Forums > Technical Discussion > Stupid friends, fuel question...

Posted: 17th Oct 2003
try soaking them in the old feul over night, that might help

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Posted: 18th Oct 2003
also,

water displaces fuel, so soak your wicks in water the dry them *thouroughly*, leave them over a radiator (tho not too close, they could have white gas residue on them) for at least a couple of days. this is a good thing to do if you have to fly with your wicks too.

T

This is a post by tom, all spelling is deleberate
-><- Kallisti

Posted: 18th Oct 2003
if your wicks are anything like mine, they won't absorb water at all once they have been seasoned a bit, so Nx's suggestion may not work.

I'm a bit puzzled by your problem actually, and the only thing I can really think of is that the coal starter fluid has set up some sort of absorbtion barrier to the white gas in the same way white gas will set up an absorbtion barrier to water. Except you are getting some burn time, so the barrier is at least semi-permiable (maybe it wouldn't be if you burnt them 10 or 20 times with the coal starter?).

I personally would be inclined to let them sit and try and evaporate the coal starter as much as possible, while continuing to burn them with white gas to help this. Definitely try what tiamat suggested If they don't begin to recover, you might think about dousing them with some sort of petroleum solvant to break down those long carbon chains which are now residing in the wicks and probably the cause of the absorbtion barrier. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try the water idea Nx had before doing this though.

I'd be interested in hearing how you resolve this.

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 18th Oct 2003
I'm burning again tonight, I'll probably do 5 or 10 rounds of it, and I'll record my approximate times and see how they're doing. About drying out: They were completely dry before I soaked them in White Gas. I soaked them for 3 or 4 hours, more than enough time to soak through obviously, spun off and lit, got a crappy time, soaked, spun off, lit, soaked, spun off, lit, didn't notice any significant improvement.

They are soaking in white gas as we speak, I'll be spinning in 3 or 4 hours so I'll post the results when I get home, 8 hours from now or so. If things don't get better I'll try the water idea, and if that doesn't help I'll call my old Chem teacher and have her buy me something to break down the carbon residue... but isn't that what water does? It would seem the polarity and charges would break apart the fuel quite well enough.

Posted: 19th Oct 2003
just because the outside of the wick is dry doesn't mean the inside is.

imagine the difference between washing your car's engine with a spray of water and then using that stuff called "gunk", and you'll get an idea about the difference. Water can provide some limited action against petroleum products (sea water and sun does eventualy break down oil slicks), but oil solvents are orders of magnitude more effective.

acetone is cheap and would probably do the job. Just don't even dream about lighting those wicks till the acetone is gone gone gone, or else - Kaboom!!! maybe soak in acetone a couple times, spinn the excess out really well between soaks, and then soak in white gas a few times and spin the excess out (without lighting them still) and then let the whole thing dry out before soaking them for a burn again.

One other thing I though about - you might try letting your wicks keep burning at the end of a spin without snuffing them. perhaps then the combination of allowing the core to heat up and the additional period of wicking action from core to surface will help solve your problem. Admittedly it will do some (hopefully very minor) damage to the outside of your wicks, but it is worth the risk if the are only burning for less than two minutes right now anyway.

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!