DakotaHawk
Well Known Member
I built my RV-7, and this is my story.
My RV-7 was signed off by the FAA in Oct 2009, and first flight was in Dec 2009. In the past fourteen months, I have flown exactly 200 hours. Flights have included over 50 friends and family members, long cross-country flights from Washington to OshKosh, shorter cross-country flights to Utah and Oregon, and lots of $100 Hamburger flights.
One safety item that I installed in my panel is a CO Gaurdian Carbon Monoxide Detector.
During the early months and up until about 150 hours on the Hobbs, my CO detector would begin alarming during certain flight regimes. For example, when I pulled the throttle back to about 12"MAP and entered a descent, another example is slow cruise at about 18" MAP and no maneuvering, I would hear the persistent "beep beep" of the CO monitor. My response was to open the fresh air vents and try to get some fresh air into the space behind the panel where the monitor draws it's air sample from.
Finally, I decided to really dig into the cause of the alarm and find out why I was getting it. My first thought was that someone in the plane had flatulence and may have caused a spike in gasses.
But my passengers kept denying it, so I had to investigate further.
After de-cowling and setting up a 500W halogen lamp on the outside of the firewall, I closed the hangar door and turned off all other lights. Crawling under the panel, lo and behold, I had enough light showing through the firewall to light up the Superbowl!
OK, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration! I could see slivers of light on the outside edges of the firewall. Now, to be honest, I knew that I had missed a step in the building process. When the firewall is completely ready to rivet to the fuselage, there's a step that says "run a bead of Pro-Seal along the entire joint, and then rivet the firewall to the fuselage". My firewall was cleco'd in place for several months before I finally got up the nerve to close out the easy access to the cabin. When I got to that step, I didn't go back and read the directions, so I missed the Pro-Seal. I didn't think it was that big of a deal!
So fast forward to the Superbowl lights. I got some Hi-Temp gasket maker and ran a bead on the cabin side of the firewall. After letting the material set, I did the halogen light test again and filled in a couple of stray light sources.
I did this work about 50 Hobbs hours ago. Since completing the sealing of the firewall, I haven't had a single CO monitor alarm! Next time I hear that alarm, I'll pay much closer attention to it. I really should have paid attention to it from the beginning. It was trying to tell me exactly what it was supposed to tell me!
My RV-7 was signed off by the FAA in Oct 2009, and first flight was in Dec 2009. In the past fourteen months, I have flown exactly 200 hours. Flights have included over 50 friends and family members, long cross-country flights from Washington to OshKosh, shorter cross-country flights to Utah and Oregon, and lots of $100 Hamburger flights.
One safety item that I installed in my panel is a CO Gaurdian Carbon Monoxide Detector.
During the early months and up until about 150 hours on the Hobbs, my CO detector would begin alarming during certain flight regimes. For example, when I pulled the throttle back to about 12"MAP and entered a descent, another example is slow cruise at about 18" MAP and no maneuvering, I would hear the persistent "beep beep" of the CO monitor. My response was to open the fresh air vents and try to get some fresh air into the space behind the panel where the monitor draws it's air sample from.
Finally, I decided to really dig into the cause of the alarm and find out why I was getting it. My first thought was that someone in the plane had flatulence and may have caused a spike in gasses.
But my passengers kept denying it, so I had to investigate further.After de-cowling and setting up a 500W halogen lamp on the outside of the firewall, I closed the hangar door and turned off all other lights. Crawling under the panel, lo and behold, I had enough light showing through the firewall to light up the Superbowl!
OK, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration! I could see slivers of light on the outside edges of the firewall. Now, to be honest, I knew that I had missed a step in the building process. When the firewall is completely ready to rivet to the fuselage, there's a step that says "run a bead of Pro-Seal along the entire joint, and then rivet the firewall to the fuselage". My firewall was cleco'd in place for several months before I finally got up the nerve to close out the easy access to the cabin. When I got to that step, I didn't go back and read the directions, so I missed the Pro-Seal. I didn't think it was that big of a deal!
So fast forward to the Superbowl lights. I got some Hi-Temp gasket maker and ran a bead on the cabin side of the firewall. After letting the material set, I did the halogen light test again and filled in a couple of stray light sources.
I did this work about 50 Hobbs hours ago. Since completing the sealing of the firewall, I haven't had a single CO monitor alarm! Next time I hear that alarm, I'll pay much closer attention to it. I really should have paid attention to it from the beginning. It was trying to tell me exactly what it was supposed to tell me!
