PA28-235 Fuel System ??????
 

Yesterday I had the good fortune of doing a short frieght run in an old Piper PA28-235. The frieght was computer equipment. Myself and another pilot were looking at ways to stack the boxes when he found a lever behind the right hand control seat. Thinking it must be a release lever for the back seat he pushed & pulled it. The result was a large puddle of fuel leaking from the centre fuel drain. We tried to find this lever mentioned in the flight manual and pilots handbook but it is conspicous by its absence.
The problem is that the lever is in a position where a rear pax could accidentally rest their feet on it thereby draining a tank in flight.
Does anyone know anything about this?

I flew an old PA 24-260 Commanche B once where the fuel selector and strainer units were located between the front seats.

Draining of the strainer was accomplished by opening the hinged access door located on the floorboard just aft of the fuel selector valve, and moving the quick drain handle to the full aft position. There was a clear plastic tube in the line that allowed you to observe the fuel running out (and more importantly to make sure that it had stopped!)

Never saw any similar system in PA 28 235s.