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Greg, I have used a 40,000 BTU forced air tubular kerosene heater to preheat my Bonanza and I have never had the heater shut down. I haven't tried it yet on my coupe. My heater does not shut off with a piece of 8" diameter by 8 ft. aluminum clothes dryer vent tubing loosely placed over the front. In fact it usually gets too hot so I pull the tubing over to one side of the heater opening to allow cold air to be pulled in along with the hot. Using this arrangement on a 0 degree day with the tubing stuck in the lower cheek cowl opening and cowl plugs inserted, I get a CHT of 70 degrees after 30 min. The biggest problem I have is the constant need to check the temperature of the air coming out of the dryer vent tubing, and I usually have to run this heater off a generator. I am afraid of melting wiring, paint, etc., or causing a fire with this heater, so I usually adjust the amount of tubing over the opening of the heater so it is only covering about 2 inches. I test the temperature by putting my hand over the end of the duct that is inserted into the cowl. If I can hold my hand there relatively comfortably it's O.K. I also have a Tanis electric heater installed on this plane which I use if I have regular electricity available as it can be safely left alone with no fear of a fire. This unit is FAA approved and is very nice but takes at least 3 hours to bring the CHT up to 55 degrees. I suggest you try covering only half of your heater opening with your ducting as this should give plenty of heat and shouldn't cause as much back pressure so your heater might stay lit. Don't give up on that heater yet! Dan '46 Ercoupe N3548H '47 Bonanza N3131V Greg Bullough wrote: > ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- > > Having seen the various suggestions about the tubular shop-heaters > with duct-work for engine pre-heaters, I tried it with a heater that I > wanted for the hangar anyway. > > It's from Home Depot, and is a Remington 30/40/50 thousand BTU > unit. > > I took a 7-inch to 6-inch duct adapter and connected it to a 6-inch-to- > 4-inch adapter. This, once slit, slid right into the inside of the tube and > the air flow out the front was quite vigorous. > > Unfortunately, the heater will neither light nor stay lit with the > back-pressure. > Even the back-pressure of the 7-6 adapter alone keeps it out. I tried setting > an eight-inch to 6-inch adapter over the outside of the unit. Even that upset > it. This heater does NOT like anything near its nose when operating. It's > also fairly clear that the failure-mode will be somewhat dangerous. So > don't try it with the Home Depot item. > > Drat! I had cooked up a nice little manifold out of a 4-inch tee with a damper > on one side, intended to hook to 4-inch foil dryer ducts to re-direct the heat > to the engine. So much for the 'Bodger Brothers Inc' pre-heater. > > The good news is that on 'High' it cranks out so much toastiness that > I suspect just by running it for a half-hour pointed at the front of the plane > with the cowling open to catch the heat, it will warm the engine sufficiently > to get a safe start. > > By the way, while at Home Depot I found a nice item on sale; for $39.95 they > have a pair of 500-watt halogen work lights on a tall stand. Best price > I've seen > on such an animal. > > Greg > > __________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ____________________________________________________________ > T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. > Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. > http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01 __________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________________________ T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
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