A/f Fuel Filter Contamination

[BRZRKR]

I was recently doing an inspection on a Bell 206 and discovered very fine metallic particles floating in the bowl and some on the pleats of the A/F fuel filter. Any ideas? I always thought if a boost pump was going I would see the phenolic from the impeller. Fuel contamination?

[arctic_front]

from the barrel pump, maybe???

 

 

[ray]

What type of metal does it look like? Magnetic or non?

 

Could be refuelling pump, or from standpipe scraping the inside of the drum on install/removal,, or aircraft boost pump, or contaminated fuel.

[RedRag]

Saw this once with brass colored metal in the filter bowl. Turned out to be coming from the fuel nozzle from the refueling trailer getting scraped on the filler neck when refueling.

[helofixer]

I wouldnt be too concerned. I always find a few fine particles in the bottom of the filter bowl and some discoloration on the pleats when we do our 300hrs. We get fuel from all over hells half acre. Airport FBO's, offshore fuel locations, etc. We are very careful in monitoring our base fuel system, but if you get fuel in other locations, you can only hope the other guy is doing his job. If you are worried, maybe pull the filter at 150hrs or so and have a look see. The O-ring or even the filter element and the time to do the work is a **** of a lot cheaper than the aircraft. If you maintain your own fuel system, maybe change the filter sooner than you normally would and have a look at the elements.

[Three_Per]

AF fuel filters a soo cheep and soo easy to change that when fueling out of drums or unknown sources I change them every 100 hours, plain and simple, 350 206 and 500

 

 

[settlewithpower]

I second that! Its a 20 minute job to change it out at the most! Always have and always will make it a 100 hr item! Deffinatly worth the piece of mind

[lamanated]

have a look and see if the filter is rubbing on the base of the filter body. I've seen it lately. I spoke with a guy who repairs service station pumps, and he said that you can send a sample to the Cummins engine repair shop. and they can test the contamination and tell you what it might be. He also said they are getting alot of water in fuel deliveries to the stations from the east coast refineries.

[BRZRKR]

Thanks for your help. We do change the AF Filter every hundred without fail. We tracked the problem to a particular base, as all the machines we have in that base are showing signs. Soon we will find the culprit. I'm just happy it isn't the machine.