REFLECTOR: Water in the ducts....

[Jeffrey Clough]

I agree the vacuum bagging technique would probably be best.  If I have 
to do it again (I HOPE not!), I will do it that way......when I first 
drilled the holes the water drained out via gravity. When I applied 
suction more came out, then just vapors then nothing....As I said I 
checked the holes by putting q-tips in and letting them sit for a few 
hours and all came out dry/clean.  I spoke to the factory...they had 
some water logged planes after hurricanes....they said they drilled a 
very few holes and allowed the water to drain out.....tipped the plane 
if necessary to assist draining and then after a while patched the 
holes. They said they have NEVER had anyone have problems with 
delamination of their floors due to water freezing....OK...now I hope I 
can make some FORWARD progress! (Instead of fixing my mistakes!) :-D   
THANX  your help is always appreciated!
 Jeff Clough

Jim Sower wrote:

> <... I am pretty confident the foam substrate is dry ...>
> I wouldn't be.  Shop vac pulls maybe 10" on a good day.  Using a 
> blanket, 4-mil plastic tarp and vacuum pump you'll get >20" over all 
> the holes at once.  At much above 26" water can't exist at warm room 
> temps and you will be sure you've drawn it all out.  For a pump, find 
> any thrown away refrigerator at the local transfer station/landfill 
> and pull the compressor out.  Connect the input end to your hose 
> (wrapped with blanket material in a fold in the plastic) and let 'er rip
>
> When bagging parts, I use a calibrated leak to maintain vacuum at <10" 
> ... Jim S.
>
>
> Jeffrey Clough wrote:
>
>> Thanx Jim...similar to what I did....I attached a bunch of hoses to a 
>> bunch of holes and put playdoh (yep ...PlayDoh) to act as a putty to 
>> hold them in place then placed the other end of the bunch o' hoses 
>> into my shop vac and applied suction for a few hours....then moved on 
>> to another set of holes...finally got to the point there was no 
>> longer even VAPOR condensing in the hoses ( I had heat lamps shining 
>> on the inside of the cabin and the air temp was in the 50's...Alaska 
>> evening temps)...To be sure , I pushed q-tips into the most offending 
>> holes and they came out dry and with no food coloring tracer...I am 
>> pretty confident the foam substrate is dry...I let it sit for another 
>> week or so and filled in all of the holes a couple of days ago....
>>
>> Jim Sower wrote:
>>
>>> What if you were to put some absorbent material, say, a towel over 
>>> all those 100 holes, tape a piece of 4-mil plastic over that and 
>>> vacuum bag that area?  Would be simple enough and would get a whole 
>>> lot more moisture out than a heat lamp.  I can give you some details 
>>> on cheap, easy vacuum bagging suitable for this purpose.
>>> This is certainly a cause for some concern ... Jim S.
>>>
>>> Jeffrey Clough wrote:
>>>
>>>> OK...I have read all the posts about water in the ducts.....There 
>>>> is a BIG question I have: Perhaps y'all read my posts about filling 
>>>> my tanks with green water and finding leaks all through my floor 
>>>> boards.......if water collects in your ducts it could /*as easily 
>>>> */collect in the foam of *YOUR* floor.......WHAT happens when it 
>>>> FREEZES?   Delamination? I would expect so.....
>>>>  I put heat lamps on my floor boards for a WEEK and tonight drilled 
>>>> test holes and found WATER.(I finally found the source of my leak 
>>>> was a vent line I had to put in to the right tank as a retrofit for 
>>>> the newer sump tank and vent system...).....I finally drilled a 
>>>> HUNDRED holes through the fuselage to let water out and it WAS 
>>>> coming out...of a LOT of the holes...now I plan on letting the 
>>>> lights shine for some time before sealing all of the holes AND 
>>>> putting holes in the ducts where I can....I think it would be a 
>>>> GREAT idea to paint the area under your ducts (before assembly) AND 
>>>> put drains in SEVERAL spots BEFORE glassing the ducts in!!!!  Does 
>>>> this make anyone else sweat a little?     J Clough      173 RG 
>>>> clamshell
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