Lint in fuel filter

[leaker311]

Today I cleaned the servo inlet filter and to my surprise I found what looks exactly like the lint you find in the screen of the dryer at home.
It was a pea size ball of cotton looking stuff.

I am going through the whole system to make sure that there are no surprises and to try and figure out where it came from.
I know it can come from anywhere but I was just wondering if someone out there has seen this before so i can target my efforts.

thanks in advance!

Marco
RV-7

[RV10inOz]

We found some like that in the screen at the fuel pump.....Can only assume it comes from the wing tanks when they get built.

After about 30,000 litres of AVGAS through our machine I still get bits of swarth in the fuel drains......Beats me how there can be any left in there

[noelf]

Not uncommon to find this in the gascolator screen also. I have no idea how it gets there. There were some post some time ago with photos that showed exactly what I found in my gascolator. I thought it might be spider web material, but could not positively figure it out.

[sahrens]

I have heard folks are finding fibers in fuel filters and believe it is coming from the newer non-metal fuel storage tanks. It seems like the filters at the tanks would take care of it.

[airguy]

Perhaps from the fuel filters at the FBO coming apart?

[johngoodman]

I found the same thing in my in-line filters after my first 25 hours. It was a very fine thread that couldn't be called white, but not quite gray or tan. I collected it in a small ziploc to figure it out. In the meantime, I switched from ethanol based high test to 100LL - I was testing different fuels during my 40 hours - yes, I have an auto conversion.
Eventually, I found a nearby gas station that sold 90 octane ethanol-free gas. I started using that, but saw something very interesting at the gas station. The owner had done a "phase separation" test in a jar of ethanol gas. The short story is that the water saturated alcohol was at the bottom, the gas at the top, and a strange layer of tiny little beads of amber mixed with little hairs between. The beads of amber turned out to be corn syrup, but the little hairs (just like mine) were corn silks that had been chopped up. I think it's safe to assume that they only distill the corn cob slurry once, and that a few things might get caught up in the path.

So, my amateur observations lead to a suspicion that your threads/fibers are also corn silk. If so, how?

John

[Kyle Boatright]

My airplane had red lint in the gascolator screen the first time I cleaned it. I assumed it came from the red shop towels I was using when I built the tanks.

It was a one time event.

[Peetie the Pilot]

I have heard about these fine fibers coming from storage tanks in the ground. We have experienced this at our fueling facility. Not sure where exactly it is coming from or how it gets there

Peter

[Don at Airflow]

Fuel filters from fuel trucks.

[Peterk]

scotchbrite dust?