And It Supposedly Stays Cool Up To 1,800 (F)!

By ANN Contributor John Schmidt

The other night, during an EAA chapter meeting, someone starts the DVD player and says "Watch this." It's a demo DVD from a company called EPM-Avcorp, based in Utah. It shows the quest of a homebuilder who, concerned about the possibility of fire breeching his RV6A firewall, decided to roll up his sleeves and design a better mousetrap.

The result was the all-stainless-steel heater valve, one that won't melt in the face of flames to 1,800 degrees F.
 
The DVD, about 10 minutes in length, shows this builder's efforts to design a testing environment similar to those conditions experienced in the grim case of an in-flight engine fire.

 
"Most pilots don't know the temperature of burning avgas," Paul Bowmar, the man you reach when calling EPM-Avcorp, explains. "We looked to build a better heater valve, one that would stand up to an engine fire. I wanted to give the pilot a chance to turn off the fuel, turn off the electrical, and get the aircraft safely on the ground." 
 
"We needed to develop a test. We found that avgas burns at roughly 1,600 degree F in static, and about 1,800 degrees F in a windblown state, as found in a pressure cowl. We then needed a testing environment, so we took some stainless steel and made a modified firewall."
 
"Our flame source was nothing more than a weedburner that we named 'Puff,' as in Puff the Magic Dragon. It burns at a temperature range between 1,800 and 2,000 degrees F, perfect for our testing. We mounted 'Puff' 16 inches away from our mock firewall, mounted an aluminum heater valve, lit it, and watched. The aluminum melted away in 16 seconds."
 
And the firewall was breeched. In the DVD, one can see the aluminum valve literally fall off the firewall, and flames come through the hole.
 
Then the DVD shows the results from the same test, this time with an EPM-Avcorp stainless steel heater valve. This time, the flames shot at the heater valve for 10 minutes. The heater valve held on, without letting the flames through the firewall. "It got scaly, but it just didn't break down," says Bowmar.

 
Next, Bowmar and EPM-Avcorp set its sites on the wires and connections going through firewall. Rubber grommets with stainless shields and aluminum eyeball fittings didn't hold much promise or resistance under Puff's flames (again, shown on the DVD), so other materials were researched.
 
"We searched for 4 months for materials would work," said Bowmar. "Finally, we found something called Biotherm 100. It's a 2000 degree sealant. It held up. We'd burn for 10 minutes at a time without a sign of flame going through the firewall."
 
EPM-Avcorp is a small company, but they have sights set on larger goals. "We'd like to get our product STC'd for all piston-powered, single engine airplanes. Right now we're working with a FAA DER (Designated Engineering Representative). We'll start on my Cessna 140, then go to my brother's Cessna 185. After that, we'll go after ( STC certification on) every Piper, Mooney, and Cessna we can."
 
Bowman said the FAA requires, for fireproof certification, exposure to 2,000 degrees, plus or minus 100 degrees, for 15 minutes. "We believe our product will hold up to that standard; it already has, in our testing."
 
"We'll do conformity tests, and set up a date to actually go in the FAA labs with our product, to gain our first STC certification."

 
"We don't expect to get our heater vents certified because the heater valves are all different on all airplanes. We're going after the market for the wires and controls going through the firewall. We want a mechanic to suggest, at annual '…as long as we're working on the firewall, let's replace these grommets with fire-resistant ones.' Of course, on experimentals, you can use our products right now. We're also looking at marketing for industrial applications for this technology."
 
According to Bowmar, EPM-Avcorp has not contacted the big piston single manufacturers - yet. "We're going to wait until we have our STC's in hand before that," he says. Raytheon has a similar product that they market for their Bonanzas, but, according to Bowmar, the EPM-Avcorp product costs less, and is much lighter.

 
EMP-Avcorp is also developing other fire-proofing-related products for aviation use, and says that they will post the availability of those products on their website as available. "I don't want to promise something before we have it on hand," Bowmar explains.
 
The source of that DVD? It's not mentioned anywhere on the EPM-Avcorp website. Bowmar states "I've been calling the presidents of every currently-active EAA chapter (some 850-plus!), offering them a DVD of our testing, for free. Every night I'm on the phone."

(EAA member John Schmidt makes his home in Minneapolis, MN)

FMI: www.epm-avcorp.com