Hi, I'm building a small underwater tethered / robot / submarine / doo-hickey and I need a cheap way to pressure test the individual components to make sure they don't leak. Max diving depth will be 70' which is around 32psi and each component will be no larger than 6"x6". I know each component should be tested to 1.5X to 2X its expected range.
Anyway, my thought was to fill some already pressure resistant device such as a pressure cooker or autoclave chamber (hello ebay!) with water and then use shop air to increase the pressure. I don't need a viewing window as I would basically take it up to pressure, leave it there for a few hours, relieve the pressure and then check to see if anything leaked.
Questions:
1) Is this concept of pressure testing sound? 2) Is there a cheaper way to do it? 3) Most importantly, is there an easier way to do this?Thanks and please resist the urge to point out the 100's of other failure points that I will be facing in this project such as watertight bulkhead fittings, ballast systems, propulsion, electronics, stability control, corrosion, battery systems, faily safe safety systems, etc, etc... :)
-M