inexpensive smoke leak detectors on ebay

[twistinglane]

A couple sellers are offering what seem to be home brew leak detectors.
Such as this one
http://m.ebay.com/itm/EVAP-Smoke-Ma...Detection-Tester-NEW-/301673812635?nav=SEARCH
Seem to have OK feedback. Anyone have some experience? I'm interested in testing for vacuum leaks in older FI cars.

 

[Buckgnarly]

Looks interesting...if you get one, post experience.

 

[kunkernator]

Now I might buy one. Although, it does look easy enough to build. How do they heat/burn the mineral oil thou?

 

[GTA Matt]

A friend sent me that very link this morning. You can duplicate it with about $30-40 in materials. We even discussed adding a flow meter to it so leaks and sizes of leaks could be monitored.

 

[white 450]

I'd be curious on that one too. I had a POS 3 series that had a vacuum leak and I made one with a home depot bucket and an air mattress pump that worked great to find the intake leaks.

 

[GTA Matt]

Now I might buy one. Although, it does look easy enough to build. How do they heat/burn the mineral oil thou?

Nichrome wire wrapped around oil lantern wick sitting in some baby oil or mineral oil.

 

[Shadowdog500]

There is tons of info on making these online, and a bunch of videos showing how well they work.

You could make the same thing for probably 1/4 of the e-bay price.

Try burning baby oil instead, when I built mine I quickly discovered that burning mineral oil gives me a headache.

Chris

 

[Fedwrench]

Didn't ace mechanic Scotty Kilmer do a you tube video on these within the last year?

Just be careful you don't over pressurize the system with your budget smoke machine as it might not be the bargain you think you have. I see the bar b que regulator. I would want a flowmeter.

Good luck,

 

[Shadowdog500]

Didn't ace mechanic Scotty Kilmer do a you tube video on these within the last year?

Just be careful you don't over pressurize the system with your budget smoke machine as it might not be the bargain you think you have. I see the bar b que regulator. I would want a flowmeter.

Good luck,

Yes he did. The one he was showing cost $75 , but I can't find it anymore.

He also smoked out a vacuum leak using a cigar in another video.

Chris

 

[NorCalWrenchin]

Didn't ace mechanic Scotty Kilmer do a you tube video on these within the last year?

Just be careful you don't over pressurize the system with your budget smoke machine as it might not be the bargain you think you have. I see the bar b que regulator. I would want a flowmeter.

Good luck,

Jeez I don't like that guy...
Didn't a member here, MechanicNamedJohn build a home made smoke machine?? I think there was a thread...

 

[NorCalWrenchin]

Found it-

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91216&highlight=mechanicnamedjohn

 

[Skin]

Unless your leaks are huge its kind of useless without a flow meter. Save some more and get a Vacutec. Extremely nice unit. In a shop it pays for itself very quickly.

 

[kunkernator]

Well, after reading this thread, i decided to build my own. Went out and bought everything except the gas regulator (ordered that from Amazon). Once it comes in, i will make a step by step tutorial on how i build it. Thanks for the great idea OP!!!

And it should all be under $50.

 

[Jarhead0408]

That would be great. I look forward to the write up kunkernator.

 

[PMD1966]

I made one with a .50 cal. ammo can and some fittings I had. Probably about $20 total.

 

[signcrafter]

Here is a guy on youtube making these with a flow meter,

. I've had his videos saved for a while in my favorites meaning to make one but haven't. I made one out of a fog machine after MNJ did his write up on it. It works alright but always wanted to try one of the paint can ones.

 

[twistinglane]

Great to see the good ideas here. I'm going to stay tuned and maybe build one too. Please report on sucesses...

 

[twistinglane]

BTW, I see that some pro machines have moved to using nitrogen as gas source. To avoid chance of explosive mix inside fuel system I gather. Though I don't really understand the issue. (There is air - oxygen - in gas tank anyhow). I guess one could do a home brew tester with a nitrogen gas source too if thought it worth the effort.

 

[Skin]

BTW, I see that some pro machines have moved to using nitrogen as gas source. To avoid chance of explosive mix inside fuel system I gather. Though I don't really understand the issue. (There is air - oxygen - in gas tank anyhow). I guess one could do a home brew tester with a nitrogen gas source too if thought it worth the effort.

Apparently most fuel tanks, even nearly empty ones, don't have enough oxygen in them to combust without a fairly substantial ignition source. The idea is that with air you're introducing the necessary amount of oxygen to create a real hazard. I haven't heard of anyone blowing themselves or their shops up but Nitrogen is cheap insurance. They'll probably all go that way eventually.

 

[redmondjp]

Apparently most fuel tanks, even nearly empty ones, don't have enough oxygen in them to combust without a fairly substantial ignition source. The idea is that with air you're introducing the necessary amount of oxygen to create a real hazard. I haven't heard of anyone blowing themselves or their shops up but Nitrogen is cheap insurance. They'll probably all go that way eventually.

Exactly. The "air" in the fuel tank doesn't have enough oxygen in it to combust (so the gasoline vapor concentration is above the UFL or Upper Flammability Level). By introducing air with oxygen in it, you can put the vapor mix into the flammable range (between the UFL and LFL), giving you two out of three points of the combustion triangle.

 

[twistinglane]

OK, That does make sense. And here is a good article i came across about new machines. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...qgVlbRt8ajMD-Pscg&sig2=sM35l7NF14Y6W4EEVwcjiA

 

[Shadowdog500]

Apparently most fuel tanks, even nearly empty ones, don't have enough oxygen in them to combust without a fairly substantial ignition source. The idea is that with air you're introducing the necessary amount of oxygen to create a real hazard. I haven't heard of anyone blowing themselves or their shops up but Nitrogen is cheap insurance. They'll probably all go that way eventually.

I hope it's sooner than later, so I can buy last years model for cheap to use in my shop.

How many cars has anyone here heard of blowing up because of the older EVAP smoke machines put too much air in the system?

Chris

 

[redmondjp]

I hope it's sooner than later, so I can buy last years model for cheap to use in my shop.

How many cars has anyone here heard of blowing up because of the older EVAP smoke machines put too much air in the system?

Chris

I've never heard of it happening, but you have two out of three things necessary for a fire/explosion, and all it takes is an ignition source which is fairly easy to come by (can even be the discharge of static electricity).

Using nitrogen, you only have one of the three things, so it's a lot safer.

Doing it myself, I would not worry about it. Doing it as a business is a completely different matter.