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Antifreeze that is safe with integral water ballast tanks
As the cold weather is appraoching in the northern hemisphere what
antifreeze can be used safely in integral water ballast tanks such as in my Ventus? Also where do you buy it at a reasonable price? I am guessing the maximum use would be about 25% v/v at any time. I think I could often use 2gal Ethanol to 13gal of water in each wing. Methanol Ethanol Isopropyl alcohol Propylene glycol Others? Thanks, Tim |
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Antifreeze that is safe with integral water ballast tanks
Hi Tim,
Applying absolutely NO aviation-specific knowledge here, but your best bet is probably to buy plumbing antifreeze. Available at Canadian Tire (if in Canada) , or (I assume) at Walmart if in the U.S. If all else fails, you can buy it at ANY trailer parts / supply store. I assume winterization is the same for any form of water tank (perhaps a bad assumption), but you only need to use the winterizing fluid to displace / dilute the water, you don't need to fill the tank with winterizing fluid (in fact, air probably handles temperature change better than the best form of antifreeze). The main goal is to use the antifreeze to displace any water left at the bottom of the tanks, or iany fluid that is vapour locked in the tubes / dump valves. As such, put in enough fluid to ensure coverage, then allow it to flush through any tubing / valves that may have water in them. You should be able to do everything you need with a couple of 1-gallon jugs (windshield washer size), i.e. for about $6-10 dollars spent. Hope this helps, Graham Tim Taylor wrote: As the cold weather is appraoching in the northern hemisphere what antifreeze can be used safely in integral water ballast tanks such as in my Ventus? Also where do you buy it at a reasonable price? I am guessing the maximum use would be about 25% v/v at any time. I think I could often use 2gal Ethanol to 13gal of water in each wing. Methanol Ethanol Isopropyl alcohol Propylene glycol Others? Thanks, Tim |
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Antifreeze that is safe with integral water ballast tanks
For flights limited to a single day and the ballast added the day of
flight, I do not believe antifreeze is necessary. Given the very high heat capacity of water, the large volume, and the agitation that occurs during flight, it would not freeze. Dumping partial loads might be a problem in that the valves may ice up, preventing further dumping. Environmentally, ethanol would be the safest. Propylene glycol iand isopropyl alcohol are very toxic and very attractive to mammals. |
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Antifreeze that is safe with integral water ballast tanks
My mistake, I was assuming this was for winterization, not for use during
flight. -- Message posted via AviationKB.com http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...aring/200710/1 |
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Antifreeze that is safe with integral water ballast tanks
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Antifreeze that is safe with integral water ballast tanks
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Antifreeze that is safe with integral water ballast tanks
At 02:48 14 October 2007, Nyal Williams wrote:
Heated dump valves???? How big a battery would that take? If you reread the post, I was skeptical about the valves freezing being the only problem. That said, deicing cable for roofs only use about 5 watts/foot max. So if simply heating the dump valves would solve the problem of ballast freezing/not dumping I think heated valves would have long ago become an option, as it does not take a whole lot of power to simply keep water from freezing. It's not like your boiling it, just keeping it well within the liquid temp range. I can't imagine it hogging a lot of battery, and compared to the weight of the water being carried the additional few pounds of battery would be insignificant. It only would have to operate shortly before, and while dumping. Even if it took 100 watts, since it would only be needed for less than 15 minutes, a 2 amp/hour battery would cover it, and a 3 amp hour battery would still be chargeable afterwards so a dedicated 7 amp/hour batt would be more than sufficient, even at 100w/wing. Again, I think that ice IN the ballast box/bag is the problem, not frozen valves, so the heated valve was just a theoretical solution to what I perceived as an oversimplification of a 'possible' dangerous problem folks have encountered in the past. Again, I wonder if any proper studies have been done on the subject. Till then, if I need to load up during winter high flights, I will just use RV Antifreeze (non-toxic propylene glycol based antifreeze) Paul Hanson "Do the usual, unusually well"--Len Niemi |
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