What I have been told by old hands in the avionics business is also that when a plane has been sitting around for months, the avionics boxes start to give trouble.
The only cause I can imagine is that humidity accumulates in the cockpit, and doesn’t escape easily.
Fortunately there is an easy solution. I keep a 0.5kg bag or two of silica gel in the cockpit the whole time, changing them over every time I fly. Then they go in the oven at +120C overnight, to recover them. Make sure you get the fabric stitched ones; the cheaper ones cannot be baked.
Fortunately there is an easy solution. I keep a 0.5kg bag or two of silica gel in the cockpit the whole time, changing them over every time I fly.
Do you have a hygrometer in your cockpit and keep track of rel. humidity? Would be interesting. I have a little oil radiator in the cockpit, keeping it at 11°C which is enough to keep it over the dew point with a good margin.
You can get silica gel much cheaper now as cat litter. That removes the need to bake it, you can just toss it. It even has a color indicator (blue) to show you whether it is saturated. It looks like the blue stuff that Walter White cooked in Breaking Bad although I haven’t given it a try yet. It’s really great to have a cheap source of the stuff now, only appeared some time ago.
((Breaking Bad, best TV show I’ve ever watched!))
It looks like the blue stuff that Walter White cooked in Breaking Bad although I haven’t given it a try yet
You are not planning to smoke cat litter, are you? ;-)
Do you have a hygrometer in your cockpit and keep track of rel. humidity? Would be interesting.
I have a handheld RH meter. On a quick and dirty measurement, the silica gel bag reduces the RH by 10 percentage points, which is a huge reduction when you consider the ambient might be 99% if it’s raining.
I have a little oil radiator in the cockpit, keeping it at 11°C which is enough to keep it over the dew point with a good margin.
That will probably do the same thing, but you need power, which is not an option for me.
You can get silica gel much cheaper now as cat litter. That removes the need to bake it, you can just toss it. It even has a color indicator (blue) to show you whether it is saturated. It looks like the blue stuff that Walter White cooked in Breaking Bad although I haven’t given it a try yet. It’s really great to have a cheap source of the stuff now, only appeared some time ago.
Isn’t cat litter supplied as granules? They get everywhere. Plus they smell really bad – or is that cat food that smells like cat s**t?
I paid about £6/bag.
It actually doesn’t have any smell, as far as I remember … (20 years ago). I
Isn’t cat litter supplied as granules? They get everywhere. Plus they smell really bad
The traditional cat litter is ground clay/bentonite but the new type is exactly the silica gel you buy in bags. I just bought 30l of it for 20 €. The color dye is a nice extra effect. Be sure to buy one without scent, just the pure gel. Something like this.
It actually doesn’t have any smell, as far as I remember … (20 years ago). I
Silica gel cat litter only appeared a few years ago. It is just the easiest and cheapest source of silica gel today. I don’t have any cats (and will never have one), just found that this is the best source of the stuff.
I would have to agree that “if you don’t use it, you will eventually lose it”. This applies equally to planes, trains automobiles, and boats…
Anything mechanical left standing for a given period, will eventually rot out from under you.
Specifically to my aircraft if either are left standing for more than four weeks, particularly near salt water, the gremlins will come.
O-rings dry out, corrosion gets into all sorts of unwanted places, especially cannon plugs, and avionics start to play up.
Same goes for extreme cold… Contact cleaner is my best friend out here.
And please, do not get me started on boats. Wasn’t there some sage old advice about rental being best!
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