Pop's leaking sub

[rver]

last week here in the Cleveland area the temp reached 97deg. I had to go someplace and be in this building for a couple of hours and so I left my esig in the car. When I came back out, started the car and reached for my esig...what I got was a real mess...90% of the juice was all over the battery and the small compartmen where it was stored for the 2 hrs. After cleaning up everything I went home and washed all of the parts and the tube was not damaged at all. So I decided that I would not have any trouble putting it back together...wrong...the grommets with their carts went in way to easy compared to the past. By the way, I was told that at that temp, the inside of the car had reached at least 130deg. I gave the 2 grommets a christian burial and invited a few relitives to the funeral but they had to bring a card with some money...after all, its my birthday early next month and I want to buy some stuff from Pop...LOL. During winter I must have antifreeze in the fresh water system of my motorhome or it will expand and crack the lines as we all know. The question is, did the opposite happen here???I'm really not sure, perhaps you guys have some ideas...from now on if the temp is over 80 and high humidity and I will be gone for at least a half hour I will simply disconnect the unit, throw the tank in my pocket knowing that Pop's tank will not leak regardless of the position its in...so be it...lesson learned...school is out.

 

[P0P]

Sorry to hear that rver i wounder if the grommets shrunk. I will have to see if i can make this happen. Fortunately I'm one of those nut cases that keep my pv in arms reach, every bit of information like this helps us avoid a mess

 

[rver]

I'm thinking on the same lines about shrinking because I simply am unable to come up with a better answere...perhaps someone out there does...

 

[pwyll]

At that temperature I have no doubt that the vinyl grommets softened. Whether they shrunk or not I have no idea, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't change shape when they cooled back down.

 

[rver]

Pwyll...what you said sounds logical...wish I would have looked at them more closely before I got rid of them...

 

[pwyll]

Pwyll...what you said sounds logical...wish I would have looked at them more closely before I got rid of them...

Eh, summer's not over--you can try it again if you're that interested.

Really, though, the heat will change the composition enough to make them no longer springy or as flexible as they were or whatever; and at that point it doesn't take much to make them leakable, it wouldn't even have to be visible.

Another thing that would make a difference is where they were. If they were in direct sunlight the grommets themselves, being black, would have gotten a surface/internal temperature much higher than the air temperature.* Considering what they're made for I don't see 130 degrees being a catastrophic problem, so if you have to repeat the situation perhaps leaving it under the seat would help. Also, all things being equal, the trunk is the coolest part of the car in the summer, so that may be an option as well.


* To see the real-world effect simply take two identical disposable butane lighters and leave one on your dash board and the other on the floorboard. Use black lighters to decrease experiment duration.

Do not perform experiment while driving; lighters under these conditions may spontaneously disassemble with considerable force and small pieces self-convert to shrapnel while air-born. This can be considered a "safe" experiment since you have at least a four in five chance of doing no damage to your car or its contents. If damage does occur it may include conversion of car's interior (and contents) to slag and/or ash. I am not responsible for any damage or injury should you choose to conduct this experiment. YMMV.