I am sitting here Saturday morning at my desk at work contemplating all things aviation. Being the ground ops engineer for this Boeing AWACS type 737 I am supposed to be aviating in some fashion or another. Last night I completed my work on my customers Cessna Cardinal. And other than having to fly to Australia the first of November for an airworthiness summit I will get a reprieve from having to work my tail off every day of the week
So my thoughts turned to this whole magnet on the fuel line deal. I bought a set of degosser magnets from the Snap - On guy about 10 years ago to magnetize and de-magnetize my screw drivers. Never mind that at least a good two thirds of the screws I install seem to be stainless steel and I have to use some sort of SmucK to stick a screw to the end of the screwdriver. I thought it was a pretty good deal. The problem is that I use the thing so little I can never find it even though it is supposed to be in the screw driver drawer of the tool box. It seems some of my fellow mechanics have found the little magnets come in pretty handy. So that it often disappears from my tool box. Buy the way mine are held together with a couple of common O-rings. Well the thing got so old that the o-rings got old & cracked and had to be replaced. Well ripping open a bunch of packages of perfectly good aviation o-rings to figure out the right size seemed out of the question so I decided to go down to the local o-ring store to buy two o-rings that would fit. The old o-rings had deteriorated beyond the point that an accurate size could not be determined. Well guess what there packages were all sealed up to and they didn’t want to open em up either. So I ended up buying one of those plastic boxes of o-rings that has gazillions of o-rings in it. Low & behold none of the o-rings in that box were exactly right size either. So essentially I ended up with loose fitting o-rings on my magnets. Well the o-rings get looser after a couple of uses and don’t like being stretched to much so the rubber band idea came to mind. The problem with the rubber bands is they don’t last as long as the o-rings did and they don’t like being around hydro carbon material such as oil & fuel. So back to the loose fitting o-rings I went. Well I gotta tel ya this hole Idea of the magnets on the fuel line got me to thinking. The fuel line on my airplane is much larger in diameter than the screw drivers that I occasionally magnetize & de-magnetize so if I put the magnets on the fuel line then maybe I will always know where my magnets are and it will hold the o-rings tight. I do have a couple of questions though. Does this fuel savings deal only work on steel fuel lines or does it even work on aluminum fuel lines? Because the fuel line from my gascolater is fabric covered steel braided fuel line and I don’t know if a study has been done on this or not. I suppose I could put the thing on the aluminum fuel line inside the cabin but it seems like that would make the unit kind of hard to get to in the event I want to use them to install a screw say in the kick panels around the rudder pedals for example.
So I was thinking we could as a group buy a bunch of magnets & non magnets that look like magnets but aren’t and send them out to a bunch of people to stick on there fuel lines of different types in a sort of double blind study and determine whether or not there actually is any fuel savings benefit and or the general accessibility of the magnets to use as a magnetizer de-magnetizer is of any long term benefit. Although I do recommend the use of o-ring type because the rubber bands just don’t last over the long term in my experience. And then we would finally know if there really is a fuel savings benefit and if it works on all kinds of fuel lines or only steel fuel lines. Although it occurs to me not to many aircraft have steel fuel lines stainless steel maybe but not steel. What do ya think?
Of course I suppose we would have to get an STC or sumpin or other and then the O-rings would deteriorate break off and the magnets would fall out of the cowling and hit some poor sole on the head while his wife was video taping airplanes flying over and we would end up in some sort of law suit with the FAA blamin pilot error because the magnets weren’t properly pre-flighted and we would loose or shorts. And I have just learned to love my Boxer Briefs which I would hate to loose. Just better fur get it. Woops I forgot the you in our shorts.
A&P, IA, New owner C170A N1208D, Have rebuilt some 50 aircraft. So many airplanes, So little time!
I think the best thing to do with the magnets is put them on your instrument panel next to the compass. I hear studies have shown that a magnet next to the compass will steady it so it doesn't keep swinging around in flight. This makes it a lot easier to read and you'll find you can hold a good steady course. When it's time to come home, just reverse the magnets.
I thought the cerveza and whiskey I've been drinkin' was pretty good, but apparently it's not as good as what you two have, so why don't you share with us eggzactly what flavors you guys are yoozin?
(I figger if a magnet is surrounding a fuel line it will probably catch any steel/iron filings that scrape off the refueling nozzel and fall into the gas tank, until they completely block off the fuel flow where the magnets are located. But at least it'll keep 'em out of the carburetor.)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
Sorry, George.
The refueling nozzels are made of non ferrous metal. (As you well know.)
Actually, I strongly suspect that the magnetic allignment of the molecular
structure of the fuel greately enhances the anti detonant, or octane character, of the fuel in use. I've found it really smoothes out the use of the drip gas my cousin brings home from serviceing the oil field equipment.
Looking back on those years that I spent as an undergraduate engineer pumping gas at an airport for book/beer money, I never did see a fuel nozzle that was magnetic or one that a magnetic would stick to. They should be a non ferrous metal to reduce the potential for static charge arcing. If it was a ferrous metal the flowing fuel could generate a charge and cause a spark. Most of them looked like an aluminum alloy of some type.
With all the filters and quality checks with the fuel, if any iron gets in the tank it most likely the result of corrosion inside the aircraft's fuel tank and did not from the FBO.
OK, OK, I thot all youse guys would have unnerstood I was jus joking.
The filler nozzle on approved refueling equipment is non-sparking and non-ferrous (usually aluminum or chrome-plated brass)... but the fuel filler cap and receptical on the airplane is ferrous and might supply a smidgeon of ferrous filings. Jeeesh! The FIRST liar around here don't even stand a CHANCE! It was a joke!
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
FURST LIAR??? I REKON MM WUS THE FURS WUN THEN GAY HORN IS NEX.
MAGNYTS ISA SURE THING FER THE MAYNTAYNIN THU FISH GENERATERS WESA USIN. A LIL KRANK AND THEM BIG OLE CATS COME A FLOATIN UP. THEY DOANT EVEN HAFTA BE DE-GAUSSED!
ALLYSO WE SHUD HAVE A VOTE ON THE BEST (ER WORST) DIPSTIK! THEN WHERE TO PUT THU RUBBER BANS
OLE GAR SEZ - 4 Boats, 4 Planes, 4 houses. I've got to quit collecting!
Those Magnets keep coming back around. Im in the boiler buisness and Magnets are sometimes used on the piping for the feed water to the boiler. No need for chemicals. Well, a few months later the boiler needs rebuilding or re-placing. A set of magnets was quoted for me by the distributor for $7000. that was over 10 years ago, the only supplyer for them at time. these were to be put on a Coast Guard ship. They were and you paid for them.
Boiler Bill...I"m glad you posted that info...
I live on a ranch and have a well. The aquifer is within a limestone base and the calcium is fairly high, as you can imagine. Electric water heaters burn up their elements regularly with lots of lime in the bottoms. (The lime boils out, fills the bottom, covers up the elements which then overheat and burn out. It's a real pain.)
The local water heater parts supplier wants me to buy some heavy duty magnets to put on the pipes. He claims it'll save the day. I think it's B.S.
How can magnets attract calcium? And even if they did, wouldn't they eventually cause the supply lines to clog up with calcium at the magnet location? Wouldn't that starve the boiler and cause a possible catastrophic calamity of stupendous proportions? (or something?)
I trashed that electric heater and bought a propane-fired heater. I'm hoping it'll last longer. What do you think?
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
Well, the mineral deposits won't cause the element to burn out any more, but I'd think you'll still get the build up. The heater will become less efficient.
We have a lot of mineral in our water and a good softner seems to help. I still replace elements every few years though.
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