Cheap Heater

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Being upset that I have not flown due to the lame excuse of cold wx, and

Being too cheap and lazy to do an oil-pan and/or cylinder head heating solution, and

Having a few moments of boredom and some stuff laying around, I made this abomination:


I had the ceramic heater, some scrap sheet metal, and aluminum tape. I bought a $7 a/c vent fitting, $6 aluminum flexible 3” duct 8 ft long, and $2 for 3” clamps.

The duct hose will attach to the dragon nostrils with clamps, then I will fit the other end of the hose to each cowl flap.

I figured since heat rises, I’d take advantage of heating the bottom of the oil pan and allowing the rest of the heated air to rise to the cylinders.

I’m going to put a thermometer in front of the cowl to see if I can get any exit air temp increase (may not even reach there, we’ll see).

I may even burn up the heater if I get too little air movement thru it....

 

[coloradobluesky]

Keep in mind if you get a fuel leak (carburetor) it can ignite if it comes into contact with enough heat.

 

[Shepherd]

American ingenuity.
Or:
Hey Bubba, hold my beer.

Either way, I like the way you think.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Just tested the air exiting the nostrils- 185 F from each side.

I thought I had damaged one side of the heating element with a sheet metal screw because at the 750 watt setting only one side was hot. At 1500 watts, both sides blew hot. So that’s probably how this thing is set up, one heating element at low, 2 at high, and they are arranged side by side. Cool thing is (no pun), I put a flow divider in there to keep the air from being turbulent and not impact airflow so much. The above showed it worked.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Keep in mind if you get a fuel leak (carburetor) it can ignite if it comes into contact with enough heat.

True. But I don’t think it’ll get any hotter than the engine when it’s running?

 

[AggieMike88]

I have considered doing something similar.... but with a window AC unit for cooling the cabin during the summer.

 

[Stewartb]

For about $15 you can get an 1850 watt blow dryer at Walmart. Probably comes with a GFCI in the cord, too.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

American ingenuity.
Or:
Hey Bubba, hold my beer.

Either way, I like the way you think.

Same thing, no?

When I drag raced, my friends called my operation CBR - Cheap Bastard Racing. I hated buying bolt on stuff, I’d rather mod or make my own.

 

[Fearless Tower]

Personally, 185F seems too warm.

This is the preheat system I rigged for the T-6. Two small forced draft heaters putting out about 80F each. One duct blowing into the cowl on the back side of the engine. The other blowing air into the oil cooler air scoop which send warm air through the cooler and then the bottom of the oil tank. Then covered the engine with two camp blankets worked really well (25F outside the hangar and the engine was warm to the touch but not hot next morning).

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

I think with the heat loss from 4 ft of hose that the temp at the exit of the hose will have dropped below 185. Will confirm.

Plus, it was 185 with indoor 73 degree intake air. I’m thinking in a 20-40 degree hangar, I’d be closer to 130. The hangar has been in negative territory this winter too.

 

[cessna182b]

I think with the heat loss from 4 ft of hose that the temp at the exit of the hose will have dropped below 185. Will confirm.

Plus, it was 185 with indoor 73 degree intake air. I’m thinking in a 20-40 degree hangar, I’d be closer to 130. The hangar has been in negative territory this winter too.

I did something similar a few years ago - except that I had two heaters, with the hose from each going in a cowl flap. Worked great. Heat loss from the hoses is a valid
concern. At one time I had a tiedown with electricity available - but out in the cold wind not much heat made it to the engine. In a hangar was another story.

Dave

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

@cessna182b , how did you attach to the cowl flaps, just shove it in and it stayed?

 

[swingwing]

Use either scat tubing or the semi rigid aluminum flex duct. DON’T use foil dryer duct

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Yep, got the semi rigid stuff for my contraption. Gonna try it out today.

That vid is crazy.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

At 36 degrees ambient, the heated air gets to 156 at the heater outlet. Have not checked it at the end of the hose (or at the nose of the plane yet).

 

[Bill Watson]

Darn, now I may need to replace my dryer exhaust with SCAT!

BTW, is some of shiny stuff all metallic or is it all metalized plastic or whatever?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Hooked er up. I like the semirigid duct, it stays where I put it.

I turned it on and definitely felt air at the front of the ship, even without sealing the cowl flaps (only half is full of duct, didn’t plug the open half yet).

I’ll take some temp readings next time around.

 

[Clark1961]

Darn, now I may need to replace my dryer exhaust with SCAT!

BTW, is some of shiny stuff all metallic or is it all metalized plastic or whatever?

Metallic flexible dryer ducting is available and as far as I know is required by code for gas fired clothes dryers. Of course Harry Homeowner buys the mettalized plastic stuff ‘cause it is cheaper and works okay for electric dryers.

 

[Bill Watson]

Metallic flexible dryer ducting is available and as far as I know is required by code for gas fired clothes dryers. Of course Harry Homeowner buys the mettalized plastic stuff ‘cause it is cheaper and works okay for electric dryers.

Well, the legal stuff tears too easily, I’m going with SCAT.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Well, the legal stuff tears too easily, I’m going with SCAT.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Yeah, the semirigid is kind of “fragile”. I imagine it’ll need to be replaced after a lot of setup and takedown.

No more excuses for me not flying due to cold temps.

 

[Bill Watson]

Here’s the setup I’ve been using for the past 5 years. It’s an old style red hot coil type instead of the ceramic disk but it works easy and fast enough, especially if the cowling plugs are in place.

I just happily retired it for the season.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[cessna182b]

@cessna182b , how did you attach to the cowl flaps, just shove it in and it stayed?

I made a loop of safety wire around the dryer duct, twisted the ends together and formed it into a hook. That attaches to the cowl flap actuator rod.

Dave

 

[cessna182b]

Use either scat tubing or the semi rigid aluminum flex duct. DON’T use foil dryer duct

I used foil dryer duct without a problem. The unit in the photo I posted has seen considerable use, and looks like new. However, YMMV.

In a similar vein, a couple of weeks ago I picked up a chicken biscuit from Chick Fil-A on my way to work. Once there I popped the bag into the microwave
oven and let 'er rip. To my amazement it caught fire!. Little did I know that the biscuit inside the paper bag was in it's own part-foil pack. I quickly pulled it
out and tried to blow out the fire. That didn't work, so I had to swat it with a book. Amazingly, the biscuit was undamaged - and I ate it!

Dave

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

So today hangar was 40F and after 3 hours the air coming out of the front of the engine was 68F, without any blankets. Not great, not bad. Wonder what it would do at 0F. Hope we don’t worry about that until next year.