Engine preheater on ebay??

[skym]

There's a portable engine preheater on ebay motors for $129. It looks
like an ok unit but I'm asking for any of the collective wisdom on pros
or cons of a unit like this. There's also one on Sportys for $399.
Any opinions on either or a comparison?

[George Patterson]

skym wrote:
> There's a portable engine preheater on ebay motors for $129. It looks
> like an ok unit but I'm asking for any of the collective wisdom on pros
> or cons of a unit like this. There's also one on Sportys for $399.
> Any opinions on either or a comparison?

Post links to these, please?

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

[skym]

On ebay, it can be found as follows:

www.motors.ebay.com

then click on "Aviation" under Parts and Accessories on the left side.
It is the second item on the page. (The URL is REALLY long.)


In addition to the Sportys catalogue (of which I receive two a month)
it is online at:

www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?DID=19&Product_ID=10044

[Kyle Boatright]

"skym" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> There's a portable engine preheater on ebay motors for $129. It looks
> like an ok unit but I'm asking for any of the collective wisdom on pros
> or cons of a unit like this. There's also one on Sportys for $399.
> Any opinions on either or a comparison?

What kind of pre-heater are you looking for? Something you can use to heat
the engine relatively quickly, or something you can leave on for several
hours before flight to warm the engine? What is your climate (e.g. how cold
does it get where you live)? Do you need a heater for one plane or to share
between multiple planes?

Personally, I have one of the Reiff hot strip systems which is a sump
heater. I get 100f oil temperatures on start-up after a 4 hour heat cycle.
I have the thing attached to a timer so I just set the timer to come on 4 or
5 hours before the *next* time I expect to fly.

KB

[Vaughn]

"skym" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> (The URL is REALLY long.)
Then just make it smaller! http://tinyurl.com/dpcwr


Vaughn

>
>
> In addition to the Sportys catalogue (of which I receive two a month)
> it is online at:
>
> www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?DID=19&Product_ID=10044
>

[Toks Desalu]

I remember reading an old article about preheater somewhere. A person who
wrote that article complained about the price of preheaters. So, he made one
for himself for just 40 bucks. I can't remember how he did it, but I think
he used blow dryer's components. I think the article came from Sport
Aviation. I thought I should mention this.

Toks Desalu

"skym" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> There's a portable engine preheater on ebay motors for $129. It looks
> like an ok unit but I'm asking for any of the collective wisdom on pros
> or cons of a unit like this. There's also one on Sportys for $399.
> Any opinions on either or a comparison?
>

[Carl Orton]

I live in TX, so I frequently see temps in the 20's , but not much colder.

For me, I got a ceramic cube heater from WalMart ($20), and a 6" flanged
duct adaptor from Home Depot ($6), and an 8' length of aluminum 6" dryer
vent (~$8). I go out to the plane the night before I want to fly, stick the
duct up the cowl, set a standard lamp timer to come on about 3-4 AM, and I'm
ready to go.

"Toks Desalu" > wrote in message
news:5mYmf.1497$Bj4.230@trndny01...
>I remember reading an old article about preheater somewhere. A person who
> wrote that article complained about the price of preheaters. So, he made
> one
> for himself for just 40 bucks. I can't remember how he did it, but I think
> he used blow dryer's components. I think the article came from Sport
> Aviation. I thought I should mention this.
>
> Toks Desalu
>
> "skym" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> There's a portable engine preheater on ebay motors for $129. It looks
>> like an ok unit but I'm asking for any of the collective wisdom on pros
>> or cons of a unit like this. There's also one on Sportys for $399.
>> Any opinions on either or a comparison?
>>
>
>

[Kyle Boatright]

"Toks Desalu" > wrote in message
news:5mYmf.1497$Bj4.230@trndny01...
>I remember reading an old article about preheater somewhere. A person who
> wrote that article complained about the price of preheaters. So, he made
> one
> for himself for just 40 bucks. I can't remember how he did it, but I think
> he used blow dryer's components. I think the article came from Sport
> Aviation. I thought I should mention this.
>
> Toks Desalu

It is easy to do with a little ceramic forced air space heater. You can get
one at Home Depot or Wal-Mart for $20. Add $10 worth of dryer vent ducting,
a flange from the HVAC section, a few pop rivets, and you're ready to go.
Add a $10 timer and you're really rockin'.

The only downsides are that you can't heat an engine quickly with one (I'd
guess an hour or two to get any meaningful temperature increase) and you've
gotta kludge up a way to route the air under the cowl.

KB

[Michael Ware]

Heating it up slowly over a period of 3-4 hours seems like a better way to
go to me. Better to go from 20° to 80° and give all of the parts and fluids
time to warm up rather than blast it with 200° air for five minutes then
attempt to start.

"Kyle Boatright" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Toks Desalu" > wrote in message
> news:5mYmf.1497$Bj4.230@trndny01...
> >I remember reading an old article about preheater somewhere. A person who
> > wrote that article complained about the price of preheaters. So, he made
> > one
> > for himself for just 40 bucks. I can't remember how he did it, but I
think
> > he used blow dryer's components. I think the article came from Sport
> > Aviation. I thought I should mention this.
> >
> > Toks Desalu
>
> It is easy to do with a little ceramic forced air space heater. You can
get
> one at Home Depot or Wal-Mart for $20. Add $10 worth of dryer vent
ducting,
> a flange from the HVAC section, a few pop rivets, and you're ready to go.
> Add a $10 timer and you're really rockin'.
>
> The only downsides are that you can't heat an engine quickly with one (I'd
> guess an hour or two to get any meaningful temperature increase) and
you've
> gotta kludge up a way to route the air under the cowl.
>
> KB
>
>

[[email protected]]

Carl Orton wrote:
> I live in TX, so I frequently see temps in the 20's , but not much colder.
>
> For me, I got a ceramic cube heater from WalMart ($20), and a 6" flanged
> duct adaptor from Home Depot ($6), and an 8' length of aluminum 6" dryer
> vent (~$8). I go out to the plane the night before I want to fly, stick the
> duct up the cowl, set a standard lamp timer to come on about 3-4 AM, and I'm
> ready to go.

I did the same, but had two of the cube heaters, so made two
preheaters. I used an "offset adapter" as a source of flanges, and
used 4" dryer vent hose (half of an 8' length for each side). I put the
heaters on the ground and insert a hose in each cowl flap opening. I
made hooks from safety wire to hold the hoses in place (attach to the
cowl flap actuator rod). My plane is outside, so I don't have the
option of leaving this setup in place when I'm not around.

Conclusion? They do work, and make the plane much easier to start with
an hour or so application. I think there is room for improvement - I
note a significant temperature drop over the length of the dryer hose.
Perhaps supporting the heaters close to the cowl flap openings (and
using shorter hoses) will help - or switching to some sort of insulated
hose (if I can find any). Another thought (untested) would be to use a
couple of cheap hair dryers - one inserted in each cowl flap. Comments?

David Johnson

[George Patterson]

skym wrote:
> On ebay, .....

Ok. I have a portable propane model, so I don't have direct experience with
either of these. Both appear to be adaptations of the sort of "ceramic" electric
heater that sells for around $30 at Home Depot. The Sporty's unit looks like it
would do a much better job, since it pulls it's intake air from the cowl. If I
were using it, I would stick the discharge in the gap at the bottom of the cowl,
though.

I have two of these units for helping heat poorly heated rooms in my home. They
do that job very well. I even got decent results using one to heat up an
unheated garage -- it kept things from freezing, at least. Based on that, I
believe Sporty's claims about the efficiency of their unit. Dunno if it's worth
that kind of money, however.

The main disadvantage I see is that these units require electricity. They're
also not going to be weatherproof. That means the portability is of limited use.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

[George Patterson]

wrote:

> I think there is room for improvement - I
> note a significant temperature drop over the length of the dryer hose.

Try switching to insulated flexible 4" heating duct. HD sells it.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

[skym]

Cool! Didn't know there was such a thing.

[skym]

Thanks to all for the responses. I have a Tanis heater for the oil,
but just was wondering if an air-flow heater might be useful here. I'm
in Montana, and temps well below 0 degree F are not uncommon in the
winter. An airflow heater can warm up the engine and the cockpit for
the sake of the avionics. As for putting together something myself I'm
reminded of the old Groucho Marx joke about belonging to any private
clubs: "I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member."

[George Patterson]

skym wrote:

> An airflow heater can warm up the engine and the cockpit for
> the sake of the avionics.

Just pick up one of the $30 ceramic heaters from Wal-Mart for heating the cabin.
IMO, the Tanis is all you need for the engine. That heat will get everywhere in
the engine -- aluminum is a good conductor.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

[Paul kgyy]

Well, every time you start it your CHTs go up 200 degrees in a matter
of seconds.

[Newps]

skym wrote:

> Thanks to all for the responses. I have a Tanis heater for the oil,
> but just was wondering if an air-flow heater might be useful here. I'm
> in Montana, and temps well below 0 degree F are not uncommon in the
> winter. An airflow heater can warm up the engine and the cockpit for
> the sake of the avionics. As for putting together something myself I'm
> reminded of the old Groucho Marx joke about belonging to any private
> clubs: "I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member."

I'm across the ramp from you and all a guy needs is a couple of glue on
heating pads from Tractor Supply and a cover from Kennon. At 0 degrees
F the oil will be 100F and the cylinders will be 80F.

[George Patterson]

Paul kgyy wrote:

> Well, every time you start it your CHTs go up 200 degrees in a matter
> of seconds.

Really? Mine didn't. It usually took at least 5 minutes for the CHT gauge to
move off the peg.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

[Bob Chilcoat]

I bought a $40 1.5 kW ceramic heater at Ace Hardware, a length of 4"
metalized dryer duct, and a 4" to 6" duct adapter. A bit of metal bashing
turned the 6" end of the duct adapter into a square, flanged surface that
could be sheet-metal screwed to the outlet of the heater. Two feet of duct
goes on the 4" end with a hose clamp. We stick the end of the duct up into
the cowl on top of the nose gear scissors (Archer). Half an hour of
preheating with this raises the temperature exiting the front of the cowl to
well above freezing (circa 40 degrees F) when the air temp is -10 degrees F.
We experimented with leaving the cowl plugs in or not, and it seems to heat
the engine faster with the heat rising through the cylinder fins and out the
cowl inlets. If there is any significant breeze (which might reverse the
air flow) we put the cowl plugs in and give it 45 minutes. More gentle
heating than the $25 preheat service (big propane heater stuffed into only
one front cowl inlet), and the whole rig cost around $50. Of course we
scored the only tiedown next to a hangar, with outside outlets within five
feet of the wingtip, but others run long cords over the ramp temporarily for
tools, etc.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:Y06nf.14684$OK6.11811@trnddc03...
> skym wrote:
>> On ebay, .....
>
> Ok. I have a portable propane model, so I don't have direct experience
> with either of these. Both appear to be adaptations of the sort of
> "ceramic" electric heater that sells for around $30 at Home Depot. The
> Sporty's unit looks like it would do a much better job, since it pulls
> it's intake air from the cowl. If I were using it, I would stick the
> discharge in the gap at the bottom of the cowl, though.
>
> I have two of these units for helping heat poorly heated rooms in my home.
> They do that job very well. I even got decent results using one to heat up
> an unheated garage -- it kept things from freezing, at least. Based on
> that, I believe Sporty's claims about the efficiency of their unit. Dunno
> if it's worth that kind of money, however.
>
> The main disadvantage I see is that these units require electricity.
> They're also not going to be weatherproof. That means the portability is
> of limited use.
>
> George Patterson
> Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
> your slightly older self.

[Dan Youngquist]

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005, Bob Chilcoat wrote:

> We experimented with leaving the cowl plugs in or not, and it seems to
> heat the engine faster with the heat rising through the cylinder fins
> and out the cowl inlets.

Have you experimented with blowing the heat in the cowl inlets and letting
the coldest air inside the cowl come out the bottom? Seems like it would
heat much faster that way since you'd be exhausting the coldest air
instead of the warmest air.

-Dan

[George Patterson]

Dan Youngquist wrote:

> Have you experimented with blowing the heat in the cowl inlets and
> letting the coldest air inside the cowl come out the bottom? Seems like
> it would heat much faster that way since you'd be exhausting the coldest
> air instead of the warmest air.

I got my best results by inserting the heat duct in the air gap at the bottom of
my cowl and allowing the air to exhaust out the cowl inlets. When I inserted the
heat duct in the cowl inlets, the top of the cowl got uncomfortably hot fairly
soon. All the warm air stayed up at the top and the cold air stayed down around
the crankcase.

Perhaps if the cowl inlets were sealed around the heat duct it might work
better, but I think it would not.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.