ANNUAL, 2005 Redux...

At least you'll be able to close your eyes and remember that sweet voice
each time you try to get them all timed correctly. Patience via
knowledgeable aircraft parts bimbo.... ahhhh.... gotta love it.

And just think... this year.... no carburetor problems (fingers crossed) and
no heater problems to deal with!!!

Good luck!

Jim
"It's not an airplane, it's an adventure!"

That's true Jim... I am toasty warm and heven't even run the heater on
the highest setting yet. Subzero wx is comin so I will have the chance
I'm sure... The carb seems to be running just fine, now that we put
all the parts inside that the designer intended...

denny

Speaking of being toasty warm, the last trip I made in my Aztec was at the
first
of January at night with the OAT around 20 degs F. The heater was not
working.
After a 6 hour round trip in that, even with heavy clothes, jackets, gloves
and blankets,
we were miserable. It is hard to tune the radios with ski gloves, so my
right hand was in
and out of the glove a lot, and the result was numb fingers.

That finally provided the motivation needed to get the heater working. It
is a Southwind
Model 940DB12, which is rated at 15,500 BTU/hr on low and 27,500 BTU/hr on
high. I used to wonder if it were even capable of keeping the cabin warm,
but after
looking at my old thermo book and doing a little calculation, I determined
that if a heater
that size can't keep the Aztec cabin warm, something is really, bad wrong.

Anyway, after studying the service manual on the heater for a while to
understand how it
was supposed to worked and doing a little trouble shooting, it was revealed
that the heater
overhaul shop had incorrectly wired the heater. I don't know how it ever
passed a burn
test. I'll bet it didn't. It would light from the prime fuel charge, open
both fuel
values, burn very rich and smoke migthly until the high temperature
thermostat opened which
closed both fuel values. Only the high heat fuel value was suppoed to be
controlled
by the thermostat. Controlling both fuel values with the thermostat caused
combustion
to stop once the heater exceeded the 240 deg F outlet temperature. Once the
flame was
out, the heater had to be turned off, allowed to cool, and reprimed before
it would ignite again.

It was supposed to ignite, burn on low, and only open the second fuel value
if the operator
selected high heat. In high heat, the increased fuel flow requires
additional combustion air
for the proper mixture. Proper combustion airflow depends on an increased
pressure head
from the slipstream. The airplane needs to be flying to provide this 1" to
2" of water pressure
head in the intake. There is a very small ram air scoop on the air intake
for this purpose, which
has been "calibrated" with a couple of small holes drilled into the flage,
at least I'm guessing that what
the small holes are for. This is why the airplane's Approved Flight Manual
advices against using
high heat during ground operatiions and cautions that doing so will result
in excessive smoking
from the heater exhaust.

Once it was wired to match the wiring diagram in the service manual, it
works like a champ.
We have heat!!!!!!!

I'm still thankful for you guys educating me about C&D and I will use them
for
parts and/or a rebuilt should the old Southwind hang it up, but for now, it
is going
strong. Now I need to add a CO detector in the cabin to warn is the heat
exchanger
springs a leak.

I also need to get motivated to relace the side windows like. I need Jim
Burns for
my partner :-)

Ronnie


"Denny" wrote in message
oups.com...
That's true Jim... I am toasty warm and heven't even run the heater on
the highest setting yet. Subzero wx is comin so I will have the chance
I'm sure... The carb seems to be running just fine, now that we put
all the parts inside that the designer intended...

denny

We have heat!!!!!!!

Congrats!! Although we have a Janitrol, both heaters are fairly simple,
it just takes some patience to figure out what's going on. Am I remembering
correctly that you are in TX? There's also a well known heater shop in
Dothan AL, http://www.haroldhaskinsinc.com/pages/1/index.htm

I also need to get motivated to relace the side windows like. I need Jim
Burns for
my partner :-)

The side windows are easy and you can trim them to fit with a belt sander.
Just clean everything up real good before installing so you get a good bond
if you use silicone. Clean up the excess while it's wet, you'll never get
it off without damage if you let it dry. You can also use the original black
window seal goo. We bought LP Aero windows, 1/4 which required a 337, or
you can go with 3/16 or 1/8" and thermopanes from Great Lakes without a 337.

Jim

Yes, I'm Austin, TX.

Matter of fact, I didn't want to mention any names, but since you
brought it up, that heater shop in Dothan, AL is the one who's
sticker is on the heater and who's signature is in the log books
as having done the last overhaul. Hopefully their work on testing
the heat exchanger for leaks was better than their work on the wiring.
Maybe the tech who did the wiring was having a bad hair day.
Everybody makes mistakes, but I would have expected those errors
to be caught during the burn and post installation test. But who knows,
maybe the heater left their shop propely wired and adjusted and the
mechanic in the field who reinstalled the heater decided he needed to
move a few wires around to make it work better.

I saved your original post about installing the side windows. I need to
tack that project. One of our windows has a crack in the inside pane.
Maybe when the weather gets too bad to fly here in Texas, I'll tackle that
project :-)

Ronnie

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
We have heat!!!!!!!

Congrats!! Although we have a Janitrol, both heaters are fairly
simple,
it just takes some patience to figure out what's going on. Am I
remembering
correctly that you are in TX? There's also a well known heater shop in
Dothan AL, http://www.haroldhaskinsinc.com/pages/1/index.htm

I also need to get motivated to relace the side windows like. I need Jim
Burns for
my partner :-)

The side windows are easy and you can trim them to fit with a belt sander.
Just clean everything up real good before installing so you get a good
bond
if you use silicone. Clean up the excess while it's wet, you'll never get
it off without damage if you let it dry. You can also use the original
black
window seal goo. We bought LP Aero windows, 1/4 which required a 337, or
you can go with 3/16 or 1/8" and thermopanes from Great Lakes without a
337.

Jim

Hey Ronnie,
I've only bought a few parts from Haskins, so I can't comment on their
repair work, but in your case it obviously wasn't done correctly, and if
they did burn test it, I agree with you, it wasn't for long enough! Our
Janitrol is some what simpler in it's operation than the Southwind, it's
either on or off, no high speed/low speed, rather it's controlled by an
adjustable thermostat. The wiring on ours is also rather simple and easy to
understand, if ours was wired incorrectly, it would never ignite at all.
My aerial applicator friend that also owns an Aztec, has all the leak
testing equipment and sealing bulbs so thankfully I am able to get ours
tested locally and without pulling it from the plane.

Jump right into that window project! It will make your entire airplane
look 20 years younger! We had them put a slight grey tint in our side
windows that adds some contrast against the white paint, making it look
pretty sharp.

Jim

"nobody" wrote in message
. com...
Yes, I'm Austin, TX.

Matter of fact, I didn't want to mention any names, but since you
brought it up, that heater shop in Dothan, AL is the one who's
sticker is on the heater and who's signature is in the log books
as having done the last overhaul. Hopefully their work on testing
the heat exchanger for leaks was better than their work on the wiring.
Maybe the tech who did the wiring was having a bad hair day.
Everybody makes mistakes, but I would have expected those errors
to be caught during the burn and post installation test. But who knows,
maybe the heater left their shop propely wired and adjusted and the
mechanic in the field who reinstalled the heater decided he needed to
move a few wires around to make it work better.

I saved your original post about installing the side windows. I need to
tack that project. One of our windows has a crack in the inside pane.
Maybe when the weather gets too bad to fly here in Texas, I'll tackle that
project :-)

Ronnie

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
We have heat!!!!!!!

Congrats!! Although we have a Janitrol, both heaters are fairly
simple,
it just takes some patience to figure out what's going on. Am I
remembering
correctly that you are in TX? There's also a well known heater shop in
Dothan AL, http://www.haroldhaskinsinc.com/pages/1/index.htm

I also need to get motivated to relace the side windows like. I need
Jim
Burns for
my partner :-)

The side windows are easy and you can trim them to fit with a belt
sander.
Just clean everything up real good before installing so you get a good
bond
if you use silicone. Clean up the excess while it's wet, you'll never
get
it off without damage if you let it dry. You can also use the original
black
window seal goo. We bought LP Aero windows, 1/4 which required a 337,
or
you can go with 3/16 or 1/8" and thermopanes from Great Lakes without a
337.

Jim