Hi there, I'm curious what folks do when they are in remote areas and needing to fuel from drums. So far, I've typically been lucky and had a local pump available, or made do in the worst cases with a shaker syphon and fuel bags (and then transferring manually to the wings from the bags). Will be doing some flying this summer though where I will regularly need to fuel from drums while solo, and am looking for a setup I can bring with me in the plane and won't weigh a ton. The plane has a 24V system, so if running off of batteries, would be looking to most likely get a duel 24/12 V pump (like FillRite has) that I could run from my aircraft battery or a local vehicle, though am open to better ideas. Thanks in advance for the help!

You might try Ace Fuel on 5th Avenue in Anchorage. I'll bet they have something real nice, on the shelf, for exactly that.

Cheers,

-DP

GPI makes some aluminum 24v pumps if weight is a consideration.

What are the grounding considerations when you do this? And when you fuel from jugs on the wing? I’ve always been vague on the safest way to do this.

I've used something like this: https://www.vevor.com/oil-transfer-pump ... tent=Pumps

Not this specific pump, but close. This is 12 V, so you could use a transformer to step down from 24, or use direct from 12 v.

These are minimal weight and complexity, and take up minimal space in the plane.

Ah.....the infamous discussion of "bonding", as opposed to "grounding".......

What we're trying to do while fueling (or what we should be trying to do) is to bond the fuel source to the aircraft. Whether either is grounded is irrelevent. Note that at commercial operations, the plane is bonded to the fuel source, but not to ground.

Simplest way to accomplish this is with a cable with clips on both ends.

My bad use of terminology, bonding eliminates any voltage potential between source and aircraft.

What has always seemed odd to me is how to bond a plastic tank. I’ve seen people put a copper wire into the fuel. Alligator clip to the fuel jug neck. It just seems counterintuitive to me.

I have heard that one of the better options with plastic jugs is to wipe them down with a damp cloth rather than try to find a way to bond them. It has been a long time since I heard that, not sure where that nugget came from. Anybody else familiar with that? Would be good to know how helpful that is.

Thanks all - some great recommendations and thoughts here.

Frankly, there is no way to "safely" electrically bond a plastic barrel or jug to an aircraft. The issue is the plastic itself is in fact an insulator. So, you can bond a small portion of the surface of the barrel or jug, where the bonding clip is attached, but that's it. A static charge "collects" over the plastic surface, and is difficult to discharge the entire thing. Placing a bonding wire inside the jug (in the liquid) may reduce the chances of an arc, but the outer surface of the jug is still going to have potential, and the internal wire doesn't change that.

Also frankly, a LOT of fuel has been transferred from plastic barrels and jugs to airplanes, with very few bad outcomes. So, is it really necessary to bond them?? That's up to you. But, mostly it's up to you to try to figure out how to do so. Many years ago, in Alaska, I worked with some folks who specialized in fueling equipment design and construction, trying to come up with a solution to bond plastic containers to an airplane during fueling. Those folks never came up with anything that actually worked. And, they tried several ideas.

Probably the biggest no-no would be fueling from plastic jugs in very cold temperatures, when humidity is super low. An added risk of generating static electricity.

Using plastic jugs, when ready to fuel, I place them firmly on the ground, hoping to at least reduce any potential that's on the outside of the can. Then, I hoist them up to the wings, trying to minimize sloshing, which can create static.....and fuel.

And, I don't fuel from plastic jugs if I can avoid it. I've poured a LOT of gas into planes from metal cans provided by fuel distributors, where a simple wire with clamps on each end, one to the jug, the other to the fuel tank filler neck.

If anyone has a PROVEN better program, I'd love to hear it.

I carry a couple 15 gallon race cans around from time to time. I refuel using a hose and drum pump off the ground. Not the lightest setup in the world, but dirt simple. I have a set of Monarch caps, so the flapper holds one end of the hose in the tank and there’s enough hose to make a wrap around the strut to cut down the weight pulling down out of the tank. It’s a pain to get 95lbs in and out of the plane.

I tried using a little battery electric pump, but it was garbage.

Keep it simple, keep it light. Metal cans, a siphon hose and a Mr. Funnel is all that is required. Siphon from drums (cached 55's/30's/15's) into 5-gallon METAL cans (plastic not for me). Starting the siphon on a second can while transferring the first into aircraft saves time. A length of copper or aluminum tubing to run the siphon tube through keeps it straight to reach the bottom of the drum. I prefer the safety and security of the 5-gallon (WWII style) cans, and they stack nicely against each other. Blitz is the manufacturer of the metal cans as I recall. AIH in Fairbanks stocked them.

TR

Something to consider is what clothing u are wearing. Years ago flying a cub in winter I waked out to cub in the dark to get ready it had snowed. Getting snow of wings I got some on me. Wearing synthetic winter clothes brushing it off the static sparks where in quite noticeable.since then I never wear synthetic, winter cotton coveralls only

Amazon offers an aluminum body diaphragm fuel transfer pump that’ll thread into the large bung on a 55 gallon drum. Use small cam lock fittings on the hose and all the NPT connections with male/female caps to coil up and store easily and to seal up the pump during transport. The only thing you’ll have to drain is the collapsing steel suction pipe. You can also use cam lock fittings on the suction, but you might have to run an NPT tap into the hole. Some of the cheaper pumps have straight thread. If you’re not certain the fuel is clean…use a large Mr. Funnel.

When I needed a setup to de-fuel airplane to work on strainers/sumps/etc I ended up buying this:
https://www.harborfreight.com/750-gph-drill-pump-56847.html
It's for water only, so I'd *never* use it on fuel. I've *heard* it works just fine though. Just a rubber impeller, and for the amount of time it spends in contact with the fuel I'm(ahem ... someone ... definitely not me) not worried about it. Works fine with a 4 foot chunk of hose on the intake and primes just fine. 8 foot of hose on the output to go from wings to barrel and back. Bonus, you also have a drill should you need it.

DreadPirateWill wrote:When I needed a setup to de-fuel airplane to work on strainers/sumps/etc I ended up buying this:
https://www.harborfreight.com/750-gph-drill-pump-56847.html
It's for water only, so I'd *never* use it on fuel. I've *heard* it works just fine though. Just a rubber impeller, and for the amount of time it spends in contact with the fuel I'm(ahem ... someone ... definitely not me) not worried about it. Works fine with a 4 foot chunk of hose on the intake and primes just fine. 8 foot of hose on the output to go from wings to barrel and back. Bonus, you also have a drill should you need it.

Oh man, I actually have one of these on the shelf. My plan was to use it as an ice-flooding method to surface our "skating rink." I guess I should get a couple more for fuel. Thinking out loud: a guy should bond aircraft to container and use anti-static/conductive fuel hose, which you can get in 1" with 3/4 NPT garden hose fittings.