Hello community, my name is Clemens, I live in Germany.
After flying a rented Seneca III in the U.S. and Canada in holidays 2014, I decided that this fabulous aircraft would be perfect for my needs. Since two years now I am the proud owner of a PA34-220T built in 1981.
But there is a major problem we cannot get solved:
The deicing-boots worked well when I tested them before buying the aircraft. But getting higher (and colder) I found out that they did not work in this environment.
Usually when you press the switch to initiate the boot-inflation sequence, the suction needle moves a little bit to the lower side, which is normal. This does not happen then, so I guess it is not a problem of too low pressure. Nevertheless I tried it again with max continuous power - the same - no reaction. Coming lower (and warmer) the boots worked well again.
As we were still unsure if this was a problem of temperature or altitude the maintainence shop ice-sprayed the solenoids, one was perfect the other one was exchanged. One suction pump was also replaced by a new one.
Then flight testing: same result.
Next step was to replace the boots. They were on since 1981 and had quite a lot of little holes that were plastered in former times and broke off again. As we inflated the boots on the ground, there was water dripping out of the holes. Our theory: In the phase of deflating the water behind the boots was sucked into the solenoids, where it freezed and blocked the function in temperatures below freezing level. Sounds reasonable!
Yesterday my first flight with the new boots, 16.000 ft, –17º C, no boots operation. (On the ground and in the climb we tested them successfully.)
So the question remains: What is the reason? Temperature? Altitude? Anything else we do not consider?
Any hints or experiences from the community?
Thanks in advance
Clemens
After flying a rented Seneca III in the U.S. and Canada in holidays 2014, I decided that this fabulous aircraft would be perfect for my needs. Since two years now I am the proud owner of a PA34-220T built in 1981.
But there is a major problem we cannot get solved:
The deicing-boots worked well when I tested them before buying the aircraft. But getting higher (and colder) I found out that they did not work in this environment.
Usually when you press the switch to initiate the boot-inflation sequence, the suction needle moves a little bit to the lower side, which is normal. This does not happen then, so I guess it is not a problem of too low pressure. Nevertheless I tried it again with max continuous power - the same - no reaction. Coming lower (and warmer) the boots worked well again.
As we were still unsure if this was a problem of temperature or altitude the maintainence shop ice-sprayed the solenoids, one was perfect the other one was exchanged. One suction pump was also replaced by a new one.
Then flight testing: same result.
Next step was to replace the boots. They were on since 1981 and had quite a lot of little holes that were plastered in former times and broke off again. As we inflated the boots on the ground, there was water dripping out of the holes. Our theory: In the phase of deflating the water behind the boots was sucked into the solenoids, where it freezed and blocked the function in temperatures below freezing level. Sounds reasonable!
Yesterday my first flight with the new boots, 16.000 ft, –17º C, no boots operation. (On the ground and in the climb we tested them successfully.)
So the question remains: What is the reason? Temperature? Altitude? Anything else we do not consider?
Any hints or experiences from the community?
Thanks in advance
Clemens
