Cirrus fuel tank

[Guest]

For those who are interested, I snapped this picture of the inside of a Cirrus SR22 fuel tank.  We have it open to repair a porosity in the composite skin.

Even with composite construction they still use PRC sealant and they have occasional leaks.

Clarence

[rbridges]

I guess the composites are pretty stable, but I would have figured they'd be more prone to leaking vs a metal wing.  

[peevee]

It's extremely uncommon for a Cirrus tank to leak. They have much fewer joints than the skin of a Mooney

The early planes are 20 years old now and no sign of needing reseals like the Mooney.

[Guest]

Fuel tank repairs are quit rare, this is the first leak we’ve had to do. Another repair is a breakdown of the electrical bond between the filler neck and the mesh in the composite skin.  

Clarence

[rbridges]

So are the composites okay with the solvents used to remove the sealant?

[carusoam]

Is that a Cies fuel level sensor in there?  Our Cies guy likes Cirrus... they have purchased a few....

Best regards,

-a-

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, rbridges said:

So are the composites okay with the solvents used to remove the sealant?

The sealant is removed mechanally, solvent is used to remove the fuel from the porosity, resin is drawn from inside to outside and sealant coated over the inside.

Clarence

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Is that a Cies fuel level sensor in there?  Our Cies guy likes Cirrus... they have purchased a few....

Best regards,

-a-

Not in this one, you are looking at the bottom of the filler port and cap and the partial fuel tab.

Clarence

[rbridges]

16 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

The sealant is removed mechanally, solvent is used to remove the fuel from the porosity, resin is drawn from inside to outside and sealant coated over the inside.

Clarence

Thanks for the info.

[bradp]

Looking at the raptor build videos they sloshed around a ton of sealant in their tanks. I’m pretty surprise to see what appears to be uncovered composite- am I just seeing wrong? 

[ArtVandelay]

Fuel tank repairs are quit rare, this is the first leak we’ve had to do. Another repair is a breakdown of the electrical bond between the filler neck and the mesh in the composite skin.  
Clarence

What year is it?


Tom

[ArtVandelay]

Looking at the raptor build videos they sloshed around a ton of sealant in their tanks. I’m pretty surprise to see what appears to be uncovered composite- am I just seeing wrong? 

I would think they could coat the composite with a avgas resistant compound. But the question is, when they develop a replacement for 100LL, will the chemical additives be corrosive?


Tom

[Guest]

4 hours ago, bradp said:

Looking at the raptor build videos they sloshed around a ton of sealant in their tanks. I’m pretty surprise to see what appears to be uncovered composite- am I just seeing wrong? 

Sealant is only applied at joints and skin laps, rib flanges etc. other than that it’s bare epoxy resin over composite.

Clarence

Edited February 17, 2019 by M20Doc

[Guest]

2 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

What year is it?


Tom

It’s a 2004 SR 22, one of about 30 we maintain and the only one to leak so far, even the access panels don’t leak.

Clarence

[peevee]

11 hours ago, carusoam said:

Is that a Cies fuel level sensor in there?  Our Cies guy likes Cirrus... they have purchased a few....

Best regards,

-a-

I think the gen 5 and 6 planes come with cies senders from the factory. The senders in the 1-3 fail occasionally. It's something like 5k to upgrade to the cies. The gauges are basically useless as long as you enter your fuel into perspective. Out totalizer is accurate to about a tenth of a gallon over a 5 hour flight. It's hard to see when you've filled to tabs with the small fuel necks and a large nozzle but a hell of a lot easier than dealing with monroy tanks and never knowing how much gas you really have.

We have learned the hard way it's generally very bad to let a shop that isn't a cirrus service center work on the plane 

Our plane is an 08 and considered a dinosaur in the Cirrus world but Cirrus factory support is still good even our the "old" planes. It's almost like they understand that keeping owners happy sells more planes.

Edited February 17, 2019 by peevee

[vorlon1]

10 hours ago, peevee said:

Our plane is an 08 and considered a dinosaur

Ok, That says something....

[peevee]

1 hour ago, vorlon1 said:

Ok, That says something....

That they actually improve their product? It sure does. 50 years later Mooney adds a second door. 

Edited February 18, 2019 by peevee

[xcrmckenna]

That they actually improve their product? It sure does. 50 years later Mooney adds a second door. 

I guess when you find perfection 50 years ago a second door is the only thing you can expect.... Sorry couldn’t pass up that point...

Normally I’m good with picking on Cirrus’. But last week I spent 7.6 hours in one of their full simulators and 6 days taking IR instruction with one of their top instructors Mike Radomsky in my plane. It’s true you acclimate to the side yoke in moments. He “learned” me a lot about the plane built with a chute. Mike let me poke and prod his plane and look over his POH when we were not flying. I don’t think I can talk trash about them anymore. I’m planning on doing formation training with the C2A group March 1st.

Now all my trash talk is directed at Bonanza owners and pilots...


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