At the airport yesterday ..T82 north west of SAT....my aircraft is a 1956 182...and FBO comes over with a black dog bowl...asks if I have self fueled recently and I have....we drained both wing tanks and header and found very small grey or aluminum colored flakes....he says they are non ferrous and have been found in several based aircraft...in a fuel sampler you could not see them...the FBO shut down all fueling and is investigating with his supplier...AV Fuel. Don’t know if this is from a tank lining going bad, a bad fuel load or some pump or piping issue.

The question is how do you clean out a bladder tank ..can it be done in the aircraft or must they come out...and any particular areas of the fuel system you would look at closely....? He put out a Notam Friday night ....

Thanks for any Counsel

I’m going to guess it came from his pumps. Aluminium doesn’t float. It would have settled in his tanks.

The solution for your airplane is easy. Call your insurer and they’ll get in touch with his. Hopefully your preferred Repair facility is on your home field. Drop it off there and pick it in...............?

Therein lies the problem. When will you get your airplane back? Sorry for your luck.

Thanks for the Easter Day response....I assume you are suggesting the tanks need to come out to be cleaned....and as is the case they are old but don’t leak...so this may be a case of deciding if new tanks make sense....and great flying season is upon us...

I’d be looking downstream of the tank, between the filters and the nozzle. Most of the public airports have large and expensive filter systems that, if maintained correctly, should catch any trash down to .5 to 2 micron. It could be poorly maintained filters coming apart, or even the filter canister assembly disintegrating.

I used to be based at an airport that had a 30 yr old below ground avgas tank. For the 5 years the untrained lineman had been working there, he checked the filter at the pump every day with no issues. One day the system wouldn’t pump at all, and he discovered another filter underground that was completely choked with rust and mud. The tank had been rotting for years unknown to him, and had over 5” of mud in the bottom of it, with no contamination issues ever with the aircraft.

Thanks for the suggestions...tanks are relatively new and above ground ....I think Monday the AVFuel team should be here to investigate...I hope with a microscope perhaps they can see if this is metal or flakes from another material....

Since you have a ‘56 182...is there a fuel filter beyond the gascolator that should be checked...is there one at the carburetor...?

Thanks again...will post what I learn tomorrow.....

For cleaning, I would unscrew the quick drain fitting if it is like my 180, for better flow. Then pour fuel in the tank and try to get it to be turbulent to carry flakes out. When you think most are out check gascolator often after first few flights. Would Mr Funnel have caught the flakes???? I bet so and I always use one!!!!! I'd consider using car gas instead of 100 LL for the flush and do this before changing bladders if they are still not leaking.

Another thought since i see you probably have the small tanks like me. Pull the fuel cap covers off so you can access the inside and use a shop vac to suck the tank clean. Would not be all that hard to do. Could check for wrinkles too.

Please don't ever put an electric vacuum in a drained fuel bladder. Recipe for one hell of a bang. You can use an air compressor powered vacuum transducer, but that's all. Really doesn't matter what the material is - you now have contaminated fuel bladders. Are you just going to flush and deal with this yourself? Or are you going to push the FBO's insurance? That's the first decision. If you are going to push insurance - put new bladders in, labor is the big part of the equation - 8 hrs plus a tank to do a proper job with retapeing. Bladders will always have some wrinkles so they will have to come out to do a proper cleaning - you cannot reach the outboard back corners in standard tanks with your hand. I have long arms and it is impossible.

I don’t know of any filter after the gascolator. There might be a finger strainer on the carb inlet but, I don’t remember seeing one when I had the carb off a couple years ago.

Please don't ever put an electric vacuum in a drained fuel bladder. Recipe for one hell of a bang.

So you are saying that the vac down on the floor is going to go bang? Not in the tank bay because the suction hose is inside?

It's the vacuum that's likely to explode...gas vapors ignited by the vacuum motor or just static electricity.

As a general rule you should never vacuum around anything that can ignite from a static spark.

I was notified yesterday that I may have some of this fuel too....

My airplane was fueled at T82 about a month ago prior to being flown to Coleman for its annual inspection. It's still there .... about to come out of the annual this week. The mechanic is going to inspect my fuel tomorrow. I'm hoping mine was fueled prior to any contamination in the fuel.

I'll know more tomorrow.

Thanks for all the Counsel.....my approach is that this is My Airplane and Their Problem....the owner is a decent guy and has already said they will make this right...so I assume insurance will be involved. I agree re new bladder are the best option....I guess it all depends on what the crud is....I am assuming there is no good crud you live with....the issue will be one shop on the field and a reasonable number of based aircraft.....

Again....my thanks. I promise an update as I learn more....DP

Thanks...that’s what I was thinking might be there...a Last Chance Screen...

Agreed. No Electrical tools can be used with fuel. Cord or Battery powered.
You won’t need to worry about fuel contamination
The explosion will eliminate all the problems

Sorry I posted the vac idea. I thought the motor on them was sealed kind of like the electric pumps you stick in a 55 gallon barrel to pump fuel and when empty vapor..

Airdave100 wrote:Thanks...that’s what I was thinking might be there...a Last Chance Screen...

The carb on my C180 has a fuel inlet screen at the carb.
The fuel line connects to one side of a galley,
the screen goes in the other end.
It has a washer / gasket with locking tabs.

Thanks HotRod....will plan on cleaning that prior to flight...still waiting for the word from FBO and AVFuel...sumped again this morning and there are the same little flecks....so not a one time experience...

Thanks again for all the advice...will provide the concluding chapter.....

I drained and cleaned out my '62 180 (small) tanks this winter due to crud jamming up my fuel sumps. Wasn't a bad job. I have the old "Killer Caps" as some say. So the hole is flush and larger than the newer "standard" caps, and I had good access to get my hand in there, and a mirror/ flash light. As stated earlier, you can remove the cap assy from the wing, that'll give plenty of room. Pulled the drain, and as it was draining I would paddle with my hand to move crud to the drain, then allowed a day or two with everything open to let most of the remaining fuel evaporate, before I vacuumed (pneumatic) out the crud. I have a long nozzle air gun and blew around with 40-50 psi, to see if anything flew up, then vacuumed again. Probably spent about 20 mins inside each tank.

I've heard several horror stories of hangers and planes burning down due to static while draining. So now I use a string from the drain into the container. you can make a "T" with safety wire to hook into the drain and tie the string to. I also have a cable with alligator clips I bond the aircraft to the fuel container.

The fuel selector and fuel flow transducer ( if you have one ) are other places for crud to jam things up.

180Marty wrote:Sorry I posted the vac idea. I thought the motor on them was sealed kind of like the electric pumps you stick in a 55 gallon barrel to pump fuel and when empty vapor..

A good thing to mention. Everyone gets so complacent with grabbing what they use all the time. Good to mention as it could save an accident.