I've been lurking for a while and decided to post a couple of pics of my leak test setup. I bought my first TT a month or so ago and she has a leak and some water damage to the floor (working on fixing that now).
Step one was to find/confirm the location of the leak(s) and fix. I did some poking around here and came up with some good ideas for finding leaks. After some thought of what I have lying around the house I came up with the following: pump for my kids' bouncy house. A trip to Home Depot for some PVC, fittings and a plastic tub ($30) resulted in this setup. Worked like a charm! Found all the leaks this weekend and was pleasantly surprised that there were only a few. With the right setup, a squirt bottle of soapy water can be magic!
Just thought I would share incase anyone else could benefit from this in the future.
Step one was to find/confirm the location of the leak(s) and fix. I did some poking around here and came up with some good ideas for finding leaks. After some thought of what I have lying around the house I came up with the following: pump for my kids' bouncy house. A trip to Home Depot for some PVC, fittings and a plastic tub ($30) resulted in this setup. Worked like a charm! Found all the leaks this weekend and was pleasantly surprised that there were only a few. With the right setup, a squirt bottle of soapy water can be magic!
Just thought I would share incase anyone else could benefit from this in the future.
Nice system! Did you see the blue tub expand at all?
I've done the pressurized air test twice and plan to do it every year. It will turn up even the smallest of pinhole leaks. AFAIK, Sealtech uses a manometer on the machine that adjusts interior pressure to around .5 inches of water column. I used an HVAC furnace blower in a window and a DIY manometer which showed 1 inch of water column. Either of those pressures is sufficient for testing and a user will have a difficult time to get pressure in the interior to anything that would damage the structure.
A newer TT will have openings like under the tub for plumbing, the furnace vent, water heater enclosure, and other places where air can escape. That isn't critical if you have a good source of air like the OP's blower. It is amazing how much air comes out of the entrance door, for instance.
Since I rebuilt my rig and was very aware of water intrusion, I sealed everything using multiple types of sealing materials. I also have a lot of experience in construction so thought there would be no leaks. The first test, last year, turned up about 20 or so leaks. This year, I found about a half dozen. The pressurized air test is the only thing that will uncover all of the water intrusion points.
A pinhole leak:
I've done the pressurized air test twice and plan to do it every year. It will turn up even the smallest of pinhole leaks. AFAIK, Sealtech uses a manometer on the machine that adjusts interior pressure to around .5 inches of water column. I used an HVAC furnace blower in a window and a DIY manometer which showed 1 inch of water column. Either of those pressures is sufficient for testing and a user will have a difficult time to get pressure in the interior to anything that would damage the structure.
A newer TT will have openings like under the tub for plumbing, the furnace vent, water heater enclosure, and other places where air can escape. That isn't critical if you have a good source of air like the OP's blower. It is amazing how much air comes out of the entrance door, for instance.
Since I rebuilt my rig and was very aware of water intrusion, I sealed everything using multiple types of sealing materials. I also have a lot of experience in construction so thought there would be no leaks. The first test, last year, turned up about 20 or so leaks. This year, I found about a half dozen. The pressurized air test is the only thing that will uncover all of the water intrusion points.
A pinhole leak:
I read the specs where a Poulan 200-MPH Gas Blower/Vacuum has 25cc, 2-cycle gas-powered engine and 200mph and 430cfm.
450 CFM or so seemed to make enough pressure to create a bubble from the leaks by a good leaf blower.
I'm going to step this up a bit and buy a Portable ventilator and hose and build a custom internal adapter similar to the Sealtech mount and run it. I figure it will cost me about $125 but it will pay for itself once I find the leak as a local shop wanted 2-4 hours @ $120 an hour with a 2 hour minimum. I'd rather run this from the inside than all the contraptions I've seen hooked up with leaf blowers.
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-portable-ventilator-97762.html
This portable ventilator airs out rooms, circulates air or dries wet areas with a powerful air output from 1400 to 1574 CFM. Perfect for dry wall, painting, reglazing, resurfacing, auto body work, welding or any area that needs clean air fast. Features include a two-speed motor, an ergonomic handle for effortless transport and an aluminum blade and steel housing construction for long lasting performance.
•Ergonomic handle for effortless carrying
•Four rubber feet for secure footing on any surface
•High speed free air 1575 CFM
•Low speed free air 1400 CFM
450 CFM or so seemed to make enough pressure to create a bubble from the leaks by a good leaf blower.
I'm going to step this up a bit and buy a Portable ventilator and hose and build a custom internal adapter similar to the Sealtech mount and run it. I figure it will cost me about $125 but it will pay for itself once I find the leak as a local shop wanted 2-4 hours @ $120 an hour with a 2 hour minimum. I'd rather run this from the inside than all the contraptions I've seen hooked up with leaf blowers.
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-portable-ventilator-97762.html
This portable ventilator airs out rooms, circulates air or dries wet areas with a powerful air output from 1400 to 1574 CFM. Perfect for dry wall, painting, reglazing, resurfacing, auto body work, welding or any area that needs clean air fast. Features include a two-speed motor, an ergonomic handle for effortless transport and an aluminum blade and steel housing construction for long lasting performance.
•Ergonomic handle for effortless carrying
•Four rubber feet for secure footing on any surface
•High speed free air 1575 CFM
•Low speed free air 1400 CFM
CloudDriver wrote:
Several years back I ran a DIY leak test using an electric leaf blower. I did find some leaks but always wondered whether I was getting enough air pressure inside. I had used my U-tube manometer to measure the pressure and got about 0.7 inches of water. (In the picture the red stuff is colored water and each line is 1/2 inch)
A couple of weeks ago someone here posted a link to the Sealtech company, the folks that make the equipment for the "official" leak test done by RV dealers. This page on the Sealtech website has a link to their operating instructions, which says that the normal pressure should be between 0.3 and 0.6 inches of water. So any blower system that can produce that range of pressure will duplicate the Sealtech test.
When the weather warms up I'm going to hook up my manometer and see if I can get sufficient pressure by running the MH cab air blower on high and running my TurboMaxx fan on the bathroom vent full speed blowing in. Perhaps I don't really need the leaf blower.
let us know what you find for pressure. I have two fantastic fan vents, I'm curious to see if having them "suck" rather than "blow" might give enough pressure. IMHO you don't want much pressure, you don't want to make leaks, and soapy water doesn't take much to make a bubble.
I'll probably give my two fans a try. As far as I know I don't have any leaks but who knows!
Several years back I ran a DIY leak test using an electric leaf blower. I did find some leaks but always wondered whether I was getting enough air pressure inside. I had used my U-tube manometer to measure the pressure and got about 0.7 inches of water. (In the picture the red stuff is colored water and each line is 1/2 inch)
A couple of weeks ago someone here posted a link to the Sealtech company, the folks that make the equipment for the "official" leak test done by RV dealers. This page on the Sealtech website has a link to their operating instructions, which says that the normal pressure should be between 0.3 and 0.6 inches of water. So any blower system that can produce that range of pressure will duplicate the Sealtech test.
When the weather warms up I'm going to hook up my manometer and see if I can get sufficient pressure by running the MH cab air blower on high and running my TurboMaxx fan on the bathroom vent full speed blowing in. Perhaps I don't really need the leaf blower.
A couple of weeks ago someone here posted a link to the Sealtech company, the folks that make the equipment for the "official" leak test done by RV dealers. This page on the Sealtech website has a link to their operating instructions, which says that the normal pressure should be between 0.3 and 0.6 inches of water. So any blower system that can produce that range of pressure will duplicate the Sealtech test.
When the weather warms up I'm going to hook up my manometer and see if I can get sufficient pressure by running the MH cab air blower on high and running my TurboMaxx fan on the bathroom vent full speed blowing in. Perhaps I don't really need the leaf blower.
