RC India

Was wondering how any of you use inline fuel filters on your glow engine.. ie the filter that sits between the tank and the engine. I always do, considering that there would be contaminants sent to the tank from the muffler pressure feed.

Also do use air filters ? whats your experience with these ? i have used the on my 46 plane and it had no negative affect, on the other hand i felt that it would save the cylinder lining a few scratches.

Most airplane fliers I know use filters from the fuel container into the fuel tank (while filling the model with fuel).  It is very rare to see filters on the model itself, in the crowd I frequent. I do not have it on my lone nitro airplane, and neither did we put it on any of my brother's many nitro airplanes.

But almost all heli fliers I know have a filter going from from the tank to the carb, and so far they have proved to cause no harm.  Not sure if it more habitual than a need, since most heli kits come with such a filter, and people got into the habit of adding them during a standard build.  It could also be that a heli engine quitting in the air is much more of a problem than an airplane engine quitting mid-air (unless you are proficient in doing auto-rotations).

For example, for the Align Trex 600 Nitro heli (most common 50 size heli in our field), you can see it here :

http://www.align.com.tw/shop/product_info.php?cPath=22_25&products_id=1780  (see "Focus Shot 8" in the middle of the page, the one that shows the connection/line between the fuel tank and the carb).

Well yes of course we all use a filter into the fuel container. But i think a filter between the tank and carb would be an important one because of the pollutants coming in from the pressure feed. Shouldnt everyone use this filter on airplanes ?
Lets see what other experienced flier have to say here.

But that depends on how well you trust your fuel, right ?  If people use branded fuel (as it is cheap and readily available where I am), the chances of it having contaminants or not burning cleanly are significantly lower, and that may be the reason flyer at our field never felt the need for the same.

Of course there are possibilities like say the muffler gasket degenerating and bits of it getting into the exhaust and back into the tank via the pressure feed, but I guess those have fairly remote chances.

For home-brew fuel, the case may be entirely different and like you said, it would be interesting to hear from others.

Never had a problem for not having a filter inbetween tank and carb, rather I have had problems because of it (the filter was taking in air).
My fuel is filtered thrice before getting in to the airborne tank. A sintered brass filter in the fuel can, a stone filter in the filling line and a wire mesh at the fill nozzle takes care of most FOD.   

hey what about engines like cox sure start (i got 4 of these nib should be getting any time now ) which have no muffler ! so do these stuff require filters ??

On inline filters needed for these engines. Just filter your fuel by using a filter in the line , when refilling.