Originally Posted by
onetrack
Be aware that many petrol stations fuel tanks are contaminated with water and rust and are notorious for supplying contaminated fuel - and steel jerrycans are notorious for producing flakes of rust and paint as well.
As a result, make 100% sure, your fuel supplied from jerrycans into your aircraft is completely and thoroughly filtered through a funnel fitted with a mesh screen and a chamois.
I have never, repeat never, found any contamination in any car fuel that I have obtained (mainly in the UK) to use in my Rotax-powered aeroplanes in over 20 years. Nevertheless, I do try to stick to the LAA recommendation to use fuel from high turnover outlets (mainly supermarkets recently). On the other hand, it was common to find water in the Avgas obtained from the bowser when I flew Cessna 150's etc.
However, I have often found paint flakes from the inside of metal Jerry Cans which is why I always filter the fuel into the tanks. I find Mr Funnels excellent.
I appreciate that there is a very small risk of vapour igniting when it is poured into the tank (particularly on cold, crisp and dry winter days) which is why I use conductive cans and funnels. The LAA has a leaflet that outlines how you can overcome this risk by connecting together the can, funnel and aeroplane and earthing the lot.
Incidentally, ROTAX engines are specifically designed to run on unleaded petrol and I have never had any problem running them on this, even with the recent introduction of 5% alcohol in unleaded (although I understand that this has caused big problems in some fibre glass tanks). Also bear in mind that it is much easier to fuel from cans when you are only using 10-15lph rather than 25-35lph!
Having said all this, I now also have a share in a Lycoming powered aircraft and we have to travel to nearby airfields to pump in Avgas and keep a few cans at base for emergencies.