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The only thing cheap about an airplane is the pilot. People want to balk at the purchase price of heaters so they buy a cheap electric one and come up with some sort of rigging to sort of make it work. What does it do to the hangar electric bill? 50 a year to be able to control the heater is cheaper than one months electric bill increase if allowed to run full time.
Ha. Yea your right. It just the constant flow of $250 hear and $250 there. You'd think I'd get used to it?
Ha. Yea your right. It just the constant flow of $250 hear and $250 there. You'd think I'd get used to it?
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The joys of owning and using planes, boats, UTVs and snowmobiles.. at some point you forget how many years earlier you could retire and just enjoy life each day and make the most of it. If I can find a way to make it easier to use it instead of letting it sit on the colder clear days, its money well spent.
Thats a cool setup, I made a simple one also that gets the engine warm when its 20f out in mid january.
I made one just like this, Home Depot "Milkhouse Heater", a few bits of ducting and adapters, and an old sleeping bag over the top and the front inlets.
There is maybe $50 invested.
Gets the oil temp needle moving in 30~60 minutes and heats the entire engine compartment.
Then if necessary, use it for five minutes through the pilot's pop-open window to get the cabin nice and toasty.
Much safer and easier than the heat gun or light bulb. Minor alteration. Glue on the oil pan. Use a thermocube or thermostat in the cord to turn it on at a set temp or maintain a specific temp under the cowling been using them for decades in Alaska. Inexpensive effective.
We use the metal Mr Heater style thermostats about $40.00 on Amazon.
This was a couple weeks ago -15F C180 with an o-470. 2 150 watt Kats heaters eng blanket and prop cover. Thermostat at oil pan level on firewall. Blue blanket.
Red Blanket PA14 O320 Reiff turbo system same morning.
The cold temps are prompting me to consider an engine preheater pad, too, in central Maryland. Is there any reason one of these wouldn’t work? Seems to have the same dimensions and adhesive as others I’ve seen at Sportys, Chief etc.
YOTNUS 2 PCS Engine Heater Oil Pan Heater Pad Replacement Block Heater, Silicone Heating Pad for Cold Weather with Heat Protector 150W Cord Length 5.6 Ft https://a.co/d/bGw24iB
Originally Posted by Tnathan
I thought I would hear that home spun solutions are but that they don’t get the heat where it’s needed or don’t heat it enough. That’s not what anyone is saying, so, I will stick with the home spun solution and keep 1k in the bank for gas.
I used a similar one from O'Reilly auto parts on an a Carbon Cub and it worked fine. The $237 Safe-Heat says "No S.T.C. or 337 form required. There are no airframe modifications required." I would compare the specifications to the more expensive ones made for aircraft.
I would suspect they are about the same. However for the price difference, I'm not sure it would be worth trying to explain to the insurance company why I bought the cheap version if it caused a fire or something. YMMV
These work great, throw a blanket over the cowl stick the 6 inch ducting up next to the carb heat box and in a couple hours the whole engine is top of yellow arc when its 20 degrees and snow on the ground outside