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Pitot line

RandyAB

Well Known Member
Where does one find the tubing for the pitot and AOA in different colours like I' mseeing on other's installs? I'm looking but not finding. What are the specs that I should be looking for? 1/4" OD....?ID......?material (nylon or poly?)
 
I used a kit from Cleaveland tools as well, but I bought the slightly more expensive EFIS kit which has slightly different fittings. http://www.cleavelandtool.com/mobile/Plumbing-Kit-EFIS-System/productinfo/SA-A2/#.W2oDkvZFzIU

With either of these kits you also get the static ports for mounting to each side of the fuselage, instead of using the blind rivets that Van's calls out in their plans, plus a number of high quality fittings to put it all together with.
 
Thanks guys. I have the static port from Cleaveland with the static line. Im looking for the AOA and Pitot lines. At this point I’m not sure if the required fittings come with the instrument and pitot hardware or of I should buy those in addition.

Does this stuff from Amazon look suitable? It would be easier for me to source from Canada if possible.

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...argid=kwd-305191367932&ref=pd_sl_86nfmhkglv_b
 
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Pitot Static Lines

This is the easiest, most reliable, and least expensive way to install a pitot static plumbing system. I used 1/8" ID 1/4" OD flexible silicone tubing from McMaster-Carr on 4-5 experimentals and never had a problem. I used barbed 1/8" pipe threaded connectors for the instrument attach and some barbed 1/8" T's and a couple 1/4 to 1/8" ID reducers to complete the system. Slip the tubing over the barbed connectors to complete the system. I used red tubing for pitot and black for static lines. Took me about an hour to install the whole system and it is easy to measure the lines, silicone tubing is leak tight, very flexible and does not kink, and it's easy to modify. I've seen folks paying much more for 1/4" stiff poly pro tubing and connectors and struggling for days to install and still end up with leaks or kinks.

Here are the part numbers, there are many different materials, sizes, and part numbers:

5117K61 Plastic Barbed Tube Fitting Clear Reducer, for 1/4" x 1/8" Tube ID, Packs of 10 $8.27 Per Pack

5463K438 1/8" 1/8 Straight Adaptor Nylon Plastic Semi-Clear White pack of 10 $9.74

5236K832 High-Temperature Silicone Rubber Tubing Opaque Black, Durometer 50A, 1/8" ID, 1/4" OD, 10 ft. $ 6.90

5463K45 1/8" Nylon Plastic Tee Semi-Clear White Pack of 10 $7.37
 
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If you have a big box home building supply store nearby (Lowes, Home Depot in the USA) there is an excellent source of 1/4" plastic tubing and connectors in the plumbing department. The push-on connectors will look like this and are also available with 1/8" NPT threads that will screw into the ports of common pitot-static instruments:

41Td8KSIwVL._AC_US218_.jpg


Seems the building trade have figured out that our pitot-static stuff is also ideal for hooking up ice-makers and coffee machines..... ;)

Readily available at a local source, inexpensive, and works great in our airplanes!
 
taking sam's advice from an earlier post of mine about the same thing i just picked up the plastic fittings. less than $2 a pop . my local hdwe carries the tubing on a roll, pay by the foot.
i do like the purpose made fitting for the static line though.
 
That is a great tip about the fittings. I will definitely check out Home Depot and Lowes.

With respect to the tubing, not all of it is made equal. The pure polypropylene stuff such as what comes in Van's static kit is rather stiff. The Surethane tubing, the ATP product that Cleaveland sells and is available on Amazon, is much more supple and nice IMHO. I'm sure the silicone stuff mentioned earlier sold my McMaster Carr is also pretty nice.
 
Rubber line?

Can someone tell me why we dont use standard rubber vacuum hose ala Gates as on all of our vehicles? What did they do for vac line in the '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s etc before polyprop came along????? Am I missing something here? Is this verboten?
 
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