News:



  • April 19, 2024, 10:04:12 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: How does humidity affect how our engines?  (Read 1095 times)

Offline frank mccune

  • AMA Member
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 1621
How does humidity affect how our engines?
« on: August 19, 2017, 07:38:39 AM »
      Hi All:

       A friend of mine told me that he and his flying buddy could not get their engines running due to the high humidity.  I am guessing that the humidity was close to sixty percent and the temps were near 90 degrees F.

       Any suggestions and /or comments regarding this issue?

                                                                                                                               Be well,

                                                                                                                               Frank McCune

Offline Gordon Tarbell

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 514
Re: How does humidity affect how our engines?
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2017, 08:06:44 AM »
Increase the nitro percent. Hi temps with high humidity give high density altitude, as though you were flying at a higher elevation were the air is thinner and contains less oxygen. The nitro contains its own share of O2.  What engine and what fuel do you use?
Gordon Tarbell AMA 15019

Offline RandySmith

  • Administrator
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 13747
  • Welcome to the Stunt Hanger.
    • Aero Products
Re: How does humidity affect how our engines?
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2017, 09:19:32 AM »
      Hi All:

       A friend of mine told me that he and his flying buddy could not get their engines running due to the high humidity.  I am guessing that the humidity was close to sixty percent and the temps were near 90 degrees F.

       Any suggestions and /or comments regarding this issue?

                                                                                                                               Be well,

                                                                                                                               Frank McCune

Nope,  not the reason, we regularly have 100 degrees  100 %  humidity  here in GA,  NO problem starting, what you do find is that you have less power and the needle setting  goes  leaner ( turn the needle  in ) Most people  increase   nitro in the hotter months  to compensate for this loss

Randy

Online Brett Buck

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • ******
  • Posts: 13734
Re: How does humidity affect how our engines?
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2017, 10:17:27 AM »
   A friend of mine told me that he and his flying buddy could not get their engines running due to the high humidity.  I am guessing that the humidity was close to sixty percent and the temps were near 90 degrees F.

   Humidity (or at least the dew point) seems to have a drastic effect on how they run and the power level, but I have never heard of not being able to get it started, even in conditions far more oppressive. Like the 93 NATs, where the humidity was in the 60's and it was 100-ish degrees - with a dew point in the mid 80s. My problem that week was that it started without the battery time after time, so really, it seemed to make it much easier to start. The only real danger is over-choking it, it takes very little choke in those conditions. 

    The humidity seems to suck out power and smooth out the run at the same time. A lot of the engines that run nicely in the midwest/southeast have problems when it is dry and the converse is also true. One of the most dramatic differences is the "schneurle effect", where the engine want to run faster on outsides, and slower on insides, particularly with the engine breaking into a hard 2 on the second outside loop of the round 8 and square 8. This can be almost a non-issue in humid air, and is a deal-breaker sometimes in dry air. I have come up with or heard no plausible mechanism for this, and have had some epic discussions/arguments with engine reworkers over the topic (not Randy...), particularly back in the 80's with muffler schneurle engines.

    In one case, on advice to "shim the tank", I managed to get to enough shim to get 6 seconds a lap inverted and 5 upright, and it STILL went screeching lean in the outside part of the round 8. Fuel (from FAI to Cox Racing Fuel)/compression/venturi/head shim/tank shim/uniflow/suction/plug all made the expected differences in the way it ran, but didn't make a dent in the problem. And let me tell you an ABC Schnuerle 45 with Cox Racing fuel is one pretty macho engine compared to a wimpy ST46. And it runs out of gas right after the square 8. This engine subsequently ran fine in the midwest summer, no reported issues from the guy who ended up with it.

      Brett

Offline Peter Nevai

  • 21 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 975
    • C3EL
Re: How does humidity affect how our engines?
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2017, 03:08:19 PM »
Well we all know that hot air is less dense than cold air, does it make so much a difference as the inhibit starting, well it shouldn't. High humidity may contaminate fuel as the alcohol in the fuel will suck the water right out of the air, but so long as everything is capped tight it should not present a problem. Since our fuel delivery systems are so crude in clpa humidity could wreak havoc if other elements are off kilter. Sounds like it may be a glo plug issue, you need to be running Hot plugs especially in Hot and humid weather. But still the engine should start. Funny when you think about humidity though, as one of the performance tricks in car racing used to be injecting fine water vapor into the carb.
Words Spoken by the first human to set foot on Mars... "Now What?"


Advertise Here
Tags:
 


Advertise Here