Unelectrified Hangars / Block heater / Generator setups

[petrolero]

I have an unelectrified* hangar (an old Port-a-Port) and I'm thinking about winter stuff.

I'm wondering who else is in this same boat of having a "dead" hangar. What kind of generator setup did you go with?

Some stuff I've thought about but haven't pulled the trigger on...

Has anyone looked into cell-phone startable gen sets? I did.

There is a Chinese company (yeah I know) called Witura that makes cell phone modules that (they claim) allow you to start/stop/receive status messages via cellular. When I looked into this their price was US$140 (they called it the WT 9004). Just add a SIM card and you're ready to go. The generator has to have a battery with electric starter, of course, but there are lots of those out there. Anyone looked into setups like this?

The idea would be to vent the generator to the exterior. Then I could keep it connected to my block heater and start it up at 5 AM (or whenever) from home rather than having to march my butt to the airport and start it.

Anyway, interested in what others have tried. Pilots are an ingenious lot.




*The lack of electricity hinders many of us who bought Port-A-Ports at KAPA. I am told that there is no chance of getting electrical service for these units. Apparently they did a study and it was going to be silly expensive so forget it. OK fine.

 

[Clark1961]

Nate is/was in a port-a(whatever) at KAPA too. His setup was el-manuel using a propane burner with electric fan. Seemed to work but definitely not automated.

Best bet is to move to FTG and get store-bought power straight from the socket.

 

[petrolero]

I have one of those fire breathers too. The battery keeps dying unless I hook it up to my car and recharge it once in a while.

If only they'd scoot KFTG closer to my house!

 

[gismo]

This is going to require a lot more than a simple cellular remote switch and a portable electric start genset. First, the generator's engine is going to be harder to start under load so you might need to have a way to keep the block heater disconnected until it's running. Second you'll need a genset that's designed to be started automatically. Otherwise you'd need a way to operate the choke and make it crank until it fires up then stop cranking.

If you don't use the heater more than a couple times a week you might be able to get by with 3-4 12v batteries, a 500 watt inverter and a thousand dollars worth of solar panels (plus the remote cellular switch). And if you could scrounge up at least 9 batteries you wouldn't even need the inverter (the heater will run on DC as well as AC).

 

[murphey]

I have one of those fire breathers too. The battery keeps dying unless I hook it up to my car and recharge it once in a while.

If only they'd scoot KFTG closer to my house!

We got people who live in Highlands Ranch, even Evergreen. Is it worth a longer drive for a hangar with electricity? FTG, APA and BJC are about the same distance for me. FTG is fairly easy to get to, no matter where you live.

 

[denverpilot]

I'm going to take the Honda 1000 over this year. The off-brand genset is too fussy. That's the electricity for the propane burner.

You're not going to get anything started remotely around here in Winter unless you have a remote way to activate the choke.