Any ideas/practices for unattended "cockpit warmer"

twdeckard

twdeckard

Pre-takeoff checklist
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twdeckard
I am fishing for ideas to keep the plane interior warm. We use Tanis heaters and cowling covers fastidiously, but my wife and daugher don't seem to care about top cylinder wear as much as how cold soaked the damn plane is when we get back from the party and its dark and windy.

I flew with a guy who had mounted (TSO approved I am sure) a little ceramic heater in the baggage compartment that he kept plugged in while it was parked and that seemed pretty clever. Should I be squemish about leaving a freestanding ceramic heater going the whole time I am gone/overnight?

Draping one of those old fashioned electric blankets over the back seat?

One of those catalytic/propane heaters? I am assuming I have access to 120VAC but these are supposed to be safe for inside your car? This internet link would suggest otherwise:

http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia05/os/co03.pdf


Any suggestions from the board, things that folks are doing that work down to 0-20F.

Thanks!
 
twdeckard said:
I flew with a guy who had mounted (TSO approved I am sure) a little ceramic heater in the baggage compartment that he kept plugged in while it was parked and that seemed pretty clever. Should I be squemish about leaving a freestanding ceramic heater going the whole time I am gone/overnight?
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The local flight school does that and has not had any problems. I am a little squeamish about it. They leave theirs on low and it seems to work. I have one but only use it when I am around. I will arrive about 30 minutes before I want to take off, put it on the floor on high and let it run while I pre-flight, then go into the FBO to take care of bio-business and check weather. When I come out it seems pretty warm in the cockpit.

I have been toying with the idea of one of those self contained oil filled heaters as they never seem to get hot enough to melt anything in direct contact and might be safer than the ceramic. I have a friend who uses that type of heater but not in the plane, he leaves it in the hangar to heat up the whole room. My hangar is not insulated like his so I don't think it would work very well for me in that configuration. I need to put it into the plane itself.
 
Get a Comanche. When I pull the cabin heat open on that mine, I start getting naked.
 
Hey Ron, how are you doing!

Thats a great suggestion. I think I could source this thing from the cigarette lighter (at least in the 12v airplanes). Its only 4 amps.

Thanks!
Todd
 
EdFred said:
Get a Comanche. When I pull the cabin heat open on that mine, I start getting naked.
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In the 172 it always seems like the front seat passengers say "my feet are hot, but my face is cold" whereas the back seat passengers say "are you sure these vents are closed" the whole time.

Probably needs some well placed duct tape.

I don't mind flying year round but its that first blush with cold vinyl and plastic that I have to psych up for. It seems like when the airplane is cold soaked it just sucks the life out of you until things warm up.
 
I use a simple walmart 12" box fan with 3 levels of heat and a timer. Put it on low, set for about 1-2 hrs before and all those instruments are pleasantly warm. Any heater carries risk by its nature of energy conversion. I prefer to avoid burning liquids and gases, and the wood fire was too smokey, so that leaves electrical. I think the risk is minimal. I guess you could park two large breed dogs in there to avoid the fire risk - they would warm it up....but then you have all those noseprints on the glass to deal with.
 
I fulltime in my motorhome including winterover in Colorado in whatever conditions mother nature throws at me so I have a pretty good idea how to keep things warm and unfrozen. (Two weeks of sub-0F highs and -15F to -20F every night is the low temperature endurance record so far)

Cold is partially psychological. A 60F cabin is considered cold by most people however a 40F cabin is very warm if you climb in from 20F weather outside.

Anytime electricity or heat is involved, there is alway a fire risk. Just take proper precautions and be conservative. Don't pinch electrical cords in door frames and always use the proper gage wire for 125% or more of the load you're putting on it.

I have a little 500/1000W electric heater sitting on a piece of wood on the floor near my table that's on all winter and supplementary to propane heat when I'm plugged in. It's set to 500W and 50F when I'm not home and at night. I have no problems with it and I'm on winter #4 doing this. I just make sure nothing will fall on it, and that it's clear of surfaces by an opened hand width on each side and back. The front is clear by fingertip to elbow distance. That's smaller than a Cherokee's baggage compartment and will keep 10 feet of my motorhome warm so a plane's cabin should be toasty warm.

Another common solution for under cabinets and larger water storage compartments is a 15-40W light bulb in a freestanding fixture. (Right now I have a 15W bulb way back in a very tight inaccessable area keeping three water hoses from freezing until I cut a hole in the side and add an extra storage door in that area for more storage room) I ran across one guy fulltiming in a hard sided popup camper. He runs three 100W bulbs during the day and when he's not there and says it never freezes inside even when he's gone for a few days.
 
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I spent a little more and got a thermostatically controlled ceramic heater. One of the more important things is that you want the avionics to stay warm as well as the seats.
 
Todd, any propane fueled heater is going to produce prodigious amounts of water vapor which doesn't sound like a good idea in an airplane cockpit (even if you ignore the fire hazard). Those catalytic heaters also produce CO so you'd probably need to air out the cabin before climbing aboard which might defeat the purpose of the heater. A high quality electric heater might be a better choice.
 
I've been reading too much about Tiger Woods.

My mind's first reply to this subject was 'club hostess'! :blowingkisses:

(Probably would not sit well with the wife and daughter) :nono:
 
catmandu said:
I've been reading too much about Tiger Woods.

My mind's first reply to this subject was 'club hostess'! :blowingkisses:

(Probably would not sit well with the wife and daughter) :nono:
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Here's an NA story. I work in the medical industry and we pay attention to Advamed/PhARMA guidelines for how to interact with our physician customers. I had a co-worker relate a story second hand about a friend who when to a pharmacuetical conference outside of Monaco. Becuase the 30 mile drive would have been too much they chartered them a helicopter. When my friends-friend arrived he realized the entire scientific seminar was mostly a sham and that there would be no real presentations.

As he was checking in the hotelier asked "do you want a blanket for your room." Now totally flustered at the waste of time our naive physician says "this is a $450/night hotel, I am sure it has heat?" No sir ... do you want a b-l-a-n-k-e-t. wink wink.

It took him (and me) a few seconds to get it.
 
twdeckard said:
I flew with a guy who had mounted (TSO approved I am sure) a little ceramic heater in the baggage compartment that he kept plugged in while it was parked and that seemed pretty clever.
Click to expand...

It might be easier and warmer to light the whole damn airplane on fire.
 
Keep a pack of these in the plane:

518rlAKQAmL._AA400_.jpg
 
I put the heater on in my Warrior once just to see if it worked, burned my hand, haven,t used it since. In San Diego, keeping the cockpit cool is a bigger problem. I had to have an avionics fan installed in my plane just to keep the radios working right. I'm not a big fan of hot weather, but it sure beats freezing your butt off.

We have a pretty good bunch of rain right now, I'm looking forward to flying over the local mountains to look at all the snow this weekend. Sorry I couldn't offer any better help to your problem other than bragging about where I live. :)

I guess I should add that should you get a heater with a moving fan, be sure to replace it every few years if your going to leave it unattended in your plane. I had one on my sailboat years ago that I wasn't paying enough attention to. The bearings fried and the fan stopped spinning. If I wasn't a live aboard, it probably would have caused a whole lot of damage.

John
 
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Just get a heated hangar. Climb inside and have the FBO pull you out.
 
smigaldi said:
I have been toying with the idea of one of those self contained oil filled heaters as they never seem to get hot enough to melt anything in direct contact and might be safer than the ceramic. I have a friend who uses that type of heater but not in the plane, he leaves it in the hangar to heat up the whole room. My hangar is not insulated like his so I don't think it would work very well for me in that configuration. I need to put it into the plane itself.
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I use one of these oil-filled heaters in a "plastic" "greenhouse" to keep the citrus trees warm in winter - the flowerhouse is about 6x6x6. It works pretty well - but I keep it set to maintain a temp of 48-50something inside the flowerhouse. no worry about burning, tipping over, etc. Problem is that it's a bit big to put in the plane, and it does take a while to warm up the space. It is something you'd have to leave on full time to keep the area warm, or put it on a timer of some kind.
 
I use a ceramic heater with an aluminum outside dryer vent attached with metal tape that I purchased from the aviation section of Home Depot. I attach the dryer hose and route it through the side window on my Cherokee. It is on the same thermostat plug as my Reiff preheater. Inside of the airplane stays toasty and the heater is outside and away from the airplane. It's been working for me for years. Sorry, I don't know how to post a picture here but will email you one if you want.
 
Pa28-140 said:
I use a ceramic heater with an aluminum outside dryer vent attached with metal tape that I purchased from the aviation section of Home Depot. I attach the dryer hose and route it through the side window on my Cherokee. It is on the same thermostat plug as my Reiff preheater. Inside of the airplane stays toasty and the heater is outside and away from the airplane. It's been working for me for years. Sorry, I don't know how to post a picture here but will email you one if you want.
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Pictures would be neat. On the edit window when you post look for the little icon that is a paperclip. That allows you to upload pictures.
 
twdeckard said:
In the 172 it always seems like the front seat passengers say "my feet are hot, but my face is cold" whereas the back seat passengers say "are you sure these vents are closed" the whole time.

Probably needs some well placed duct tape.

I don't mind flying year round but its that first blush with cold vinyl and plastic that I have to psych up for. It seems like when the airplane is cold soaked it just sucks the life out of you until things warm up.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you have a lot of air leaks. I've noticed the 172s are generally pretty bad about having air leaks. Your best option is to try to fix those (it's made a HUGE difference for me to address air leaks on the Aztec, and I'm not even close to done yet). If you don't do that, then the blankets idea is going to work best just because your toasty warm cabin on start-up will then get to be pretty cold by the time you actually get going.

For what it's worth, I don't have a heater option on the Aztec (probably ought to), but on the Mooney I used to use a little ceramic heater. Like Scott, it would normally take me about 30 minutes or so to get everything ready to fly. Put the heater in first, you're pretty much around the plane the whole time, and by the time you're done it's pretty warm. I'd be squeamish about leaving the heater unattended.

infotango said:
It might be easier and warmer to light the whole damn airplane on fire.
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"I'm from --- and I'm here to help." :D

Where ya been, Rob?!
 
Boy, do I feel stupid! I don't see any paperclip symbol. There is a "landscape" symbol that allows to upload pictures, but I think they have to first be posted to an online site. What am I missing?
 
Pa28-140 said:
Boy, do I feel stupid! I don't see any paperclip symbol. There is a "landscape" symbol that allows to upload pictures, but I think they have to first be posted to an online site. What am I missing?
Click to expand...
See the thumbnail below.

It's the "attachments" thing - click on that, browse, upload.
You can then plonk the picture in the middle of the text an remove the attachment, but that takes a couple more steps.

If you did a "quick reply" you may need to click on "go advanced" or something like that...
 

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