Water dripping from the breather tube?????

[clipquito]

Just put new oil hoses in my Clipper. It went well but yesterday I noticed water dripping from my breather tube (slight amount but noticeable). Must be condensation somewhere, but where? how? Other than this I just have some annoying oil residue dripping.

[bluejeepdad]

The main products of combustion are CO2 and water. A portion of both leaks past the piston rings and in to the crankcase, and then ends up going out the breather. If the breather pipe is cool enough the water condenses and drips out.

Tim

[clipquito]

Thanks Tim.

[Stephen]

Just put new oil hoses in my Clipper. It went well but yesterday I noticed water dripping from my breather tube (slight amount but noticeable). Must be condensation somewhere, but where? how? Other than this I just have some annoying oil residue dripping.

This is not unusual after running your engine. It happens even after getting my oil temps up above 180 degrees. I removed my oil separator long ago. This gives me something to clean up in my hangar.

[laserjad]

Have oil separators completely fallen out of favor?

Sent from my SM-G935F using ShortWingPipers.Org mobile app

[at7615]

During March 2020 annual, found the breather tube clogged and full of water. Pulled it and cleaned it thoroughly. Recommend inspection and cleaning every 100HR.

[Gilbert Pierce]

For every gallon of gasoline you burn you generate about a gallon of water. Burning gas is simply a chemical reaction between the hydrogen in the fuel and the oxygen the engine sucks in. Result, water and a bunch junk; CO2, CO, NOX, etc. They initially exists as a vapor. Cool it and you get liquid water. The vapor goes out the exhaust and blows by the piston rings into your oil and out the crankcase vent. Cool the gasses that go out the vent and you get water. I have my vent pipe insulated. To keep the water from condensing in the oil or get rid of the water that condensed while the engine was warming up you need hot oil to vaporize the water.

The valve that by-passes your oil cooler to keep the oil hot, if you have one, is to insure your oil cooler only receives hot oil, is designed to keep the oil at at least 180 degrees. We all know they don’t work well in winter when they are needed.
It is commonly called the vernatherm valve. Supposed to do what the thermostat does in your car.

When you shut your hot engine down the crankcase is full of hot water vapor. As the engine cools the water condenses on all the cooling steel and aluminum parts in your engine if the ambient temperature drops below the due point of that hot vapor as it does in the winter. The oil has additives to protect against this but they do a poor job over time. That’s why many of us use CamGuard. https://aslcamguard.com/
After flight in cold weather I remove the the oil dip stick and connect my shop vac to the engine vent tube for about five minutes while I close the hangar up to remove that hot vapor.


For further reading on the subject: https://www.kitplanes.com/separator-or-condenser/

[Jim]

Hi,

My breather hose had a dip in it on the way toward the outlet. Once upon a time that dip held enough water to freeze. The next time I fired up the plane the internal engine pressure pushed out the front crankshaft oil seal. It won't blow much oil out through there, but enough that you should notice on the next preflight.

[at7615]

For every gallon of gasoline you burn you generate about a gallon of water. Burning gas is simply a chemical reaction between the hydrogen in the fuel and the oxygen the engine sucks in. Result, water and a bunch junk; CO2, CO, NOX, etc. They initially exists as a vapor. Cool it and you get liquid water. The vapor goes out the exhaust and blows by the piston rings into your oil and out the crankcase vent. Cool the gasses that go out the vent and you get water. I have my vent pipe insulated. To keep the water from condensing in the oil or get rid of the water that condensed while the engine was warming up you need hot oil to vaporize the water.

The valve that by-passes your oil cooler to keep the oil hot, if you have one, is to insure your oil cooler only receives hot oil, is designed to keep the oil at at least 180 degrees. We all know they don’t work well in winter when they are needed.
It is commonly called the vernatherm valve. Supposed to do what the thermostat does in your car.

When you shut your hot engine down the crankcase is full of hot water vapor. As the engine cools the water condenses on all the cooling steel and aluminum parts in your engine if the ambient temperature drops below the due point of that hot vapor as it does in the winter. The oil has additives to protect against this but they do a poor job over time. That’s why many of us use CamGuard. https://aslcamguard.com/
After flight in cold weather I remove the the oil dip stick and connect my shop vac to the engine vent tube for about five minutes while I close the hangar up to remove that hot vapor.


For further reading on the subject: https://www.kitplanes.com/separator-or-condenser/

Big fan of CamGuard!

[at7615]

Hi,

My breather hose had a dip in it on the way toward the outlet. Once upon a time that dip held enough water to freeze. The next time I fired up the plane the internal engine pressure pushed out the front crankshaft oil seal. It won't blow much oil out through there, but enough that you should notice on the next preflight.

That is exactly what was going on on the one I just worked on, its right now!