C Kingsbury wrote:

I think the pre-heat is kind of implicit below zero. Still, unless
you really warm the engine up (hard to do in less than an hour) most
planes I've flown are still kinda cranky to start.

Yes, for the purposes of this discussion I assumed preheat is implicit
below about 0 or -5 deg C. Though I don't always have the patience for
an hour or more of preheat time. Thanks to all who posted--I've
learned lots in this cold-starting 101 lesson.

BTW, I've got a great device for preheating. A $20 electric heater
with fan I bought at Kmart that fits beautifully beteween the nose
strut and bottom cowling of my Skyhawk. Nice to find some things in
aviation that can be done cheaply.

Jim Rosinski