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Bugs in de tank?

Toothcarpenter

Registered User
CoeurdAlene, Idaho
Any of you folks have any thoughts about those ram air gas caps with the foreward facing tubes, and the inevitable collection of bugs that are going to wind up in the tanks? I searched the forums, and they were referred to as "bug catchers" but no one opined whether it was a significant concern or not. Thanks for any comments! ed
 
I've kind of wondered about this myself, as I live in rice country, which is Bug Central. You'd think some of them would have to go in (I have a 150 hp motor and standard caps so I don't know). Hey, I was just up in CD'A a few weeks ago and went into the new Black Sheep sports. It was still being stocked, and hadn't yet had the grand opening, but was open. Is that a stand alone store or part of a chain.
 
Perry; Black Sheep is a local family outfit, been here forever. . They seem to have survived the arrival of Cabella's, and the departure of a couple of other chains. Re, the bugs, I am sure, by virtue of Murphy's law, that the same bugs that seem to coat my wing's leading edges, year round, and attach themselves to every leading edge on the aircraft, are going to enter my fuel sustem. Maybe it is just not an issue, and people have been running those caps for decades. I have not had any occation which shows that I need the ram air, but a lot of people do think they are necessary with the 180 hp engines. Thanks for your thoughs. I keep hoping that someone is going to chime in, that they have been using those caps for decades, and it is not an issue. I have been pondering some kind of screen, that would capture any particulate matter, that came thru the tubes. Then one could quantify the debris collectiton potential. Thanks again. ed
 
The ram air simply creates a small pressure in the tank. There is no "flow-through" of air. So I don't think much, if anything, would enter the tank.
 
The caps are required on Cub Crafter's 180 STC and are standard equipment on CC11 and CC18 aircraft. I have never seen any contaminates in the fuel that could have come from the pitot vents. Like a previous poster pointed out, there is very little flow through them. Roughly your fuel flow. If your on BOTH then it would be what, 3-5 gallons of air per hour per side at most during cruise?

We don't have any trouble with packer bees or mud daubers around here but I have developed a habit of pulling the cap off and blowing through the pitot vent to verify there isn't anything in them. Have never found ANYthing when doing that. It was just something that I thought about in a "what if" moment.
 
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