lml@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

I changed the name of the thread - hope no one minds. I have an ES that had the filler necks installed when I closed the wings, and, of course, it's all glass and nonconductive. Too late to ground the filler neck. So I connected a small chain to the shell of the fuel level sensor, which is positively connected to "building ground." This chain is long enough to lay on the bottom of the tank and is attached to the fuel cap adjusting screw. My practice is to touch the fuel nozzle to the cap before removing and then keeping contact between the nozzle and filler neck while fueling. The idea is that the chain, going from top to bottom of the tank, will dissipate any charge that builds up in the fuel during fueling. Not too elegant and I'm not sure if it does any good, but it didn't cost or weigh very much and didn't take much time to implement.

Gary Casey

OTOH, I figure better safe than sorry. I thought about this quite a bit while building the Velocity and the picture shows my solution for the IV-P. Rather than try to ground the entire tank I made a cylinder of expanded copper mesh, sewed with copper wire and soldered. The lead formed is attached to the filler neck and also to the cap, using a braided ground strap to the adjusting nut. That connection isn’t perfect but it also serves to keep the cap from falling off the wing. The mesh not only collects any charge but prevents trash from going into the tank- I’ve heard of people sticking wrappers etc. into fuel tanks during airshows. The mesh was attached to the tank with Jeffco and slightly compressed when the tank was closed up.

In use, the procedure would be to touch the ground wire to the cap before opening, and I’ll placard the filler. A ground wire could also be connected to the cap lead once it was open. In addition, I think Pete Cavitt’s method to remove surface static makes a lot of sense. -Bill Wade