1. Forum email Richard Nisley to let me know you want to provide a scrap submission for testing. I will then provide you my personal contact information and log your submission data Those of you that are closer to Australia please contact Roger for all testing.
2. Please email me to my personal email address acquired in step 1 with a brief description of the material you want tested, the actual aerial weight if you have measured it, and any note you want added to the test report.
3. Include ideally two 1’ square virgin scraps. If you can’t provide this standard test size, then provide two scraps, each of which is at least 6” wide on its narrowest axis. If you only have one scrap, the initial hydrostatic head test will be conducted in San Carlos and the virgin sample will then be forwarded to Roger via the BPL Bozeman, MT office. I can’t do an aging cycle and still send an un-aged sample to Roger for archiving with only one sample.
4. I will test any sample of UL shelter material of interest to the BPL forum members. The testing procedure I will use is defined in ISO 811:1981.
5. I will normally provide the test results via both a personal email to you with the results as well as a post to this forum thread with the virgin HH test results within one day of receipt. All virgin samples that are aggregated to begin an aging cycle will be securely packaged and certified mailed to Roger Caffin, via BPL Bozeman, before that batch’s aging cycle begins.
6. After we have samples of everything the forum members want tested or there is a significant lull in submissions, we will begin the aging tests. For aging, one of each sample will be incrementally washed with the other aging samples using the "Regular" wash cycle of a Maytag A512 washer or another washer's equivalent cycle settings. The Load Size is set to "Medium". The water temperature setting will be “cold”. Ambient temperature air of approximately 70F will be used to dry the samples in a dryer for 1 hour between aging cycles.
7. After the completed condition testing, I will forward the aged sample to Roger in Australia, via the BPL office in Bozeman. He will be the eventual repository for every sample submitted to either location and he will be the arbitrator for any anomaly noted by a forum member.
Self-test reports are also strongly solicited. Thanks to Ziff for being the first self-test contributor and Lance for his ingenious DIY design and his large number of tests.
Revision Notes:
Revision 1: Added explicit temperature related criteria for aging to step 6.
Revision 2: Requested the provider include a URL link to the fabric source in his email to me requesting a Protocol B test in step 2. This eliminates either the contributor or the tester having to cut and paste information. The Web link also provides additional information including the current price and ordering procedures.
Revision 3: Added "The testing procedure I will use is defined in ISO 811:1981." to the end of step 4.
Revision 4: It replaces the second sentence in step 5 which said, "I will then mail your virgin sample to Roger Caffin, via the BPL office in Bozeman, MT, within a few days of my initial virgin sample test." The change was made to reduce the high postal expenses including secure packaging, certification tracking, and post office transit times that would be involved in individually reshipping individual tested virgin samples at the random rate in which they are received.
Revision 5: Added to Step 6, "The Load Size is set to "Medium"."
