On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:47:49 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

We've had a (not uncommon) problem with one of our tip-tank quick drains
leaking. If you don't get it to snap shut, properly, it will set up a
regular drip-drip-drip that, over time, will cost a fair amount of gas.
(And yes, I know how to clean and replace the O-ring that's probably got a
tiny chunk of crud stuck in it, but, man, it's COLD outside!)

Note: This is on a 1974 Piper Cherokee Pathfinder (235) with four fuel
tanks.

It's unusual for us to go more than a few days without flying, but due to
the holidays and some nasty weather, we went twelve days without "getting
high." (I was starting to twitch uncontrollably... :-) When we opened the
hangar I immediately noticed a white chunk of ice, about 3 inches tall, on
the astroturf floor of our hangar, right under the leaking tip tank.

Up on the quick drain, some 40 inches above the "snow ball," was a smaller
matching "stalactite" of ice. I picked the "snow ball" up off the floor,
and it appeared (by the smell, and what it melted into) to be pure gasoline.

Is it possible for this to be pure gasoline? It had been extremely cold
the night before (5 above zero), but I wonder what the freezing temperature
of gasoline is? Does it have to somehow pick up water vapor/moisture in
order to freeze like this?

What's going on here? (We found no water in any of the tanks before
flight.)

I doubt the gas can freeze at the temperatures we experience in the
Midwest.

My guess: The evaporative cooling of the gasoline is condensing
moisture out of the air.

-Nathan