REFLECTOR: Pressure testing Strakes. Help me!!

[Alex Balic]

You can either use a water manometer, or a helium-quality latex balloon (the method I used) 

 

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Tom Falls
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 7:21 AM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Pressure testing Strakes. Help me!!

 

I'm going to the store this morning to get a plumbers plug. How much pressure are folks using to test their fuel tanks? If its more then 1psi, how are you achieving/measuring that?

 

I think I can get close to 1psi by blowing in the end of a hose connected to the tank. Any more than 1psi will require a different method.

 

Thanks,

Tom




On Apr 6, 2012, at 11:43 PM, Mel Bina <pusherpilot1 at gmail.com> wrote:

The fuel caps can be hard to seal  Go to the hardware store and buy a plumbers plug to replace the fuel cap.  That solved the problem for me.

 

Mel Bina

On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 4:59 PM, <KMis178813 at aol.com> wrote:

Tom

 

    Lube the O-Ring on the fuel caps. 8 out of 10 times that fixes the leaks. Just hope it's not the other 2!

 

      Ken

 

In a message dated 4/6/2012 3:21:33 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, tomfalls6 at gmail.com writes:

Help! I’m struggling to find very very small leaks in both strakes after closing them out. I am using a water manometer hooked to the strainer side of each tank and a hose with a valve on the vent line. I blow in the hose and when I see about 19” between each water column (equivalent to about 0.68 psi or 170 knots on an ASI) , I shut off the valve. Then I go around and brush a soapy water mixture over all joints, fittings, seams etc. Initially I found and fixed a few leaks. For instance I had to tighten the clamps on the sight gages. On the left tank the manometer drops from 19” to 18” of H2O in 30 seconds (+/- 5 seconds). On the right tank it’s about 10 minutes to drop from 19” to 18”. I am at the point where looking for bubbles with soapy water is not revealing the location of the leaks.

 

Any ideas?? How are others finding leaks? Should I maybe use a higher pressure in the tanks? If so, how much pressure is enough and how is this done?

 

Thanks in advance,

Tom 



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