Heat and kites

Anthony · Since 07 Oct 2008 362 Posts Salem Obsessed **CGKA Member**

I like to store sporting equipment in the back of the truck. At this time, I remove the kites after every trip for fear that the heat of being in a truck shell would damage them. I have heard that values will detach from heat. I use 2008 Slingshot T3's. What are damages of heat to kite? What is the temp that damages occur?

Thanks
Anthony

dangler · Since 26 Feb 2006 1780 Posts WINDY SPOTS XTreme Poster

the valves tend to separate from the bladders. just fixed two strut bladders on a North. Temps don't have to be too high, alot of bladder valves are glued instead of heat sealed nowadays.

Wind Slither · Since 04 Mar 2005 2622 Posts The 503 METAL

Been thinking about this too as I keep mine in a black sky box. I used to have a lot of problems with the glue melting around the bases of the valves resulting in slow micro-leaks. But I haven't had the issue since about 2005, but that's also when I stopped flying Naish. I don't know if it was a Naish thing, or if everybody started using better glue/valve design.

Now I just try to park in the shade.

Gman · Since 11 Feb 2006 4911 Posts Portland Unstrapped

i wouldn't stress it - i've had my 2008 REV in the rocket box for 5 years no issue - might be different in Arizona or Eastern OR

i would be more concerned about leaving anything visible in the truck - good reason to empty it out each night - I've had my windows smashed to steal a kite leash (carabiners are shiny must = many meth rocks)

B MONEY · Since 08 May 2008 104 Posts Hood River Stoked

At AIRTIME we test valves in our lab oven to speed up the aging process. According to ASTM one week at 150F is the same as 5 years at 74F when testing PVC for plasticizer migration. I know that's a little overly technical for the question posed but that's what is going on. The plasticizer that makes the pvc flexible migrates out and breaks down the bond to the bladders.

Your valves are always growing old but the heat is speeding the process up. Every kite will be different since all the valves have different amounts of plasticizer. If you have rock hard valves (like the little black valve on the Cabrinha SPRINT systems) they'll probably never fail because they have very little if any plasticizer. If you have super soft valves (the blue valves on older FlexiFoil kites) they fail really fast.

So basically, try to avoid letting your kites get hot.