Richard
Final Approach
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2005
- Messages
- 9,076
- Location
- West Coast Resistance
- Display Name
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Ack...city life
FYI: The following is an e-mail I rcvd. I purposely left it anonymous but it is from a qualified source. Thought I'd post for y'all who need engine heating.
The questions about engine preheat came up on the Beech list again
recently, and I thought my response might be appropriate here.
In my opinon, forced air heat (as with the old "Herman Nelson" types) is a
lousy way to go. The engine is a large thermal mass, and it would take
forced air a LONG time to heat it through. That 20 or 30 minutes
application of hot air into the engine compartment may do more harm than
good.
Putting your airplane in a heated hangar overnight is best, but often not
possible.
The fancy systems are too expensive for me, but do have the advantage of
heating up the engine thoroughly in a few hours. How to know? Flip the
engine monitor on! If the Oil Temp, all CHTs and all EGTs are the same,
the engine is very evenly heated, and good to go.
I far prefer to spend a couple hundred bucks on a simple 150 to 200W pan
heater, glued to the side of the oil pan, and an insulated engine
cover. Takes at least 12 hours to bring everything up to about room
temperature on a cold day, and I just leave it plugged in all during the
cold season. When I lived where there was a cold season, that is!
No thermostats (can't get too hot), no timers, just push the airplane in
and plug it in, cover it up. If I were sentenced to live in really cold
country, I'd have two pan heaters. I have one from "Alpha Aviation" in
Minneapolis, and they are rather popular there, I'm told.
(Let's not resurrect the condensation myth again so soon! No good data
either way, but the balance of opinion seems to be that 7/24 operation will
allow the least condensation. At least that's MY balance of opinion!)
The questions about engine preheat came up on the Beech list again
recently, and I thought my response might be appropriate here.
In my opinon, forced air heat (as with the old "Herman Nelson" types) is a
lousy way to go. The engine is a large thermal mass, and it would take
forced air a LONG time to heat it through. That 20 or 30 minutes
application of hot air into the engine compartment may do more harm than
good.
Putting your airplane in a heated hangar overnight is best, but often not
possible.
The fancy systems are too expensive for me, but do have the advantage of
heating up the engine thoroughly in a few hours. How to know? Flip the
engine monitor on! If the Oil Temp, all CHTs and all EGTs are the same,
the engine is very evenly heated, and good to go.
I far prefer to spend a couple hundred bucks on a simple 150 to 200W pan
heater, glued to the side of the oil pan, and an insulated engine
cover. Takes at least 12 hours to bring everything up to about room
temperature on a cold day, and I just leave it plugged in all during the
cold season. When I lived where there was a cold season, that is!
No thermostats (can't get too hot), no timers, just push the airplane in
and plug it in, cover it up. If I were sentenced to live in really cold
country, I'd have two pan heaters. I have one from "Alpha Aviation" in
Minneapolis, and they are rather popular there, I'm told.
(Let's not resurrect the condensation myth again so soon! No good data
either way, but the balance of opinion seems to be that 7/24 operation will
allow the least condensation. At least that's MY balance of opinion!)