AKBill
En-Route
Boy, boy, boy did I make a bone head move this morning!!!! Well snow is forecast to start by noon today. Weather has been nasty the last few weeks and it's been 3 weeks since I have flown. So I figured I would preheat early and at least fly in the pattern for a bit. Maybe a short local flight.
At the airport 6:30, fueled generator and tried to start. Dam, forgot to switch to generator to run position and flooded generator. Got generator started and it's running at a lot higher rpm than normal. I figured I would put a load on it to drop rpm. Hooked to my engine heater for 30 seconds or so. Noticed smoke billowing from under engine cowl. Disconnected power and start to look for FIRE. No Fire but lots of smoke. Took a few minutes for smoke to clear.
I'm guessing with the higher rpm the generator was putting out a much higher voltage. So I just smoked the preheater. Now I need to order a new preheater, find a heated hanger, remove old heater, and install new heater....
I have an old Red Dragon in the closet, but I really don't like using it. You have to stand by the entire preheat time and baby sit it..
I'm really upset with myself right now..
At the airport 6:30, fueled generator and tried to start. Dam, forgot to switch to generator to run position and flooded generator. Got generator started and it's running at a lot higher rpm than normal. I figured I would put a load on it to drop rpm. Hooked to my engine heater for 30 seconds or so. Noticed smoke billowing from under engine cowl. Disconnected power and start to look for FIRE. No Fire but lots of smoke. Took a few minutes for smoke to clear.
I'm guessing with the higher rpm the generator was putting out a much higher voltage. So I just smoked the preheater. Now I need to order a new preheater, find a heated hanger, remove old heater, and install new heater....
I have an old Red Dragon in the closet, but I really don't like using it. You have to stand by the entire preheat time and baby sit it..
I'm really upset with myself right now..