Snorkel in rain

[Duke4]

Hi, I've been racking my mind trying to understand how a snorkel dosen't allow water in during heavy rain (through the inlet).

I've seen the advertisement from safari where they say just a shot glass of water can destroy your engine, I agree but my mind can't comprehend how if I'm traveling in heavy rain the air travels down the centre of the snorkel and the rain is expelled out the side. I'm only mentioning the safari brand because I'm thinking of installing one and I don't know the names of other brands.

Am I missing something?

Can anyone explain how water won't get into the engine if I'm traveling in heavy rain through the snorkel?
If the answer is a one way valve in the air box can you explain how that works?
How does it let water out while a large amount of air is being sucked through the filter?

Please be as technical as possible. Sorry for asking so many questions but I can't work it out and it's blowing my mind.


Regards

Paul

[130man]

Hi Duke4, I am no expert but I suspect that part of the reason is that the rain is only a small proportion of the air being sucked into the engine and is well and truely vapourised by the time it reaches the cylinders, causing no damage. If you squirted a firehose into the snorkel, the water would still be a liquid by the time it reached the engine and would "hydraulic" the motor, wrecking it. Hope that makes sense. Cheers, 130man.

[Weird Al]

A picture is worth a thousand words...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/04/1427.jpg

[Weird Al]

My snorkel question is why it is that you can buy one in the UK for half the price you pay here in their country of origin?

Duckworth Land Rover Raised Air Intakes (http://www.duckworthparts.co.uk/landrover/Raised_Air_Intakes.html)

[bcl]

So it does. Good one.

[PhilipA]

Ha ha in theory it separates but I have found in industrial strength Australian storms enough goes down to wet the filter.
But they dry out with only a few wrinkles to show.

If you can be stuffed in a hard storm get the copilot to stick her hand out and turn the top around, or (probably) failing that get out and run around the car and do the same.

Didn't think you cared that much.
Regards Philip A

[Duke4]

A picture is worth a thousand words...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/04/1427.jpg



That's the picture I'm referring to, it must be speaking Chinese to me, can you explain why the water would go out those vents and not travel down the snorkel?
Because it's in a picture (color too) is not a good enough explanation

Vaporisation is not a bad theory but would this still be the case in heavy sustained rain?

[Mungus]

My 2c is I think a previous post nearly answered your question. The small amount of rain water would have to get past the filter. Sorry for not being technical or confirming anything.

[bcl]

Air goes in the outlet with water droplets. The velocity of the air movement will push the water to the back of the inlet. As water is more dense then air it will attract to the plastic and run down the plastic inlet. The drain tubes at the base of the inlet will then allow the water to drain.

Guess it won't zero the water intake but as previous person said the filter and other bits get rid of it in the line for normal water vapour. If raining heavy or doing deep water cossings I would still turn inlet to face the rear.

In other cars I have had water come up windscreen and enter snorkel inlet and ever since have done this to ensure it wouldn't go down.

[unseenone]

I think water does / will travel down the snorkel. I notice two different items mentioned here though. Snorkels, and Raised Air Intakes.

The ARB as pictured is sealed to the air box. The raised air intake is not sealed to the air box.

On a RAI I would suspect a lot of water that travels down the intake will end up caught up and running off in to fender.

On all of the above, the air box has a built in water separator. In the bottom of the air box, there is a sort of "reed valve" that theoretically should allow water to pass out, but not in. In practice, half the valve had fallen away on my air box so the value is limited, and I could not find a replacement rubber reed valve. Inside the air box, the inlet connects to a plastic hose that bends downwards to force the water down, into the bottom of the air box.

The box design looks similar on both Petrol and Diesel models.

In practice, and retrospect, the advantage to the snorkels seem more keeping dust and sand out of the air intake than water protection. Less than 6" higher under the windshield is the cabin air filter. This goes directly into the cabin, therefore, if you submerge the vehicle or stop in deep water, water is going to flood into the cabin air intake, and on to all the electronics and blower motor conveniently situated under and near it.

You will notice on the two attached images, the air box parts, as well as a picture showing the cabin air intake with the top of the filter showing.

[PhilipA]

The velocity of the air movement will push the water to the back of the inlet

BTW, the air velocity also pushes all the insect carcases into the back of the snorkel head and these will block up the drains. So pull the head off regularly and note all the bugs that fall out.
Regards Philip A

[Tote]

SWMBO has a jeep witrh an AEV snorkle and it does indeed ingest water, we fixed it with a Donaldson pre cleaner which vastly decreases the amount of water in the intake.

Regards,
Tote

[Duke4]

Thanks guys

Your explanations have been excellent