Winter storage.

[kevin king]

When storing airplanes for the winter, I like to fill the tank with fuel. My question is do i need to disconnect and cap the fuel line that goes to the engine? Or just leave it attached to the motor? I dont want any fuel dripping out of the venturi on to the plane below.
Thanks.
Kevin.

[Dennis Toth]

Kevin,
One problem with not capping the fuel feed is even though the vents are capped it can still drip from the NVA and will either fall on the ship below or floor which can cause dull spot on the finish. I am lazy and just put the ship on the rack and before flying in the spring just flush with old fuel and go fly a couple safe flights to clean things out.

Best,    DennisT

[Dave_Trible]

I just (sometimes) cap the tank vents to keep dust out.  The inside is already well oiled from fuel.  In fact the nitro and alcohol will likely do more damage than good.  Dub Jett made it a big point to me to run the engines completely dry from fuel-then you could oil if you want to, the raw fuel can promote corrosion.  I use air tool oil for storage.  It's meant to displace moisture. The tanks, leave dry.  I have some pretty old tanks around that are in good shape as long as I didn't use brass tubing in them nor any form of acid flux to solder them.

Dave

[Mark wood]

There are two other problems with leaving the tank vented. Evaporation although slow is still present changing the fuel blend. And worse moisture in the air. Alcohol really, really likes water and visa versa. Fortunately though the humidity in a heated room is lower than normal but your fuel in the tanks unvented will collect moisture making the fuel not very good.

[Dan McEntee]

   Fill  tanks with Coleman Lantern Fuel and then completely cap off all vents and tubes. It's relatively cheap, easy to find, not prone to evaporation, and when you drain it, what's left in the tank will mix well with glow fuel and run out on the first flights of the year.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

I'd go with denatured alcohol (one type of stove fuel.)  Inexpensive.  Would not go with glow fuel.  Castor residue doesn't sound good, nor does nitro. 

[Dave Harmon]

My airplanes have removeable tanks so during the off season I have been flushing the tanks with lacquer thinner then capping off and put in a box until the weather gets better.
I partially fill the tank then cap it and slosh around to get some agitation going then blow out with a syringe then cap off.
At the start of the next season I have been sloshing again then draining slowly on a paper towel looking for any chunks then re-installing in the airplane.
So far....I have not had any problems do it it this way.
Hopefully the thinner is not causing any problems with the integrity of the tin....can't have any rust dont'cha know!

As far as engines over the winter....I have been using Castrol 00-10 full synthetic oil for years and the engines are always spiffy when they come out of hibernation. They always start right up because that Castrol is much like the oil we use in fuel...never gets gummy and is available at Walmart but best of all.......it don't stink!!

[John Rist]

I drain all of the electrons out of my motors and put the fuel containers in a vented amo can.   

[Perry Rose]

I fly all winter.

[Doug Moisuk]

Paul G put me onto Turbine Oil. I use to use klotz oil but it’s too thick. Hard to force into the tank and remove. I reuse the turbine oil as it’s pricy. Cap the tank when full of the oil flush with alcohol and then fuel in the spring.
I use air tool oil in the engine.

[Doug Moon]

Hello Kevin,

Not to totally change the subject, but, how did you paint the wave on your Tsunami?

Thank you
Doug

[kevin king]

Hi Doug. Ive done a few waves, 1 on a 60 size ship, and 2 on 1/2a size planes.  The best way was to follow Windy's video step by step. Painting of the wave starts half way into the video. I also have a lot of computer generated mask files for anyone that wants them.


Kevin King

[ray copeland]

Would love a link or part number for the Castrol 00-10 full synthetic oil  at walmart, 

[kevin king]

Thank you for all the replies gentlemen. Looking forward to next years season.
Kevin.
.

[Dave Harmon]

Would love a link or part number for the Castrol 00-10 full synthetic oil  at walmart, 

I don't have a p/n but it is on the shelf in the Automotive area....00-20 is ok too.....and a lot easier to find.
A lot of it shows up on the Walmart website.

[Doug Moon]

Watching that Windy Video brings back so many memories!  Thank you so much for the link!

[Dan McEntee]

Watching that Windy Video brings back so many memories!  Thank you so much for the link!

   Kevin has been pretty busy establishing a Windy video channel on YouTube. The club I belong to inherited a large collection of tapes that is just under 50% of everything Windy recorded. We have 13 more file storage boxes of tapes to convert, edit and up load yet and combined with some other videos that Kevin has acquired, we should be close to a complete collection. We have come to a small bump in the road getting the remaining videos converted but we are working on that. Definitely a long term project but very doable.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee