Geez, Bill – too much
excitement for my blood. But, glad it happened on the ground during a
run-up – one of the reasons, you can’t spend too much time on ground run
ups. I probably had 30 hours before the first flight (perhaps a bit
excessive {:>)).
Sure wouldn’t think
14 psi would blow out a freeze plug – but guess it all depends on how secure
it is. Naturally, you would want to think whether any factors might have
caused localized pressure build up. The only freeze plugs I have
installed were in the aluminum turbo housings which had openings to exchange
coolant with the intake manifold.
If you were full tilt
boogie when it let go, I would imagine the exhaust was a mite hot and glycol,
of course, will burn if its flash point is exceeded. Having had a
fiberglass wheel pant burn when I had my brake fire, glad you got it put out
before it really got going.
Don’t start trying to
exceed my achievements in the “what can go wrong” arena
{:>)
Ed
From:
Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Bill Schertz
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 6:30
PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] NEW failure mode for
13B
Well, I haven't heard of this
happening before -- I was ground running my engine to tune it with the
EM-2 and EC-2. Ran for almost an hour, at various rpm's to change the
manifold pressure and tweak the settings. Cooling working well, I had the top
cowling off to allow good exit area since I was tied down. Coolant pressure
about 14 psi as reported on the EM-2.
Engine was running good, took it
up to ~6000 rpm swinging a 76x76 Catto prop, when suddenly there was steam and
fluid on my windshield. Shut it down by killing power to the EC-2. Coolant
everywhere.
Got out and looked to diagnose the
problem -- NOT my plumbing. A FREEZE PLUG in the iron housing had blown
out. Rapid coolant dump.
Secondary effect -- Since I shut
down suddenly from full tilt, either the proximity of the cowl to the exhaust,
or possibly some of the coolant on the exhaust started a small fire on my
cowl. Put it out with extinguisher, but corner is
charred.
Bill Schertz
KIS Cruiser
#4045
N343BS
__________ Information from ESET NOD32
Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3267 (20080714)
__________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com