Air system isolator tester - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Air system isolator tester (/showthread.php?tid=8179)

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Air system isolator tester - Richard - 09-29-2024

With two alternate titles. The first is gratitude to Steve Bare (rheavn) for showing us all how to make one of these. The second alternate is, FOLLOW YOUR OWN ADVICE KNUCKLEHEAD!

The background is that I have lived with, fretted with, and gotten aggravated with a slow leak down on the left rear corner of the coach when parked. It makes the bed tilt head down slightly because of the east west bedroom slide. That gives me acid reflux. Yeah, I know, more info than you needed. 

Air bags two years old. I have been under there a dozen times with soapy water and could not find a leak. Six pack rebuilt sometime in the past few years. I concluded that the ping tank that is between the six pack and the air bags must be leaking. The solution to that is bypass the ping tank. In preparation for that I bought all the necessary DOT fittings and tubing to make that happen. I had all the goodies in a bag for the last year just waiting on a slow couple of days to do the work. 

Now, if you had presented me with that problem, I would have told you to install an isolator rig between the six pack and the exit line for that side to confirm which side of the system the leak was on. Nah, I don’t need to do that, after all others have had ping tank leaks, why should my coach be any different. 

I had a little chat with myself, and said self ‘take the time to use the isolator’. 

Well, dang. 

I installed said isolator which took about 15 minutes. It tool longer to get out the tools than it did to install it. Aired up the coach, inflated the bags, noted pressures on both sides of the shutoff valve, and then closed the valve. The next morning I said Hmmmmm when I saw the pressures. The air bag side was steady at 100. And the six pack side was lower at 80. I cranked the coach, left the shutoff valve closed, and let the supply side build to 120, and the six pack side raised to 120. 

That told me that the air bag, hoses, ping tank, and fittings were not leaking. 
It told me two more things. One the raise solenoid is leaking because the pressure decreased to the supply pressure. Two, the check valve in the six pack which is supposed to prevent pressure from the air bags from feeding back into the supply line was leaking. 

Of course, took the six pack out, used a kit from Tom and refreshed the solenoids. Took out the check valves and installed new o rings on the sealing section. 

Problem solved without two days under the coach rerouting air lines. 

This is really a long winded way of introducing some of our newer members to a very handy tool to have on board for diagnosing and not guessing when it comes to air leaks. Looking at the pics, the middle part is easy to comprehend. Pics of the air line ends show one female setup and a male setup on the other end .In this case it was for 1/4 tubing, but you can see the rig is made to simple disconnect the air line in question and insert the isolator. 

Thanks again Steve.

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RE: Air system isolator tester - Jack Houpe - 09-30-2024

Cool! Thumbs up

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RE: Air system isolator tester - hypoxia - 09-30-2024

That's a handy tool to have.  I have installed shutoff valves on some of the pneumatic systems which allows me to quickly isolate and troubleshoot.  That tool would enhance the process within those systems.

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