Fire retardant paint

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Spinner
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Spinner »

Hello everyone:

First post for me and what a fun one. Our Diamond fleet consists of 33 DA20-C1 aircraft currently. We have had lots of issues with the fire paint both in the engine cowlings and on the belly of the DA20. In some cases the fire paint, although applied religiously as per the Diamond Maintenance Manual, would only last about 300 hours. Also the 3 day plus downtime waiting for proper curing puts a damper on aircraft availability.
We normally remove the heat shields to be able to clear the old fire paint off. A scraper will do the job as long as you do not damage the composite material underneath. If there are real annoying patches to remove a heat gun helps. Once again avoid overheating the material. The important thing is to also get all the oil that is soaked in the paint out before spraying. Observe the recoat and cure times is very important.
Originally we were spraying the material on with a splatter gun which gave a nice finish but did not seem to do anything for longevity. Now we are using a roller and not diluting the firepaint. It seems to apply a lot better and hopefully will stick better. We have just started this process and are tracking the life of the fire paint on individual cowlings and aircraft. We are also applying the clear coat attempting to overlap the fire paint slightly to seal it.
The last prices from Diamond Canada for our base are fire paint 192/liter, clear base 363/liter, hardener 350/liter.

Paul
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Colin »

Paul,

Would having a spare cowling set be a worthwhile investment to reduce your down time?
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
colin@mightycheese.com * send email rather than PM
http://www.flyingsummers.com
N972RD DA42 G1000 2.0 s/n 42.AC100 (sold!)
N971RD DA40 G1000 s/n 40.508 (traded)
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Spinner
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Spinner »

Definitely and I think currently we have at least 2 sets of cowls as spares. It is quite possible at times to have those cowlings being repaired/repainted and run out of spares in a hurry. As well as fire paint we are doing our own cowling composite work which may also put a delay on the return to service of the cowlings.

Paul
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Derek »

I had to have the fire retardant paint redone on my da 20 this month as part of my annual. I think the workmanship was good but I'm not happy about the price or the warning that the paint may only last 3 years! Cost was $1500 for cowls, $900 for belly. Seems ridiculous.
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Spinner »

Applying the paint with a roller to has made a huge difference in the durability of the paint coat. Because we don't have to thin the material it seems to go on a lot better and we are definitely seeing better results with the duration of time that the paint stays put.
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Derek »

I just had to have mine done after many years of mechanics letting it go because it's a stupid problem. Cost was around $1600 to paint the belly and inside cowls. They did a very thorough professional job but the worst part is there is no guarantee that it will last any length of time - the stuff is very fragile. Ridiculous.

Apparently it's purpose is to give us a few more minutes of flying time in the event of a fire because it takes a few more minutes for the heat and flame to get through the paint and start melting the fiberglass. I'm not sure it's worth all this trouble.
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briankelly327
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by briankelly327 »

Ill be going into annual in October and have to take care of the flaking heat shield paint inside the cowling.

The shop mentioned that other owners have found more economical solutions vs what is sold by Diamond, and if I buy it the shop will use it. Has anyone found an effective alternative?

The suggestion in the thread was to purchase directly from PPG but it seems there were difficulties with this in the past.

Any updates here would be welcome. Or if any other NYC-based diamond owners need to address this soon, perhaps a bulk order from PPG would be effective.
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Dakkman
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Dakkman »

Aircraft Spruce stock Contego Fire Barrier using part # 05-02615. It is a fraction of the price of the PPG paint and is very easy to apply. You can spray over it with an automotive type high temperature laquer or paint.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/c ... ckkey=4673
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1911Tex
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by 1911Tex »

I called our local PPG paint center and they said no problem ordering the products; however, at that point it is a do-it-yourself project.
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Richadir
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Re: Fire retardant paint

Post by Richadir »

Dear 1911Tex: So what did you do?

Diamond will only sell in 5-liter amount unlike the last two years when they sold 0.5 liter amount. I only need to paint the underbelly heat paint area, which takes 0.5 liter.

1. Does anyone know a dealer who does heat paint often?
2. Any other ideas?

Thank you
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