Rotting Fuel Line

[John Craig]

I have a bronze sintered filter/clunk on the pick up line in the gallon jug of fuel that I take to the field.  The fuel line rots off at the level of the connection going out of the jug. The line that remains in the fuel the longest is the part of the line that remains in the best condition. The closer to the mouth of the jug the worse the line is.  The line breaks easily & has a bubblegum texture.   The break occurs when the bottle is almost empty. This fuel line only lasts for one or two gallons before it disintergates.  I have tried Venom fuel line & my cherished Prather fuel line.  Both lines give me no problems on my fuel tanks/engines. The fuel is Sig Champion 10/10/10 which remains in it original container.  Is this because of the clear jug & UV rays?  Years ago, the dark R/C years, it seemed as if the line remained intact for years but that was a metal can?

Your advice & experience please. 

[Clint Ormosen]

Look for AeroTrend blue line. Won't last forever, but certainly longer than 2 gallons of gas.

[Hoss Cain]

I have a bronze sintered filter/clunk on the pick up line in the gallon jug of fuel that I take to the field.  The fuel line rots off at the level of the connection going out of the jug. The line that remains in the fuel the longest is the part of the line that remains in the best condition. The closer to the mouth of the jug the worse the line is.  The line breaks easily & has a bubblegum texture.   The break occurs when the bottle is almost empty. This fuel line only lasts for one or two gallons before it disintergates.  I have tried Venom fuel line & my cherished Prather fuel line.  Both lines give me no problems on my fuel tanks/engines. The fuel is Sig Champion 10/10/10 which remains in it original container.  Is this because of the clear jug & UV rays?  Years ago, the dark R/C years, it seemed as if the line remained intact for years but that was a metal can?

Your advice & experience please. 

 While I don't have your problems, I find that anything sold for the hobby model airplane use is generally the poorest item available and at the highest cost. I prefer to use the small black rubber-like line found at most auto-supply stores. Sometimes difficult to find the small stuff - used for the windshield washer lines, etc., it hangs on for a long time. In a fuel jug it does start getting a bit stiff after a year or so. It is by far the best line for fuel lines when seeing-through is not needed. DO NOT USE THE RATHER SLICK BLACK STUFF. IT WILL BECOME SLIME IN A FEW MINUTES. Only the dull black rubber like is what works. It is a tad stiff for using inside a CL or RC tank.

[Bill Johnson]

Just getting back into the sport. Looking at the ads, it seems most fuel line is silicone. In 1:1 scale aircraft, nitrile tubing is the choice as it works with just about everything from AVGAS to synthetic oils. Is anyone using it for fuel, as I see it advertised for gasoline and smoke oil?

[Dan McEntee]

   For your fuel jug, get some of the Tygon stuff that is used for gas/oil model engine operation. Glow fuel fuel line is silicone based and can't be used for gas/oil. The Tygon stuff is pretty durable and can be used for alcohol. I think the addition of sunlight speeds up the process, and alcohol is hard on just about anything, even silicone fuel line. I use the Tygon based stuff on my vintage dirt bikes to last in today's alcohol additives in pump gas, and straight gasoline is getting hard to find. Dubro sells Tygon line in several sizes, and your local small engine or lawn and garden shop should sell it also for weed whackers, chain saws and such.
  Good luck and have fun,
    Dan McEntee

[Steve Helmick]

Du-Bro still offers neoprene fuel hose (medium only) in bulk spool and also a pack of 2' or so. Tower stocks it. It seems very similar to the Veco medium neoprene I used decades (and decades) ago, but nobody seems to use it. While it is handy to see the fuel flowing (bubbles, anyway) through silicon tubing, and the heat resistance is better, I kinda like the neoprene better for some places...but not all.

I'd like to try that nitrile tubing, if it's available in our sizes (i.e., "medium" or 3/32" ID), but I have not seen it advertised. More info would be swell!   Steve  

[Brett Buck]

I have a bronze sintered filter/clunk on the pick up line in the gallon jug of fuel that I take to the field.  The fuel line rots off at the level of the connection going out of the jug. The line that remains in the fuel the longest is the part of the line that remains in the best condition. The closer to the mouth of the jug the worse the line is.  The line breaks easily & has a bubblegum texture.   The break occurs when the bottle is almost empty. This fuel line only lasts for one or two gallons before it disintergates.  I have tried Venom fuel line & my cherished Prather fuel line.  Both lines give me no problems on my fuel tanks/engines. The fuel is Sig Champion 10/10/10 which remains in it original container.  Is this because of the clear jug & UV rays?  Years ago, the dark R/C years, it seemed as if the line remained intact for years but that was a metal can?

   I am not sure why yours it doing that, but I use plain old DuBro blue (large diameter) line in mine, and it certainly lasts longer than that. I also use only metal cans. I think it took my tubing about 10 years to get that way.

     If you are using brass fittings in the cap, those get eaten away much faster.

     Brett

[Bill Johnson]

I'd like to try that nitrile tubing, if it's available in our sizes (i.e., "medium" or 3/32" ID), but I have not seen it advertised. More info would be swell!   Steve  

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXWD0

[Steve Helmick]

Thank you, Sir! A bit pricey, but I'll try some, sometime next summer. Here's the link to the neoprene. The spool is $45...which I have. But I tend to use one or the other, not both silicon and neoprene. The heat resistance of the silicon tubing does have it's place.  Steve

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXD735&P=7