Electric Preheat for engine

nyoung

nyoung

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Cary, IL
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Nathan young
Dan's post, along with cooler weather hitting Chicago has me thinking about preheat for my Cherokee 180 (Lyc O-360) this winter. I moved hangars this summer and the new hangar does not have a heater, nor is it insulated. It does have electricity, with the bill being included in the ground lease to the village.

Any suggestions for preheaters? I know there are many systems and techniques.
-Reiff
-Tanis
-100W lightbulb
-others?

I have used magnetic engine block heaters to keep our boat engine warm well into November, so I wonder if a variant of that might work too. The big problem would be accessing the cowling to remove the heater before each flight. Unlike the Warrior - the Cherokee 180 has only a small oil access door, so that would mean the entire upper cowl has to come off.

Regardless of the system, I am pretty sure I would drive it via connection to a ThermoCube (thinks for the tip, Scott!).

Thoughts?
 
nyoung said:
Dan's post, along with cooler weather hitting Chicago has me thinking about preheat for my Cherokee 180 (Lyc O-360) this winter. I moved hangars this summer and the new hangar does not have a heater, nor is it insulated. It does have electricity, with the bill being included in the ground lease to the village.

Any suggestions for preheaters? I know there are many systems and techniques.
-Reiff
-Tanis
-100W lightbulb
-others?
Click to expand...

Maybe check out: http://www.e-zheat.com/

They have some interesting numbers on engine temperature, not just oil temperature. For the price, I figured I'd give'em a try. Haven't installed the heater yet - will probably do that when I pull the lower cowl off for the annual.
 
0303409_160_CC_1e4fe.jpg


...and...

Rans-S7-Engine-Cover1.gif
 
I mentioned in the other thread, my engines have Reiff heaters (cylinder base and oil sump). I'll plug them in the night before a morning flight, or in the morning if I'm taking a flight that afternoon/evening. I also will put sleeping bags over the engines to keep the heat in.

To the issue of cabin pre-heat, a small space heater plugged in is nice. Seems like 30 minutes to an hour works well for that if you can do it. More is even better - makes for a nice toasty cabin when you get in. :)
 
Has anyone had any luck with a network based controller to turn the engine heater on and off? I'm thinking a wireless browser based unit that I can log into from home/work and tell it to turn on the heat because i want to fly in a bit.
 
After many years of the 100w bulb under the bottom cowl (shop light is easily (!) inserted thru the hole on the bottom of the cowl where the main strut is located) I went with the Reiff oil sump heater. Takes almost no time to install, but 1) make sure the oil sump surface is REALLY clean and 2) needs an A&P signoff.
 
nyoung said:
Dan's post, along with cooler weather hitting Chicago has me thinking about preheat for my Cherokee 180 (Lyc O-360) this winter. I moved hangars this summer and the new hangar does not have a heater, nor is it insulated. It does have electricity, with the bill being included in the ground lease to the village.

Any suggestions for preheaters? I know there are many systems and techniques.
-Reiff
-Tanis
-100W lightbulb
-others?

I have used magnetic engine block heaters to keep our boat engine warm well into November, so I wonder if a variant of that might work too. The big problem would be accessing the cowling to remove the heater before each flight. Unlike the Warrior - the Cherokee 180 has only a small oil access door, so that would mean the entire upper cowl has to come off.

Regardless of the system, I am pretty sure I would drive it via connection to a ThermoCube (thinks for the tip, Scott!).

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have exactly the same situation as you. Hangar is not heated but does have 'free' electricity. I have a oil sump heater and cylinder heaters. Come about the time the temps start dropping into the 40s I plug int he plane with the thermo cube and cover the cowl/prop with a mover's blanket. This works great. I do need to sometime pre-heat the cockpit and I use a space heater for that. I plug that in as soon as I show up to the hangar. I then go check WX, have a coffee, come back and do preflight. Depending on the temps it has been warming the inside up for 30-60 minutes. I have found that it pretty adequate.
 
Last edited:
jtheune said:
Has anyone had any luck with a network based controller to turn the engine heater on and off? I'm thinking a wireless browser based unit that I can log into from home/work and tell it to turn on the heat because i want to fly in a bit.
Click to expand...

The problem with "in a bit" is that most of the heaters that I'd be comfortable leaving unattended (and starting without me being around) are the sorts that require a few hours. Of course, I also drive by the airport on my way to and from work.

Never tried it, so it'd be a neat idea. The other thing we had for the Mooney was a timer so that we could turn the heater on at a particular time if so desired.
 
murphey said:
After many years of the 100w bulb under the bottom cowl (shop light is easily (!) inserted thru the hole on the bottom of the cowl where the main strut is located) I went with the Reiff oil sump heater. Takes almost no time to install, but 1) make sure the oil sump surface is REALLY clean and 2) needs an A&P signoff.
Click to expand...

Reiff says to remove the paint where the sump heater(s) attach.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
The problem with "in a bit" is that most of the heaters that I'd be comfortable leaving unattended (and starting without me being around) are the sorts that require a few hours. Of course, I also drive by the airport on my way to and from work.

Never tried it, so it'd be a neat idea. The other thing we had for the Mooney was a timer so that we could turn the heater on at a particular time if so desired.
Click to expand...

Now that I have an internet connection in my hangar I'm planning to ditch the phone service ($25/mo) and work out some way to control the engine and hangar heaters via the internet. Haven't gotten around to looking for an easy solution but AFaIK there are OTS solutions using X10 (my current setup with the phone is X10 based).
 
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