199 – A Bulging Exhaust – Change it, or not?

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter

I recently inspected a Piper Saratoga, and I found the following condition on the right exhaust collector:

Earlier this week, I sent this photo to my email subscribers and asked if they would change this piece of exhaust if it was on their airplane. I received a huge response about this, with a large range of thoughts and opinions. Thanks to everyone who responded, as it really helped me think through the issue in a much more comprehensive way and I think you’ll find it helpful as well.

I read all the email responses in this episode of the podcast, and listed some lessons for us to learn from this exhaust story.

Today, I removed that exhaust collector and all three of the risers. When I looked on the inside, it became clear to me why it was bulged and deformed. The inside was eroded and thin in the area of the bulging, and I was glad we decided to change it.

I was reminded that when a piece of exhaust shows something like this on the outside, there is likely something happening on the inside as well. Here’s a close-up of the inside:

That’s evidence of many hours of exhaust gases rushing down on this area and going out the muffler.

It was definitely time to change this one. After reading all the responses and thinking about this all week, I’m convinced it’s much better to err on the safe side with exhaust systems.

Dave Ovad provided a link to an accident report where a Beech Debonair crashed because of a muffler failure and subsequent engine fire caused by the exhaust gases. It’s a startling reminder of how important it is to give special attention to exhaust systems. Here’s the link:

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/03/beechcraft-35-a33-debonair-registered.html

Dave, along with at least one or two others, also pointed out that it’s very important to fly with a good quality CO detector, to help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Thanks so much to all of you who contributed to this episode by sharing your thoughts with me!

For more information about exhaust systems and carbon monoxide dangers, check out episode 035:

035 – Airplane Exhaust Systems Tell Stories… Are You Listening?

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