FI Fuel Pressure "Spike"

All,

When I turn on my electric fuel pump I see a spike up to 45-50 psi for a couple seconds then it settles down to about 28 psi, which is what the engine driven fuel pump normaly runs at. Is this spike normal?

I have a bendix rsa 5 type FI system on a lyc 360, vertical induction. I have the AFP high pressure electric fuel pump/filter set-up from Vans.

Thanks
Dave C
RV-7 Flying!!!!

Dave,

I don't think this is anything to be alarmed about. That high pressure pump is very powerful. I figured out that it puts out about 45GPH when I did a fuel flow test. I sometimes will see an initial spike when I am running the engine and turn on the fuel pump. The most I have seen was probably about 35 PSI. Mine runs consistently at 27psi otherwise. I have an IO-360 - 180hp with a Precision Silverhawk (i.e. Bendix RSA) servo and Vans FP gauge.

Although, at altitude that pressure drops some and I see around 24-25 PSI at 10,000'

-Rob