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As long as I'm doing that...

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

Well Known Member
I have a couple of the cruddy black plastic vents in the plane and with winter coming, I considered buying a couple of the nice SteinAir versions and ducting them right into a spot on the corners of the instrument panel.

But then I ran into a case of the "As Long As I'm Doing Thats"

It goes something like this.

As long as I'm going to work on the panel, I might as well put the ADS-B solution in.

As long as I'm doing that, I might as well make the plane IFR capable and put in a nice GPS.

As long as I'm putting in a nice GPS, I might as well pull the D-100 out and put in the new Dynon SkyView.

As long as I'm putting in the new Dynon SkyView, I might as well pull the single axis TruTrak autopilot and go with the Dynon A/P.

As long as I'm going to have to rewire that, I might as well pull the orphaned VP-50 even though it's working perfectly because if it ever goes toes up, I'm in trouble.

Then I got to thinking, "you know... the panel works just fine as it is and you don't have the money, really, for any of this."

So I'm shoving a couple of rags in the vent.
 
I am told that winters are long in Minnesota. I'm betting you cave in and do the vents before spring thaw. :)
 
Wish I had had his will-power

Way too much "new panel" stuff in my -6A, and, I still have dreams of more!!

Ron
 
And you have just identified exactly why the panel in my -12 remains as it was the day I bought it. Every time I decide to do something small(ish) scope creep sets in and I end up deciding to just fly the thing.
 
Here's what I did to seal the black plastic vents:

I added rubber sheet seals to the "throttle" part. I put aluminum backers on them. These seal very well, no problems with cold air in the winter. I like the large vents, can't imagine only having the smaller ones.

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To seal your plastic vents for the winter..... Take a business card and cut it in half. Open the vent and slide 1/2 in each side of the flap. Close the vent.
 
good bye google picture posting...

Rob, thanks.

It seems to be impossible to post google pictures any more. For years I did on these forums, but they are migrating people away from the old site to the new, and I can't seem to find a method on the new site that works. I also can't seem to get to the old site. I suspect they are shutting people out gradually from it.

UPDATE: I think it may be fixed, if others concur that they can now see the photos, I may have a theory...
 
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Our aircraft came with these same inexpensive plastic Whisperflo vents. The clearance between the edges of the butterfly valve and the inner diameter of the vent body is... Well, it's not clearance one needs calipers to measure, that's for sure!

We've seen one good fix proposed here with the rubber backers riveted in place. If this seems inappropriate for your purposes, there is an easier way to achieve the same result.

In our case, I applied a coat of mold release wax to the butterfly. Even regular bar soap or wax from a candle will do the trick. Close the valve fully. With a very small hole cut in the end of a tube of black RTV silicone, caulk around the periphery of the butterfly valve, being careful to avoid where the pivot point fits into the vent body.

Remember, apply the silicone on the OUTSIDE of one half of the butterfly and to the INSIDE of the other half. In this manner you will have formed a reasonably soft and pliable lip for the butterfly to close and seal against. The mold release/soap/wax will allow the butterfly to break away from the RTV after an appropriate cure time has elapsed.

Since I already had both the mold release and the RTV, this fix took me zero dollars and about 15 minutes to accomplish. No more pesky cold air leaks!
 
Canadian_JOY said:
Our aircraft came with these same inexpensive plastic Whisperflo vents. The clearance between the edges of the butterfly valve and the inner diameter of the vent body is... Well, it's not clearance one needs calipers to measure, that's for sure!

We've seen one good fix proposed here with the rubber backers riveted in place. If this seems inappropriate for your purposes, there is an easier way to achieve the same result.

In our case, I applied a coat of mold release wax to the butterfly. Even regular bar soap or wax from a candle will do the trick. Close the valve fully. With a very small hole cut in the end of a tube of black RTV silicone, caulk around the periphery of the butterfly valve, being careful to avoid where the pivot point fits into the vent body.

Remember, apply the silicone on the OUTSIDE of one half of the butterfly and to the INSIDE of the other half. In this manner you will have formed a reasonably soft and pliable lip for the butterfly to close and seal against. The mold release/soap/wax will allow the butterfly to break away from the RTV after an appropriate cure time has elapsed.

Since I already had both the mold release and the RTV, this fix took me zero dollars and about 15 minutes to accomplish. No more pesky cold air leaks!
Click to expand...

I tried this initially (I believe Van's recommended this way back), but I could not get the RTV to adhere to the plastic, regardless of how much I roughed it up with sandpaper. Maybe there are better RTV's out there now. Hence my plan B.
 
Bob,

I bought a couple of rubber pipe caps from the plumbing aisle at Menards. Along with two worm gear clamps, they work perfectly to block flow from the vents in winter. I keep them in the tool bag at all times.

Larry
 
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