Paint damage from Avgas?

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Diamond_Dan
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Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by Diamond_Dan »

The long skinny dihedral tanks on our DA40 regularly confound line crews. Overfilling is all too common, even though I ask them to leave an inch. I wanted to know if anybody else has this problem and what you might do about it. Also, I am worried about paint damage. I haven't found any literature about aviation paint damage from avgas, but I can't imagine it's a good thing.
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rwtucker
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Re: Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by rwtucker »

I wish I could blame it on the flight crews but, try as I do, I still spill avgas on my wing. The pressure and GPH at my usual fuel stop is designed for much larger aircraft and I sometimes splash out a little at the start, even though I angle back toward the wing root and try to finesse the valve. I have not detected any difference in the paint surface where this occurs. I do try to re-wax it as soon as I can but that might be a week later. I am more concerned about a spill washing away underwing lubrication.
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Lou
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Re: Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by Lou »

For me it's worse in the winter. I try to fill after a flight to ensure there's no airspace which leads to condensation when it comes out of a heated hangar. But we always underestimate the expansion that occurs when you fill with sub-zero (C) gas and then roll it back into the heat. It seems to find its way to drip from the access panel underneath, which is all stained on mine. The rest of the finish is fine. I was able to remove most of the stain with Zainos.
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Rich
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Re: Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by Rich »

I overflow the tanks more often than I'd like to admit. But 15+ years of spilling fuel on the wing and I can't detect any effect at all on the paint.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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La-ner
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Re: Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by La-ner »

I seem to be very over protective of my plane especially since I just bought it. I leer over the person filling the wing. Try as I may they never quite get the MO. Slow down when you see fuel but the burp comes and it ends up too full because they want to give it that last squirt. Have not figured out how to get the accurate fuel reading above 17 gal. With the visual que in the fueling hole, is it one inch below the top is 20 gal? This seems weird that there is no way to really know.
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Re: Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by Antoine »

I also spilled a lot of fuel over time but could not relate this to paint damage. Even used AVGAS to clean soot from the belly.
I usually top off the tanks, but with a pause. this is to let the air out of the main tank into the extended tank.
I never saw any condensation-related water in my tanks despite parking N807DS outside in cold weather.
Only time I saw water was after maintenance - fixed by tightening down the screws...
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Diamond_Dan
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Re: Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by Diamond_Dan »

Antoine wrote: Only time I saw water was after maintenance - fixed by tightening down the screws...
Which screws?
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Re: Paint damage from Avgas?

Post by Antoine »

The screws that secure the frame of the tank cap to the tank.
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