English autumn/winter storage advice ???

[parasite drag]

Can I ask advice here regarding keeping my machine protected from the elements given that we seem to be moving straight to autumn ??

[misterbonkers]

une hangar

[FullTravelFree]

‪Very nice automatic Robinson R44 hangar‬‏ - YouTube

...when your backgarden is big enough, and your helicopter small enough.

[HowlingMad Murdock]

Yaaahoo! Fantastic!

[parasite drag]

I wasn't sure if this was appropriate for Rotorheads...some say it's the preserve of 'professional' pilots and their business....

So the thread is still here and I've not been shot down...yet

My machine is kept in what I'd call a heli-port rather than hangar....3m x 9m...blockwork on one side, 6" feather-edge timber on the other 3 elevations, with a felt lined pitched roof and concrete floor.

The inside stays dry and free from 99% of the wind in my locale but the structure is not air-tight..so in the autmn/winter months the air inside with my machine is the same as the damp stuff outside...

Last winter I found that it was warmer inside the heliport than outside leading to a lot of condensation forming on cold parts of the machine.....eventually I removed a heli-port door to equalize the in and out temperatures to prevent this..but that's not an ideal solution.

I considered an industrial dehumidifier, but apparently the interior would need to be completely sealed/airtight or that'd be a waste of time...

I'd appreciate any constructive...and dare I say it, cost effective advice on keeping my machine protected from Mother Nature this autumn/winter...which looks like it's imminent !

Many thanks

[muffin]

I kept my R22 in a cow barn together with the cows for a couple of winters and never had any condensation problems. The barn was made of breeze blocks for the first 10 feet then wooden slats with holes between them up to the steel sheet roof. When the farmer sold his barn, I moved it to a shed with steel side and a steel roof. This gave me condensation for about 2 weeks in the winter.

I have just had a new steel framed shed put up at my house. This has shiplap boarding on the sides and a steel roof. There are small gaps in the sides which will certainly allow it to ventilate and I am debating whether to line it internally with plywood and loft insulation fibreglass.

I would welcome any opinions.

[John R81]

Condensation happens when the air cannot change, and damp air then gets cold. In the big barn, there was good air exchange so no condensation. The more air-tight you make it the more you need to heat the space - with something like Tubular Heaters under the machine. If you are going to heat the space then I can see value to fibreglass and hardboard but without adding heat I don't think the extra cost and effort is going to do much for you.

I'm not a builder, though

John

PS If I had that shed I would HAVE to make it look like Tracy Island, and "Pimp my Ride" to look like Thunderbird 2......... with a rotor coming out of the top, obviously

[parasite drag]

The 'condensation period' last winter far exceeded 2 weeks...but then maybe last winter was a particular munter.....there were times when my locale was fogged in for over a week at a time...all that wet air intimately cuddling my machine...not good..

Are we saying that the moist air isolated inside the heli-port sort of becomes stagnant....and subsequently warmer than the air same air outside.....and as that warmer air meets cold metal I get this condensation on the machine ??

Would somehow circulating the air or maybe roof/window rotary type vents fix this ??

I have a couple of commercial heat lamps I can set up..or I can buy tubular heaters as suggested...or I'm sure I could fashion up a large sleeping bag type arrangement to cover the hull to keep the metal warmer and the damp air out...??

It's one of those 'what's to do for best/simplest/thriftyness' things...

Appreciating your input guys

PD

[muffin]

I guess the ultimate solution is total insulation plus space heating and a dehumidifier. In the context of helicopter maintenance costs the heating cost would be minimal. However this means doors that are tight fitting with no gaps. I also don't like the idea of electric heating with thermostats clicking and arcing away in the same shed as my helicopter and a tank full of avgas.

[parasite drag]

I'm no 'tight-wad'...but don't see the point of trying to fix this by covering ALL the whys and maybes..I reckon there's a simple-ish answer to keeping the damp air away..

I should mention that my 9m feather-edge timber side gets water-logged during long periods of rain....maybe a smart starting point would be to prevent this with a treatment or lining.....I toyed with that idea last winter but someone that knows 'building' better than I said it wouldn't make any difference...

PD

[Flying Foxhunter]

I have kept helicopters in various types of agricultural buildings for many years. Generally I have found a livestock barn with slatted wooden sides, concrete floor and a complete roof to be the best for my situation. It needs to be large enough that the helicopter doesn't get covered in blowing snow, but it allows the wind and air to circulate around the machine and therefore I very rarely find a problem with condensation. The worst case for me was when I kept it in a corn shed with roller shutter doors, it would often get covered in condensation just when I wheeled it out to fly it in the winter. Though not really a big deal as they are designed to get wet in the rain, and they soon dry off!
I can wheel a wet helicopter back in to the shed with the slatted sides and it will dry off fairly quickly with the circulating air.

Now stopping the horses giving it a rub, thats a different matter......

[Pandalet]

I would imagine a dehumidifier would make some difference, with the amount of difference made depending on the throughput of the dehumidifier and the amount of water getting in. Obviously, if your shed has slatted sides and the wind breezing through, then there isn't much point. On the other hand, if your hangar is mostly sealed, but has a little bit of leakage and seepage, and you have a reasonably beefy dehumidifier, it'll probably reduce condensation quite a lot.

Whether this is the most economical solution, or whether it's 'good enough' is not something I'm qualified to answer, sadly.