Ed, wrote "If I were doing a lot of very cold flying, I’d look into one of the permanent heater installations. Isn’t there one that wraps the oil tank and plugs into the AC in the hangar? Is that good enough? What others are there?" I use this type of heater. Mine is made by E-Z Heat in Chetek, WI. It works as advertised but it is imperative you have some sort of cowl blanket. I went flying last Saturday and the temp in my hanger was -3F. The ez heater was on for about 5hrs and the oil temp was well above 100F at startup. If you have a good tight cowl blanket the heater also heats the whole engine compartment very well. The Tanis heater seems like a nice unit. It has a heating pad on the sump too, but also band heaters around each cylinder. Dan N93805
--- On Tue, 1/5/10, Ed Burkhead <[email protected]> wrote: From: Ed Burkhead <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] Re:winter flying To: "ety" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 11:33 AM Allen wrote: > This little heater would have even better use if it were > plugged into your car and put in the engine compartment > to warm the engine before starting. What do you think? As it’s only 150 watts, it’ll take quite a long time to warm up the engine. I’ve heard of people leaving a trouble light with a 100 watt light bulb in the bottom of their (better be) clean engine compartment overnight so the engine will be acceptably warm in the morning. (I don’t know if that’s a good idea, but I’ve heard of it.) Leaving my car idling for an hour or four in front of the airplane so the dinky heater can warm the engine doesn’t seem worthwhile to me. I’d rather use the FBO’s preheater even if I have to pay for it. But, if you have no hangar and have to tie down out in the boondocks, perhaps this is better than nothing. What is the expert recommendation for the temperature below which preheating should be done? If I were doing a lot of very cold flying, I’d look into one of the permanent heater installations. Isn’t there one that wraps the oil tank and plugs into the AC in the hangar? Is that good enough? What others are there? Ed
