Fuel drain valve failure (never seen this one before)

[thebriman 69]

Today during my pre-flight (which I don't always do as diligently as I should) I tested my fuel and I noticed that my Curtis CCA-1550 drain valve on the bottom of my header tank was leaking pretty well and the inner spring loaded part was hanging out of the barrel 1/8 of an inch past flush.  A very gentle tug on the little arms of the inner part allowed complete removal of the inner part and fuel started to drain out of the now exposed 1/4" hole.  The kind of flow that drains your system in a matter of minutes.  I shut my fuel off to the header and replaced the drain valve with a spare I had on the shelf and went flying, no big deal.  The inner part has a retaining washer above the o ring that prevents it from coming apart.  Well after 25 years of opening and closing the valve, the washer wore down small enough to fit through the outer barrel.  With my luck it would have vibrated out on taxi and would have had enough fuel to takeoff and get me over a nice wooded area with no good options.  That being said catching it on the pre-flight may have been a life saver of sorts or just kept me from tearing up an airplane because I ran out of gas, hurting my pride and my wallet.  Either way, pre-flight and pay attention to those fuel drains, I know from now on I'll give them a little tug after I test fuel, just to make sure they'll stay along for the ride!    

 

Brian

 

[marksires 484]

Wow, all mine have needed replacing for leaking long before 25 years!

Mark

[akflyer 1427]

Good catch!  That would have sucked to have run out of fuel and not known it.  Even a fuel flow indicator would not have picked this up depending on the location of the flow indicator.  One more thing to really pay attention to.  I always give mine a little tug and twist to make sure they are seated, but I may tug just a little more now to make sure they stay together too!

 

 

[C5Engineer 1170]

I rarely sump my tanks anymore. It's so dry here and being hangared I've never found a drop. I had leaky header tank drain for a long time but it was because it had been over tightened at some point. Tapped the hole and put in the next bigger size and haven't has issues since.