Engine preheater on ebay??

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.

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.

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

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."

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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