I had this exact condensation problem once with a Ham IV rotor in
Florida... as it "filled with water". I found no cracks in the bell housing
yet
"it filled with water". Perhaps rotors need to be able to breathe too?
73,
Dick- K9OM
In a message dated 9/27/2010 3:11:48 PM Central Daylight Time,
TexasRF@aol.com writes:
And further, if you don't let the housing breathe, that condensation can
accumulate and eventually fill it with water.
Trying to seal a box like that will never prevent vapor laden atmosphere
from entering the box but can seal condensation from escaping. Air
apparently
will travel through much smaller spaces than water.
I have seen this process take place inside hollow Heliax center conductors
and in a few days flood the downhill connector with water droplets. In
this
case, the answer was sealing the center pin as if it were a water pipe by
use of plumbers tape around the center pin before installation.
If you could actually totally seal the box in question, you might be able
to prevent the problem. But, the problem is: you can't. And if you could,
you have to evacuate all air from the box otherwise there will be some
water
vapor and condensation of that. You can't win!
73,
Gerald K5GW
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