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Engine heater on the cheap?

M

moll780

Well Known Member
Anyone have any ideas for a cheap engine heater?
The plane is in a hail shed and there is no electricity.

I'm in Austin TX and really dont need to heat the engine too much but maybe 10 degrees from mid 40's to mid 50's.

A portable 110 generator could be used.
How about gas?
Ideas?

what about something like this?
http://austin.craigslist.org/tls/3705122668.html
 
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Heater

I bought some engine heaters from an auto supply catalog. About $80?
It is a pad that glues on the sump. and has a 110 Volt plug. Lots cheeper than Aircraft Spruce PMAed parts.
 
I cobbled up an engine heater from a small 110v cube ceramic space heater, a household 90 degree heat duct fitting to convert from rectangular to round, and some metal dryer ducting & duct tape. Stuff the business end into the cowl outlet and cover the cowl with some water heater bubble insulation or an old blanket... Helps to plug the cowl inlets. Works well, sorry no pics...
 
moll780. I used a set up with the propane torpedo heater like your link on my C-152 here in MI one winter when I tied down. I cobbled a divert-er at the end with galvanized ducting from Home Depot and then split it to two 4" outlets and ran flex duct to the engine compartment. Covered the engine cowling with a blanket for insulation and I used a big inverter hooked up to my car to run the fan on the torpedo. It took a long time to heat up the engine but worked pretty good. If you have a generator I would recommend the heat pads. You can get your heating on line and do your pre-flight inspections and flight planning while you wait for the oil/engine to heat up.
 
Preheat

Before electricity arrived at my hangar, I used a camp stove rigged to aluminum dryer duct that was satisfactory, if a bit slow; after electricity graduated to a propane heater rigged to the same ductwork that naturally is much quicker. Since it isn't allowed to post attachments, I will be happy to e-mail you pix of both units in action on my Tcraft. The RV6 I am part owner in resides in the adjoining hangar and for it the duct is placed in the same fashion in the cowl, between the exhaust pipes.

Mike V
[email protected]
 
jmvolpp said:
. . .Since it isn't allowed to post attachments, I will be happy to e-mail you pix of both units in action on my Tcraft.
Click to expand...
Huhhhh! Not sure what you mean by this. As far as pictures go, you can attach pictures on this forum. Go set up an account at picasa web albums and you will be able to load your pics into any post you make.
 
JonJay said:
Mid 40's and 50's ? You don't need preheat.
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Agree. Mike Busch says in his webinars that starting an engine below 32F is a misdemeanor and below 20F a felony. If I've got all my temp probes showing at least 40F I figure Mike won't have me arrested. :eek:

Having said that, if I think it's going to be below 40, the night before I'll put a 60W bulb in the lower cowl between the exhaust tips. That combined with a blanket and cowl plugs will raise all temps about 15-20 degrees by the time I come back to the airport the next morning. Not sure how practical a bulb is running off a generator, but it works for my situation and warms the engine evenly.
 
I'd like to do the bulb solution but I don't have any power near the plane.
The engine doesn't seem to want to start below 48F. That may be a different issue but for this thread I'm looking at actual engine preheat solutions where there is no power.
Any issues using a 50000 btu gas blower?
 
Out of the box

How about this? No electricity, no gas, no nothing. As seen on Russian Experimental Association website.


termo.jpg




How to attach the hose














 
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moll780 said:
I'd like to do the bulb solution but I don't have any power near the plane.
The engine doesn't seem to want to start below 48F. That may be a different issue but for this thread I'm looking at actual engine preheat solutions where there is no power.
Any issues using a 50000 btu gas blower?
Click to expand...

What engine? What oil are you using? What are the symptoms of it not wanting to start? I would try to resolve this first as you may have something else going on that is a looming bigger problem.
 
With the heating pads, any issues using them from the automotive sector?
Would this style of heater be glued to the oil pan?

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d....oap?ck=Search_N0649_-1_-1&pt=N0649&ppt=C0076

I also found a dipstick heater. would this also be usable?

http://www.amazon.com/Kats-15200-Di...1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1365722688&sr=1-11

I wouldnt leave these running without me being present so I dont mind spending the money on a small Harbor freight generator and use pads and/or dipstick heater (that I would remove before flight of course).


9GT said:
moll780. I used a set up with the propane torpedo heater like your link on my C-152 here in MI one winter when I tied down. I cobbled a divert-er at the end with galvanized ducting from Home Depot and then split it to two 4" outlets and ran flex duct to the engine compartment. Covered the engine cowling with a blanket for insulation and I used a big inverter hooked up to my car to run the fan on the torpedo. It took a long time to heat up the engine but worked pretty good. If you have a generator I would recommend the heat pads. You can get your heating on line and do your pre-flight inspections and flight planning while you wait for the oil/engine to heat up.
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Jon
oil, XC 20w50
o-320, 2 mags, no primer. odyssey battery. 100LL (no mogas).

Starting; full rich mixture, fuel pump on, pump throttle 2-3 times, open about 1/4 and crank. add few more pumps until start.
I've flooded it once and killed the battery once. Since then I only start the engine after 50F+

Am I doing this incorrect?


JonJay said:
What engine? What oil are you using? What are the symptoms of it not wanting to start? I would try to resolve this first as you may have something else going on that is a looming bigger problem.
Click to expand...
 
Were it me, I'd add primers and do a thorough check on the left mag & plugs. I start these things at zero and below pretty regular. If your dropping a slug of fuel into the intake port and you have a good starting spark, they light right up. Of course preheat is mo' better, but they should be able to start just fine.
 
The problem using a 50,000 btu propane torch is if the engine is cold a lot of frost will form on all the metal parts.
 
so..
Using pads/bands and resistive heater types can create internal sweating (mentioned earlier and with other external proof that this may happen).

Using blower types may cause frost (eternal?) to form on the metal (is this bad and wouldn't the blower heat melt the frost and evaporate the moisture? and if this is the case what about all the pre-heat services offered at airports ensconced in the US frost belt? wouldn't they be held liable for any damage and lives lost that the frost creates?)

Run your car for an hour or so and duct the heat into the engine (wouldn't this also create frost or is there some temp cutoff that frost won't be created?).
 
This season I used a Wolverine engine sump heater stuck to the bottom of the sump. www.wolverineheater.com Controlled by a timer. Ok, I'm a geek, it is controlled by a raspberry PI that I can control via a web page / cron job, via home.
LOVE the heater since the taxi distance from the hangar to the departure end got reduced to about 100'. There is just nothing like having warm oil in the morning even in central Texas.
 
love it!
how long do you think it would take to bring up the oil 20 degrees?
Do you recall which model?

I'm into arduinos. Currently building one to open/close my garage door with camera verification and html5 iphone app for remote access.

scard said:
This season I used a Wolverine engine sump heater stuck to the bottom of the sump. www.wolverineheater.com Controlled by a timer. Ok, I'm a geek, it is controlled by a raspberry PI that I can control via a web page / cron job, via home.
LOVE the heater since the taxi distance from the hangar to the departure end got reduced to about 100'. There is just nothing like having warm oil in the morning even in central Texas.
Click to expand...
 
One of the main by products of using a propane heater is water. After using propane heater(direct flame into some stove pipe then into the engine compartment thru the lower cowl) for half an hour I have seen over half and inch of heavy frost built up all over the engine. It was the last time I used that set up in the cold weather.
 
thermostat

The Johnson control is a thermostat control,my set point is 65 degrees and it is set to cycle back on at 55 degrees
 
moll780 said:
Anyone have any ideas for a cheap engine heater?
The plane is in a hail shed and there is no electricity.
Click to expand...

Interesting requirements. Reminds me of the ole saying: "Cost, Quality, Schedule - pick any two".

Not sure if it would help your starting problem but a cheap option would be to take your oil home with you, keep it warm, then dump it back into the engine when ready to fly. Obviously, some method to get it out without removing the cowl would be good. I can imagine pumping it out thru the filler door/tube.

I've seen photos of wood camp fires under cowls. Maybe not ideal. :eek:

Beyond that, it seems that propane is the only "cheap" solution. I'd think a solar solution would be neat but that doesn't fit into "cheap".
 
I have to agree with many of the posters here. First, there is no need to pre-heat the engine over 32 degrees and second you really need to add a primer to your engine. The cost of adding an electric primer is cheap and easy to install. Starting an engine by pumping the throttle is not only ineffective but could also be dangerous. It wouldn't hurt if it has been over a couple hundred hours to double check the e-gap in the mags and check the timing.
 
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