Testing Tubes for Mechanical Traffic Counters

Quality Control for Tubes

Our failure rate on tubes is close to zero unless they get whacked by a snow plow or street sweeper.  We test every tube after every installation to make sure it still holds air.  If it doesn't, we know we have a leak in the hose that may lead to a catastrophic failure in the field.    Watch Ron explain how we get a good seal on the "dumb" end of the tube and how we use our homemade valve/gauge to test the tube.  Enjoy!

Comments

[Jon S.]

I have just discovered your blog...interesting read and very informative keep up the good work.
I unfortunately have had a few too many run-ins with the street sweepers here in our area, I swear they must get some sort of satisfaction in tearing up our tubes or the lift mechanism on their brushes doesn’t work because I have only seen once of twice that they have been kind enough not to sweep up our work.
Anyway, I was wondering what you or any of your readers do with your "garbage" tubes? I am growing a nice pile of the leftovers that are too short to stretch across any respectable with of road, and cant seem to justify tossing them into the trash.
We use the EPDM tubes, and I am not certain of the recycling proprieties of this grade of material. Does anyone recycle old tubes?
Any suggestions…?

[Mike]

Jon,
Good question. I've made a water balloon launcher for my kids out of broken tubes and have some in my exercise room (instead of buying exercise bands). For the most part we just throw broken tubes in the trash.

It would be great if someone knows if they're recyclable.
Mike