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ashontz
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 723
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 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:17 am Post subject: Re: Leaky Prosealed Tank |
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You don't have to full submerge it, just kind of push it down a bit and rotate it around it longitudinal axis. The tank should fit in my big Igloo fishing cooler.
[quote="William Dominguez"]That should work too but the soapy water worked very well for me and is simpler to do. I weight 150 pounds and I would have a hard time submerging 15 gallons of air in a tank of water, it might even float with me standing on top.
If you pressurize your tank using a balloons you might have to leave the balloon out of the water connected to the fitting via a hose.
William Dominguez
Zodiac 601XL Plans
Miami Florida
http://geocities.com/bill_dom
--- On Wed, 2/18/09, ashontz <ashontz> wrote:
| Quote: |
From: ashontz <ashontz>
Subject: Zenith-List: Re: Leaky Prosealed Tank
To: zenith-list(at)matronics.com
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 10:54 AM
--> Zenith-List message posted by: "ashontz" <url>
How about submerging the entire tank in water while it's pressurized and look for leaks, like they do with car tires at your local Tire World?
I'm just about to test one of my tanks (welded) and I think I'll do it that way myself.
--------
Andy Shontz
do not archive
CH601XL - Corvair
www.mykitlog.com/ashontz
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.cosp; --> http========================http://www.matronics.com/contributio==============
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bryanmmartin
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1018
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:18 am Post subject: Leaky Prosealed Tank |
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Have you ever tried to hold a beach ball under water? It's not easy
and a beach ball only holds about 3 gallons of air, now think about
trying to hold a 12 or 16 gallon fuel tank full of air under water.
You need about 8 pounds of force to submerge each gallon of air. A
spray bottle of soapy water is much, much easier.
| Quote: |
How about submerging the entire tank in water while it's pressurized
and look for leaks, like they do with car tires at your local Tire
World?
I'm just about to test one of my tanks (welded) and I think I'll do
it that way myself.
|
--
Bryan Martin
N61BM, CH 601 XL,
RAM Subaru, Stratus redrive.
do not archive.
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_________________
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Bryan Martin
N61BM, CH 601 XL, Stratus Subaru.
do not archive. |
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ashontz
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 723
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:21 am Post subject: Re: Leaky Prosealed Tank |
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I do this with car tires all the time. Works great. Plus, the tank doesn't need to be completely submerged all at once.
| bryanmmartin wrote: | Have you ever tried to hold a beach ball under water? It's not easy
and a beach ball only holds about 3 gallons of air, now think about
trying to hold a 12 or 16 gallon fuel tank full of air under water.
You need about 8 pounds of force to submerge each gallon of air. A
spray bottle of soapy water is much, much easier.
| Quote: |
How about submerging the entire tank in water while it's pressurized
and look for leaks, like they do with car tires at your local Tire
World?
I'm just about to test one of my tanks (welded) and I think I'll do
it that way myself.
|
--
Bryan Martin
N61BM, CH 601 XL,
RAM Subaru, Stratus redrive.
do not archive. |
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leinad
Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 283
Location: Central Virginia
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:44 pm Post subject: Re: Leaky Prosealed Tank |
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Andy,
In fact, to find my slow leak I did have to submerge it. As much as I tried the soapy water just wasn't cutting it. Bill has a good point though, you won't be able to submerge the hole tank easily. I only had to submerge the seams I was inspecting under a few inches of water in my bathtub to find the leak. My tanks only had about 1 PSI air pressure in them, as I felt that anymore pressure would have damaged them. To pressurize the tanks i used a bicycle pump and a nozzle as used on bladder tanks (as in a house on well water). I'll attach a picture.
Dan
| ashontz wrote: | How about submerging the entire tank in water while it's pressurized and look for leaks, like they do with car tires at your local Tire World?
I'm just about to test one of my tanks (welded) and I think I'll do it that way myself. |
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| air nozzle purchased from local building supply store |
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Scratch building XL with Corvair Engine |
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ashontz
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 723
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:42 pm Post subject: Re: Leaky Prosealed Tank |
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Dan, what kind of fitting are you using for the drain? I'm guessing it's some sort of riveted fitting? I welded that fitting on the first tank I made (as well as the outlet fitting), but if I can get away without welding either that's fine by me. Just welded seams suits me fine. The only advantage I see with a welded drain fitting is that it can be flush welded before I form the tank skin.
One other thing, I moved my fuel sender to the top of the tank like Scott Laughlins. However, instead of welding an aluminum mounting ring to the tank, I just made up a horseshoe shaped fitting as a backer plate. The advantage of the horseshoe shape, I can insert it through the access hole after the fact. If it ever needs maintenance, like I strip a thread or something, just make a new one and put it in there. And again, NO WELDING on a problematic part. I've welded a few fittings, they're a lot harder than edge welds. Edge welds are about all I want to mess with, but they do look nice. 
| leinad wrote: | Andy,
In fact, to find my slow leak I did have to submerge it. As much as I tried the soapy water just wasn't cutting it. Bill has a good point though, you won't be able to submerge the hole tank easily. I only had to submerge the seams I was inspecting under a few inches of water in my bathtub to find the leak. My tanks only had about 1 PSI air pressure in them, as I felt that anymore pressure would have damaged them. To pressurize the tanks i used a bicycle pump and a nozzle as used on bladder tanks (as in a house on well water). I'll attach a picture.
Dan
| ashontz wrote: | How about submerging the entire tank in water while it's pressurized and look for leaks, like they do with car tires at your local Tire World?
I'm just about to test one of my tanks (welded) and I think I'll do it that way myself. |
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leinad
Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 283
Location: Central Virginia
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:32 pm Post subject: Re: Leaky Prosealed Tank |
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Andy,
I was planning on welding the tanks, so I had the weldable fittings that ACS sells. I had also gotten OK at welding the seams with my oxy acetylene set up, but I just wasn't confident enough to do my tanks with it. These weldable fittings are riveted from inside the tanks. I pro-sealed and riveted these before I riveted the seams.
Dan
| ashontz wrote: | Dan, what kind of fitting are you using for the drain? I'm guessing it's some sort of riveted fitting? I welded that fitting on the first tank I made (as well as the outlet fitting), but if I can get away without welding either that's fine by me. Just welded seams suits me fine. The only advantage I see with a welded drain fitting is that it can be flush welded before I form the tank skin.
One other thing, I moved my fuel sender to the top of the tank like Scott Laughlins. However, instead of welding an aluminum mounting ring to the tank, I just made up a horseshoe shaped fitting as a backer plate. The advantage of the horseshoe shape, I can insert it through the access hole after the fact. If it ever needs maintenance, like I strip a thread or something, just make a new one and put it in there. And again, NO WELDING on a problematic part. I've welded a few fittings, they're a lot harder than edge welds. Edge welds are about all I want to mess with, but they do look nice. :)
| leinad wrote: | Andy,
In fact, to find my slow leak I did have to submerge it. As much as I tried the soapy water just wasn't cutting it. Bill has a good point though, you won't be able to submerge the hole tank easily. I only had to submerge the seams I was inspecting under a few inches of water in my bathtub to find the leak. My tanks only had about 1 PSI air pressure in them, as I felt that anymore pressure would have damaged them. To pressurize the tanks i used a bicycle pump and a nozzle as used on bladder tanks (as in a house on well water). I'll attach a picture.
Dan
| ashontz wrote: | How about submerging the entire tank in water while it's pressurized and look for leaks, like they do with car tires at your local Tire World?
I'm just about to test one of my tanks (welded) and I think I'll do it that way myself. |
|
|
| | - The Matronics Zenith-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Zenith-List |
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Scratch building XL with Corvair Engine |
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ashontz
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 723
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:35 am Post subject: Re: Leaky Prosealed Tank |
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The second tank, I'm only going to weld the drain fitting, the other fittings are going to be bulkhead fittings from Aircraft Spruce. I've already had luck with the vent using a bulkhead fitting, I'll do the same deal with the outlet on the second one.
Yeah, the aluminum welding is difficult to master, but my seams look pretty good these days. I'm going to try to post some pixs on my mykitlog site. I'm using a oxy-acetelene jeweler's torch from Harbor Freight. Nice and lightweight. With plenty of flux on the parts and the rod the welding seems to proceed nicely. In fact, what I'm finding is, if it's not going smooth as silk, then the metal is starting to get oxidized and it's time to either immediately get more flux on the part and rod or move to another area and come back to that area later on a second welding pass after a cool down and clean up. When the welding is going right, it actually progresses pretty quickly and an entire end seam can be completed in about 10 minutes or less.
I've got my two ends welded with a few areas I'm going to go back and clean up and just the long seam to do, then it's on to the second tank. Seams like 90% of the welding is either getting ready to weld or cleanup after welding.
Another thing, I decided to make my tanks out of .050 3003, it's welds a lot easier. I also added a slide-in baffle assembly to my tank which you can check out once I post my pix.
| leinad wrote: | Andy,
I was planning on welding the tanks, so I had the weldable fittings that ACS sells. I had also gotten OK at welding the seams with my oxy acetylene set up, but I just wasn't confident enough to do my tanks with it. These weldable fittings are riveted from inside the tanks. I pro-sealed and riveted these before I riveted the seams.
Dan
| ashontz wrote: | Dan, what kind of fitting are you using for the drain? I'm guessing it's some sort of riveted fitting? I welded that fitting on the first tank I made (as well as the outlet fitting), but if I can get away without welding either that's fine by me. Just welded seams suits me fine. The only advantage I see with a welded drain fitting is that it can be flush welded before I form the tank skin.
One other thing, I moved my fuel sender to the top of the tank like Scott Laughlins. However, instead of welding an aluminum mounting ring to the tank, I just made up a horseshoe shaped fitting as a backer plate. The advantage of the horseshoe shape, I can insert it through the access hole after the fact. If it ever needs maintenance, like I strip a thread or something, just make a new one and put it in there. And again, NO WELDING on a problematic part. I've welded a few fittings, they're a lot harder than edge welds. Edge welds are about all I want to mess with, but they do look nice.
| leinad wrote: | Andy,
In fact, to find my slow leak I did have to submerge it. As much as I tried the soapy water just wasn't cutting it. Bill has a good point though, you won't be able to submerge the hole tank easily. I only had to submerge the seams I was inspecting under a few inches of water in my bathtub to find the leak. My tanks only had about 1 PSI air pressure in them, as I felt that anymore pressure would have damaged them. To pressurize the tanks i used a bicycle pump and a nozzle as used on bladder tanks (as in a house on well water). I'll attach a picture.
Dan
| ashontz wrote: | How about submerging the entire tank in water while it's pressurized and look for leaks, like they do with car tires at your local Tire World?
I'm just about to test one of my tanks (welded) and I think I'll do it that way myself. |
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http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Zenith-List |
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