It was designed when the Stromberg carburetor was the only carburetor available.
Hartmut To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:07:03 -0800 Subject: [ercoupe-tech] automatic carb heat? Is this feature also there with our Stromberg carbs? Linda N3437H (Sky Sprite) L.A. 2a. Re: Use of carb heat... Posted by: "Hartmut Beil" [email protected] hbeil Date: Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:35 am ((PST)) I read some time ago that the automatic carb heat was another safety feature of the Ercoupe Designs. When closing the throttle completely, The automatic heater opens the heater valve for some amount. This is to prevent an icing in a long approach where you could end up with an iced up carburetor. Many of the Ercoupe heater boxes still have the actuating lever. Like mine does. The little spring most of the heater boxes have is used to close the heat flapper after use. I assume because Cessna did not follow the example and because the mechanic is of the heater box carburetor connector might be complicated, many mechanics just discarded the thing. That does not mean it is bad. Actually it is part of the designed aircraft and should be on the plane - otherwise my insurance company won't pay when I come down with an iced up carburetor. Nah, very unlikely. Hartmut I can assure you it DOES exist and in the 4+ years I've flown N99340 in all kinds of weather, I have never experienced carb icing. I do manually pull out carb heat when I throttle back in the pattern, just to make sure it's fully on. Larry Snyder Washington, Missouri Mountain View, Arkansas N99340 _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™: Discover 10 secrets about the new Windows Live. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!7540.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_ugc_post_022009
