Conti refuelling hose replaced after 33 years of 'rough' operations

ERJ staff report (LMH)

Hanover, Germany - After 33 years of use with five to eight refuelling operations per day, a Gelbring high-pressure refuelling hose from ContiTech has been replaced. The hose had obvious signs of use, but was still undamaged and fully functional, the company said.

In the same year that Margaret Thatcher became the head of government in the UK and Helmut Schmidt was the German Chancellor, refuelling specialist Elaflex supplied 40 metres of ContiTech's Gelbring high-pressure refuelling hose to the company Tanktechnik Huth in the town of Kelsterbach, Germany.

Since then the hose was subjected to severe stresses day in, day out as a drum hose under harsh site conditions, ContiTech said.

“Normally our refuelling hoses are replaced routinely after 10 to 15 years, even though they are then usually still perfectly OK. However, many are still in use for 20 years or more,” commented salesman Bernd Müller of Elaflex, adding that 33 years of operation is a first for him.

Developed jointly by ContiTech Schlauch and Elaflex in the 1950s, the Gelbring hose is still produced to the present day in an almost unchanged form.

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Press release from ContiTech