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air vent outlets

jacksel

Well Known Member
Are there better vent outlets available than the one's that come with the kit? It's difficult to get them to where they don't leak.
 
Get the published aluminum from Stein, they look good and you will kick yourself if you do not
Phelps
 
I have Stein's vents ..

.... And they're wonderful. Very well made and easy to install, and shut off completely tight.
 
Having monitored gases in my RV and others, I want my vents to leak. CO levels are acceptable when the exhaust system is perfect but I will put up with some minor discomfort or the need to wear more clothes for a bit of safety margin if there would be some sort of exhaust system failure. Wearing more clothes is also a safety factor in the case of a forced landing in cold weather. The last thing I want is for everything to be sealed tight.
 
I used these machined aluminum vents from Van's. I am very happy with them. They are a direct replacement for the plastic vents in the kit. No leaks, high quality, and available in the plain aluminum finish or a black finish. Pricey, but 1st class.
 
Anyone have a machined aluminum vent they'd like to weigh and I'll weight a plastic one from Vans? It'd be nice to get a few different options:

Van's plastic vent: .261 Lb
Van's Aluminum Vent: ???
SteinAir large metal vents: .369 Lb
SteinAir small metal vents: .129 Lb
Kestrel Air's Aveo ball vent: ???

Van's plastic vent and Stein's vent numbers courtesy of Steinair. :)

Please mention the size of the vent.

Thanks!
Russ
 
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Anyone have a machined aluminum vent they'd like to weigh and I'll weight a plastic one from Vans? It'd be nice to get a few different options:

Vans Aluminum vent
Stein's Aluminum vent
Kestrel Air's Aveo ball vent

Please mention the size of the vent.

Thanks!
Russ

I went and weighed them for you:

Van's plastic vent: .261 Lb
SteinAir large metal vents: .369 Lb
SteinAir small metal vents: .129 Lb

Also note that not all vents are created equal, just because there are other "metal ones" out there, they are not necessarily as good. The Vans products and our products are a known quality (and known price).

Anyway, that's the info I have for now!

Cheers,
Stein
 
I bought the plastic ones from Van's then the the aluminum ones from Vans

I bought the plastic ones from Van's then the aluminum ones from Vans. I had no great problem with the plastic ones but the leaking air does cause drag. The aluminum ones seem better but I finally went to solid metal inserts to close the NACA inlet for racing. I can't wait to land and remove them because it is not a nice place to be when they're in unless you are trying to win.

Bob Axsom
 
Awesome! Thanks for the numbers Stein. I'm surprised at how close they are. I think it'll be worth the slightly added weight to have the higher quality look and function.

I updated my previous post (#10) with these numbers.
 
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Air vent doors

Hi you all.
Someone experimented a good door or plug to close the outside air intake trap which feed air vent, to keep the water out when you wash the plane or the cold air out for winter. I know I can put a plastic tape on it but I think it will peel the paint off on removal.

Alain
 
I went and weighed them for you:

Van's plastic vent: .261 Lb
SteinAir large metal vents: .369 Lb
SteinAir small metal vents: .129 Lb

Also note that not all vents are created equal, just because there are other "metal ones" out there, they are not necessarily as good. The Vans products and our products are a known quality (and known price).

Anyway, that's the info I have for now!

Cheers,
Stein

Again, thanks for the info Stein.

Can you describe pros & cons for the 2 sizes you carry? I did a bit of math and came up with the following opening areas:
1 1/4 vents: 1.23 sq in opening
1 5/8 vents: 2.10 sq in opening

So the larger vents have more than 50% more area. Significant? I'd think the noise difference wouldn't be much since the cockpit's pretty loud anyway, but I'd love to hear more actual experiences. Anyone else have comparisons?

Also, I don't see a Plenum Cup in the photos for the smaller vents. Do they not have one? Does this make scat tube attachment a little less secure than the nice beaded end of the plenum cups on the larger vents?

Thanks!
Russ
 
Stein Vents Installed

I recently received the large Stein Air Vents. As mentioned by others, they are quite nice! I did a quick experiment and tried breathing through both the stock Vans vents and Stein's while they were closed. I could breathe through the plastic Vans vents no problem. With the Stein vents, I'd suffocate.

So I just finished installing these. Pretty straight forward. Starting with a cardboard template, cut a mounting plate from .063 sheet that would fit between an angle bracket mounted to the 4 holes in the fuselage side skin and the instrument panel, punched a hole in this plate, cut a clearance notch in each lower corner of the panel and drilled an extra screw hole in the panel.

For the mounting plate, I added a doubler on the inboard side so the vent 'plenum' sits evenly when screwed down, equaling the thickness of the outboard side that has the angle bracket.

Here are a few photos:

Mounting Plates cut out and punched
DSC02536.JPG


Angle bracket and doubler
DSC02543.JPG


Mounting Plate Assembly together
DSC02546.JPG


DSC02547.JPG


Mounted on panel
DSC02561.JPG


Back side
DSC02551.JPG


View of both
DSC02565.JPG
 
I purchased aluminum vents from Affordable Panels when I bought the panel. My recollection is there's a respectable discount when you buy both at the same time. The 9A I'm flying now has the plastic vents and they leak a little but it isn't bad enough for me to worry about. The 9A I'm building will have the aluminum vents.

As for weight, the two plastic ones weighed 2.4 and 2.5 ounces, and the aluminum vents were both 3.3 ounces. It a bit less than a 2 ounce increase in weight and I'm trying to watch every ounce.
 
vent caps

As we all know now, the cheap plastic air vents supplied by van's kits leaks air bad. After stuffing the inlets with plastic bags, then rubber banding cellophane on the inside, this year I found a good solution...besides replacing them will aluminum retrofits.

Prescott_Plastics_LLC sells 1 3/4" Black Vinyl Round End Cap 1.75 Rubber Cover Pipe Tubing Stopper that fits perfectly. Can install and remove by hand. After a test flight, they stayed in place.

Found mine on ebay. 4 caps for $7 including shipping.

2017-12-04%2012.56.25.jpg
 
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Stein vents

I have used Stein vents, and been totally satisfied. Never saw the better metal ones sold at a major aircraft wood/parts place, so can't speak to them.

I think I can say this because they are an advertiser here: Stein Air has their large and small vents on a major price reduction sale online this weekend.

If this can't be left as a post (commercial ad rules for non-advertisers), I'll take it down immediately.
 
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