Black max Engine Dryer

[Alan Maurer]

Mooney People, A question. Just got a Black Max dehydrator to keep moisture out of engine here in Florida. I. understand some engine 

breather tubes  have some holes drilled in case of icing. I have not looked yet. Does Ovation have these holes and if so , how far up the opening? 

Are they hard to see?

Thanks Everyone

Alan

 

[Will.iam]

1 minute ago, Alan Maurer said:

Mooney People, A question. Just got a Black Max dehydrator to keep moisture out of engine here in Florida. I. understand some engine 

breather tubes  have some holes drilled in case of icing. I have not looked yet. Does Ovation have these holes and if so , how far up the opening? 

Are they hard to see?

Thanks Everyone

Alan

 

Mine is halfway up the tube where it’s mounted to the firewall. I guess one way to locate / verify if you had one is to put an air hose on the end of the breather tube and with the oil filler cap off, start blowing air into the breather tube. Then use your hand to cover the oil filler tube. If you still hear a loud hiss and not much resistance on your hand, odds are it’s going out the ice vent. Mine looks like a triangle cutout sort of like the old oil can pour spouts that would cut into the top of the aluminum of the oil can to pour out the oil. When you removed the spout it left a triangle looking cutout in the can and that looks like what i have on my breather tube. 

[Alan Maurer]

Hi Will,thank you...I will o. look for it.

Alan

[Rick Junkin]

50 minutes ago, Alan Maurer said:

Hi Will,thank you...I will o. look for it.

Alan

Another option is to put the dehydrator hose into the oil fill tube. I got a silicone stopper that fit the fill tube and drilled a hole through the center of it for the dehydrator hose. It’s not the recommended method but definitely puts dryed air in the cam area of my Lycoming.

 

[201Steve]

Best way to know is pull the cowling and check. Mine for example, someone drilled like 3 holes. 
 

if yours is the can opener style cutout as described above, it’s possible depending on how it’s notched, that it’ll rip the foam seals on the black max adapter. 
 

you can purchase a medical style catheter from them, designed to slip past that notch and then the tip inflates above it. It’s well documented in the COPA forums if there’s any confusion. 

[A64Pilot]

1 hour ago, Rick Junkin said:

Another option is to put the dehydrator hose into the oil fill tube. I got a silicone stopper that fit the fill tube and drilled a hole through the center of it for the dehydrator hose. It’s not the recommended method but definitely puts dryed air in the cam area of my Lycoming.

 

I’d go this route, I can’t see how it would matter how the air gets in, so long as it does.

consider dehumidifying the whole hangar, that protects everything even your tools.

Last couple of years I ran one 50 pint dehumidifier, on cold wet days RH would get into the mid 60’s or higher, so this year I got a second one. I think next month I’ll replace my old one with another like this, my old one is not energy star and from 2017, it pulls four times the current of the new one. But both keep RH in the mid 50’s even on a day like today in N Central Fl it’s gotten cold and been raining for hours RH outside has been 99% all day, in the hangar it’s 55% and for the moment both dehumidifiers are off, meaning of course that two of them is a little more than I need.

The new one pulls 175 Watts and if I did the math right with electricity at 17C a KWH that even if it ran 24/7 for 30 days it uses $21 or electricity.

My hangar is 3,000 sq ft with a 12 ft ceiling, it’s 50 X 60 ft.

$189, but you can get one that’s 150 pint for $300 

[A64Pilot]

1 hour ago, 201Steve said:

Best way to know is pull the cowling and check. Mine for example, someone drilled like 3 holes. 
 

if yours is the can opener style cutout as described above, it’s possible depending on how it’s notched, that it’ll rip the foam seals on the black max adapter. 
 

you can purchase a medical style catheter from them, designed to slip past that notch and then the tip inflates above it. It’s well documented in the COPA forums if there’s any confusion. 

Often, and I think this is the best way they are described as a whistle slot, that puts the top part that’s flat bent in so as any oil drips off it goes out the tube and not inside of the cowling.

What happens if you don’t have one and it’s cold is the end of the tube freezes shut, pressure builds up and the front crankshaft seal blows out, the windshield gets covered in oil so you can’t see out and if you don't quickly shut down the motor, it will seize. Of course first the engine over revs as the prop goes to min pitch stops from loss of oil pressure, so bad day  

If you plug that hole (s) be darn sure you unplug them before flight, personally I wouldn’t plug them but go thru the oil fill tube.

Edited Friday at 11:18 PM by A64Pilot

[201Steve]

2 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

If you plug that hole (s) be darn sure you unplug them before flight,

I mean…. If you somehow manage to tow your plane out of the hangar and drag a plugged in black max, and it stays attached… that would be more unlikely than an iced up breather. 
 

any accident reports that cites a frozen over breather tube?

[GeeBee]

35 minutes ago, 201Steve said:

I mean…. If you somehow manage to tow your plane out of the hangar and drag a plugged in black max, and it stays attached… that would be more unlikely than an iced up breather. 
 

any accident reports that cites a frozen over breather tube?

https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-recs/recletters/A84_10_11.pdf

https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/359436

 

It does not take much pressure to blow out the front crank seal.

[201Steve]

1 hour ago, GeeBee said:

https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-recs/recletters/A84_10_11.pdf

https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/359436

 

It does not take much pressure to blow out the front crank seal.

Interesting…. So the pipers were prone to it and the other was an AD situation. By the first write up it sounds like it insinuates that the ice forms from moisture escaping from inside the engine. That is wild. It’s really hot air from the start and then freezes by the time it gets toward the end of the tube. I wonder what makes a certain aircraft more prone to it than others.  I would have guessed rather that it accumulated from icing conditions outside, and just accumulated on the tip of the breather. 

[GeeBee]

One of the largest components of combustion is water vapor. That is where most the moisture buildup in your oil comes from that needs to be boiled off by running the engine. Next time you fly your airplane, remove the oil stick, put a piece of cold glass or mirror above the oil fill and see how much condensation you have.

[A64Pilot]

12 hours ago, 201Steve said:

I mean…. If you somehow manage to tow your plane out of the hangar and drag a plugged in black max, and it stays attached… that would be more unlikely than an iced up breather. 

If I understand the procedure and I don’t as I don’t own one, but plugging in the dehumidifier and plugging up the holes are different things? Done at the same time yes but different plugs.

By that I mean you can remove the dehumidifier and leave the holes plugged?

I just don’t see the downside to pumping air in through the oil fill tube, it’s connected to the same place, and as an old arthritic guy not having to get on the floor to remove the thing would be a big plus

[Pinecone]

13 hours ago, GeeBee said:

 Next time you fly your airplane, remove the oil stick, put a piece of cold glass or mirror above the oil fill and see how much condensation you have.

Just open the oil fill and you can see the stream of steam leaving.

 

[201Steve]

23 hours ago, GeeBee said:

One of the largest components of combustion is water vapor. That is where most the moisture buildup in your oil comes from

Sure, but it’s pretty hot air. As it seems to be more vulnerable to certain AC (running common engines) I guess it has a good deal to do with how the breather is routed, diameter, the heat presence at the location near the end of the tube, etc. I couldn’t find the Lake AD from my phone to see what they found.