Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Oil Separator Catch Bottle
My 750 STOL has a Jabiru 3300 with a Motion Aero oil separator. This has worked great and I have very scant drainage from the separator's vent tube, which terminates just below the lower firewall's edge. It has totally eliminated any oily streaks on the aircraft's belly!
I keep my 750 in an insulated hangar and use a thermostatically-controlled Hornet aircraft cowl heater (explosion-proof, solid state heating element, incapable of "runaway" heat or fire) in the lower cowl to keep the engine warm in the winter. I have a fitted cowl blanket to retain heat on the upper cowl and the blanket also blocks the air intakes, etc. I've usually stuffed an old pillow into the lower cowl's large exhaust air exit to block cold air and reduce the demands on the cowl heater and decrease the heater's cycling frequency. Obviously, after engine shut-down, I've had to wait a few minutes to allow things to cool down before stuffing the pillow in the opening so as not to melt it or start a fire!
Recently, I decided to make an insulated block-off plate to replace the pillow. It's designed so it can't touch any hot exhaust and is covered with aluminum foil tape to reflect heat and provide a modicum of fire-resistance. Just to be extra-cautious, I still wait till the exhaust has cooled-off a bit before inserting the block-off plate.
However, when I slide the block-off plate into the lower cowl opening, the protruding oil separator vent tube is in the way. The vent tube is rubber and will bend out of the way, but it typically will leave a smudge of oil drainage on the block-off plate when it does this. Mark at Motion Aero (great customer service, by the way!) said it would be fine to cut the vent tube shorter and simply catch the rare drop of drainage with a catch bottle.
As I said, at most there is a rare, occasional drop of drainage ... I don't think there would be more than a few cc's accumulate in an entire year! Therefore, I would like to use a small (few ounces at most!), lightweight catch bottle. I assume translucent plastic would be best so one could see if there was actually anything in it.
Just wondering if anyone has a recommendation for small, ready-made bottle - preferable one with a barbed fitting to attach to the vent tube hose and another opening to vent the bottle. Perhaps someone has re-purposed a bottle intended for another use? There are innumerable "catch cans" available in the automotive world, but most are metal with much higher capacities and filters, etc - I really think that would be overkill in my particular situation. If I can't find something ready-made, I'm thinking of re-purposing one of those small plastic oil sample bottles provided with aircraft oil analysis test kits.
John
N750A
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Norm Neuls on
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John, some time back I fabricated an air/oil catch bottle on the breather of my Viking 110 engine. Initially I had an aluminum tube directly vented and exiting just below the bottom of the firewall. It's on the right in the first photo. I was getting very little oil exiting that tube but for visual confirmation I fabricated the catch bottle and ingress/egress tubes. I used a small relish jar (glass) with the inlet tube just above the bottom and the outlet (180 degrees) tube just below the bottom of the lid. It confirmed next to no oil exiting so I removed it after some period of time and reinstalled the single tube. I could reinstall the catch bottle if ever needed with little effort.
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Permalink Reply by John Austin on
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I'm was envisioning something similar with a translucent plastic bottle. I had posted a query on the JabCamit group forum and Mark (from Motion Aero) mentioned that they are coming out with a system to terminate the vent tube in the exhaust pipe so that the exhaust flow will create a negative pressure on the vent and vaporize any drainage - supposedly this will be available this Spring. I may go ahead with a plastic catch can for now and consider the new system if it is an easy installation and inexpensive.
John
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Permalink Reply by David R Anderson on
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Hi John, since your original post on this subject was back in January, my reply here is probably moot. I came across your post while looking for some information from Viking Aircraft Engines that I recalled seeing some time ago on an oil catch tank. I completed installation of an oil catch tank today. I have a Viking 110 engine. Attached are some pictures showing my installation using a .5 (1/2) quart translucent plastic tank from U.S. Plastic Corporation (they have many sizes and designs). Cost was $16.24 not including shipping. I still need to secure the aluminum vent tubing to the firewall. Pardon my 'peeling paint'!
Dave
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Oil Catch Tank (overview).jpg, 107 KB
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Oil Catch Tank (front).jpg, 61 KB
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