mount the filter before the electric pump - plus, I'm a little nervous about putting it on the suction side. Putting the fuel filter between the electric pump and engine driven pump would be the easiest.
What has worked for others?
At this point I should mention that I have never seen a fuel filter in any of the factory built airplanes I have flown. They have a gascolator, but that's it. Is the Bing so touchy that it requires a filter?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Burns on
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I only used the Zenith supplied gascolator. No issues in 200 flight hours. As always, your results may vary.
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Permalink Reply by Tim Juhl on
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I hear you. Like I said, I've never seen an inline filter in an aircraft. Indeed, I was told it was a bad idea to install anything that might impede fuel flow. I'm going to have to give this a lot of thought.
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Permalink Reply by Randy Ferri on
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NAPA says the 3031 is the metal version of the recommended plastic 3001. Seems to me that would be a better choice if the filter was mounted forward of the firewall. Downside is you can't see into it.
Question: How many hours do you put on a fuel filter before changing?
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Hi Tim, when you say plastic, do you mean the whole assembly or just the internal filter? The one i used had metal ends with a glass housing and a replaceable filter. I think I only changed it once, and even then I probably didn't have too. It never had any debris in it.
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The NAPA 3001 has a plastic housing - the NAPA 3031 has a metal housing. Your filter looks more substantial than the NAPA plastic version.
Unless there is debris in the fuel system I wouldn't think filters would catch much. Like I said, I've never flown a production airplane that had an inline filter. If you're diligent about "sumping" your tanks and low spots you're likely to get any contamination.
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