Heated Pitot Installation for Piper Cherokee 235

[DwayneSmithUSMC]

I just bought a heated pitot for my 1965 Cherokee 235. I am wondering how many hours an installation will take. I can't seem to get a straight answer from the A&P that I use (I am new to my local area and I am using the A&P for the first time). Does anyone have a Cherokee and know the approximate mx hours for this installation?

 

[MajorTurbulence]

Can't answer that but imagine my shock when a replacement heated pitot for my Archer 2 was $900. It was only available new from Piper. Hope yours was less expensive.

 

[murphey]

If there was a heated pitot already installed, then there's 2 possible problems....the wiring or the pitot head. If the wiring is good (easy to check) then replacing the heated head shouldn't take more than a couple hours. Had it done on the 180 last year. If the wiring is bad, could take more time.

 

[mondtster]

It’s hard to tell, but I assume based on the original post that this airplane never had a heated pitot installed. If that is true, the reason the mechanic may not be able to give a firm answer on time to install the heated pitot is because he may not know if there is wiring already installed for one or not. If the mechanic has to pull wire for the heater circuit, add a circuit breaker and switch the time required could be substantially more than if part of the job is already done.

Just a WAG but I’d assume it will take the better part of a day to install the entire circuit if nothing exists, and maybe a couple of hours if the wire is already pulled.

 

[SEMOAV]

I know I have installed a heated pitot on a 172E it took about 8 hours. But this was removing the non heated one and running new wires and such. So if your installation is similar I would expect the same.

One of the reasons you probably are not getting a straight answer is because it is hard to estimate. Let’s say they replace it and screws are stripped, that takes more time and there are a ton of possible other issues a mechanic can run into as well.
Hope this helps.

 

[AKBill]

I bought a heated pito for my Beech Sport and plane on installing it the next time I get space in a HEATED hanger, LOL. I think the wires are already installed but nothing else. It's still going to be fairly labor intensive. Finding the wires, installing the circuit breaker and switch and mounting the mast the pito mounts to. I'm guessing 8 to 12 hours.

If the wires are not there it will take a lot longer because there is no easy access to run the wires and tie them up. I would have to remove part of the wing trailing edge and that requires removing the flap and aileron..

Hope it works out for you.

 

[jimmyjack]

Just to give perspective, my 1957 172 doesn't have a heated pitot and my shop wants around $2000-$3000 to install it. Said all the cost is in the parts with relatively minimal labor. Think heated stall horn was part of that, too, though not 100%.

 

[FredFenster]

Found the invoice from when I had a heated pitot installed on my 140 back in 2015 - "Install Customer Furnished Piper heated pitot tube, including wiring and 10 amp breaker switch. $250.00" I was having a GPS installed at the same time so the panel was going to be ripped apart anyways, not sure how much that played into the cost. I already had an empty hole in the panel for the switch/breaker combo. He said the wiring was fairly easy, he pulled the wingtip and ran a pole through the holes in the wing ribs, there must've been a fairly straight shot behind the fuel tank.