Steamy windows in a pa28

[PompeyPaul]

Any tips on how to handle these ? Does leaving the side window open make the steam dispurse quicker or not ? Currently I'm employing the, grab handfuls of soft cloths and continuously clean them, option whilst giving pax a window to "own" the cleanliness of. Any top tips for de-steaming and remaining de-steamed ?

[jxc]

I can only imagine the responses you are going to get on this

I will leave it for others to comment as I can't think of anything clean

[dont overfil]

Neat liquid soap on a soft cloth breaks down the surface tension of the moisture and delays the onset of steaming up. The technique used to be used on cars before heated screens.
Obviously you also need as much ventilation as possible.
I bet the fan doesn't work!
DO.

[Final 3 Greens]

Turn the demister on.

[7AC]

The commonest cause of this is that the inside of the aeroplane is very damp.
It is more noticeable in the winter in cold weather due to the sharp temperature difference
between inside and out.When you use the heaters the moisture is held in suspension and condenses on the windows, and the inside of the skin if you could see it.
The best long term answer is to place a good dehumidifier in the aeroplane and remove
the cushions open the floor panels and check for standing water in the belly. This is very common in aeroplanes that are stored outside and probably have bad door and window seals.

[dont overfil]

Stop breathing.
DO.

[Pace]

stop taking gorgeous women for flights with skirts around their backsides

Pace

[vanHorck]

stop taking gorgeous women for flights with skirts around their backsides

Pace


Don't stop taking gorgeous women on flights with skirts around their backsides, especially those with stockings, but check your seals, dry out your plane well and put a de-humidifier in your plane when not in use (just put it also on your pre flight check to remove before flight!)

Bert

[Lister Noble]

I had a year learning to fly in two PA28's and never had this problem,but both aircraft were put in the hangar after use.
In fact I've never had this with any aircraft ,but I'ver never flown one that is parked outside.
If the aircraft is parked outside then as has been said,there could be quite a bit of moisture on board.
Lister

[IO540]

It's probably water soaked up in the seats and trim.

Get some 500g bags of silica gel and change them every week or so.

Get them cloth packed not plastic packed, so they can be recycled in an oven; +120C overnight does it.

There is a firm selling them for about £5 each. I can't find their details at the moment.

This is much better than the little £20-30 dehumidifier thingies which hold only about 200g of the material.

[effortless]

And have you noticed how the view changes when you lean forward to wipe the screen? Goes all green don't it?

[Fuji Abound]

If it is down to everything in the aircraft being damp and presumably the aircraft leaking and being left out I would see if you can get it in a hangar for a week. If you can put a proper de-humidifier on one of the seats (you can buy just the job for boats and they are not very expensive). These are really effective at "sucking" all the water out. You then have half a chance of spotting where the leaks are and rectifying the problem otherwise it will just come back to haunt you. Needless to say a canvass cover will also help enormously and may even solve the problem of water getting back in.

Of course it is not just the unpleasantness of everything being damp and the windows fogging over but imagine the damage it is doing to the avionics, upholstery and floor.

[Johnm]

My Archer has the standard leaking door seal problem and lives outside. I keep it reasonably free of steamed up windows by keeping two dehumidifiers and two bags of silica gel in it and using one of Cambrai's excellent aeroplane covers.

It's wise to fly it in the sunshine quite a lot too

[Pianorak]

Kiltox Desivent KDV300 Rechargeable Mini Dehumidifier.

I have been using these for years in my Archer and, touch wood, have had no problems with condensation. The avionics seem to be happy!

[tuscan]

GeeJay Chemicals - Desiccant Silica Gel Sachets in the UK.

Silica gel sachets | Storage protection | Packaging Supplier Rajapack

These are two companies who supply gel sachets that I use regularly.

You also get self indicating gel that changes colour from orange to green when contaminated by moisture.

[IO540]

GeeJay is the firm. Make sure the bags are stitched cloth so they can be heated in an oven. The plastic ones can't.

[PompeyPaul]

Thanks

Thanks for the replies, some good info

[flybymike]

Do the bags have to be heated in an electric oven or a gas oven ( which may itself release moisture due to combustion) or can they be dried in a microwave? If a "proper" oven how long for ? an hour or two? overnight?

[cockney steve]

AFAIK Silica gel,being just a basic dessicant chemical, ALL changes colour to (pink?) when it has wicked-up atmospheric moisture.


All the good people on here who passed their PPL (and some of us who haven't) will understand RELATIVE HUMIDITY...long as you don't try heating it with steam, any heat-source will remove the moisture, to the RH of the temperature-environment it's in....wether it be gas/electric oven / on top of a radiator / on the back of a CRT monitor / in front of a coal-fire........when it's as dry as it can easily be got, it'll have changed colour.......use and repeat, ad infinitum.

[IO540]

All normal ovens are vented so any water which comes out will just disappear out of the oven. But if the oven is not vented then that won't work... The oven I use is an industrial one with a 1" diameter hole at the top.

One can't microwave the siliga gel, AFAIK.