Engine Preheating

[gevertex]

Hey all,

   I wanted to share my engine pre-heat solution with everyone. I use one of those diesel heaters many others use, and I typically hook this up to my car via the 12v port in the center console. However, recently a deer hit my wife while she was driving (her words ), and we are down one car. As a good husband, I let her drive mine anytime she needs it. As a result, I have been taking an Uber to the airport to fly in the mornings lately. So I needed a 12v source for my heater. I have seen many use smaller motorcycle or generator sized 12v batteries, but I don't have an easy way to charge one of those. I do have 18v and 40v Ryobi batteries that I use for my tools / yard equipment, and chargers for those batteries.

To fix this, I bought a buck converter and a battery adapter (it's basically a breakout for the battery's power pins) to step down the 40v battery to 12v. I tried it this morning and it works really well. I still need to terminate it properly, but now I have a 12v source I can use for anything that is powered by the 5 or so 40v batteries I have laying around. I bet you could do the same thing with 18v tool batteries to step them down to 12v. Depending on the voltage range of the heater it might just accept the 18v battery with no step down.

 

Links
Breakout: https://www.amazon.com/Laimiao-Adapter-Terminal-Convertor-Robotics/dp/B0CDGQWJ7B

Buck Converter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0756T983Q

 

[AJ88V]

I once made a propane powered heater out of a small camp stove, but now that I have a hangar with power, wondering if it might just be enough to stick a 750 watt hair dryer into one of the cowl flaps.  Anybody do this?

[toto]

5 minutes ago, AJ88V said:

I once made a propane powered heater out of a small camp stove, but now that I have a hangar with power, wondering if it might just be enough to stick a 750 watt hair dryer into one of the cowl flaps.  Anybody do this?

The simplest solution I've seen is to throw a blanket over the cowl and put a 100w incandescent light bulb up the cowl flap.  The bulb puts out quite a lot of heat, but probably less dangerous than a hair dryer (I'm thinking the heating element of the hair dryer is probably too hot to have near combustible stuff in an enclosed area).

[Jim F]

2 minutes ago, toto said:

The simplest solution I've seen is to throw a blanket over the cowl and put a 100w incandescent light bulb up the cowl flap.  The bulb puts out quite a lot of heat, but probably less dangerous than a hair dryer (I'm thinking the heating element of the hair dryer is probably too hot to have near combustible stuff in an enclosed area).

This is what I do, and I agree that it seems to be the simplest.  I made a foil lines bobble wrap cover for the cowl and I stuff the trouble light with an 100W incandescent bulb in the pilot's cowl flap.  When i turn on the JPI all cylinders are ~60dF. 

If I am on the road or I got stuck out in the cold I swing buy a hardware store and buy a 3inch flexible dryer duct and stuff it in the cowl flap and the rental car exhaust.  In 20min  the entire engine is warmed up.

[Vance Harral]

We did the light bulb thing for a while, but ultimately decided jamming a glass bulb in the engine compartment (even with the protection of a trouble light cage) skeeved us out.  Now we put a small electric space heater under the cowl and direct the airflow up the cowl flap.  It's not fast, but it's better than the light bulb, and seems less risky.

[BDPetersen]

Pad heater. 

[toto]

For whatever it’s worth, I use a Hornet heater from these guys:

https://www.aircraftheaters.com/

[Shiroyuki]

The first thing I did after purchasing my Mooney is ordering a new kit of engine preheater. Seems to works great, just plug it in the night before and the plane will be ready to go.

It's also not that expensive, 4 cylinder kit is 800$. I personally think it's not worth the hassele to use a light bulb or stuff a space heater under the cowling just to save 800 bucks.

https://www.reiffpreheat.com/product.htm#Turbo System

[jlunseth]

Up here in MN you either install a 120 VAC Reiff or Tanis and carry a really long extension cord, or hope the FBO has a space heater type that they can run into the cowl for awhile. We generally get quite a few days in the -20 dF range in Jan (or colder) and on occasion it sits at about that temp for two or three weeks. We need all the help we can get. Most guys just leave it plugged in. I have a foam block that goes in the oil cooler, if I don’t do that the oil temp will not make 100 dF in the air, which is the minimum in the POH. The turbo needs that for the bearing oil.

[Fly Boomer]

Anyone think about or use some kind of pre-heat in the tail?  I wish I had an easy to access door into the tail where I could stick a heater to pre-heat both the batteries and the gyro back there.

[Pinecone]

Gyro, what's a gyro???

If you have gyros in the panel, a cabin heater is a good idea.

I have a oil sump pad heater on my M20K.  Also a Mac's insulated cowl cover (I typically just throw it over, not fully strapped up).  And I am in an uninsulated hangar.

I have put a wire thermometer in the oil door and see temps under the cowl of around 80F, even with the temps in the teens. 

[Fly Boomer]

41 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

Gyro, what's a gyro???

If you have gyros in the panel, a cabin heater is a good idea.

I have a oil sump pad heater on my M20K.  Also a Mac's insulated cowl cover (I typically just throw it over, not fully strapped up).  And I am in an uninsulated hangar.

I have put a wire thermometer in the oil door and see temps under the cowl of around 80F, even with the temps in the teens. 

Yours probably had a KG-102a in the tail at one time too.  I just hate to fire that thing up when the temperatures are low.  Also, it wouldn't hurt to warm up the batteries a little, although I can probably do that by plugging in the GPU overnight.  Cabin heater is also on my list.

[AJ88V]

4 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Anyone think about or use some kind of pre-heat in the tail?  I wish I had an easy to access door into the tail where I could stick a heater to pre-heat both the batteries and the gyro back there.

Amazon sells battery heater wraps - people in Alaska need them, but Alaska puts 120V outlets next to parking meters!  Didn't find a 'certified' product on Spruce, but did find this:  https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/heaters242500.php

Connect that with an external charger/starting jumper plug and you'd have a solution.

[Pinecone]

On 12/18/2024 at 9:50 AM, Fly Boomer said:

Yours probably had a KG-102a in the tail at one time too.  I just hate to fire that thing up when the temperatures are low.  Also, it wouldn't hurt to warm up the batteries a little, although I can probably do that by plugging in the GPU overnight.  Cabin heater is also on my list.

That was why the smiley faces.

I agree that heating gyros when very cold is a good idea.

[Fly Boomer]

2 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

That was why the smiley faces.

I agree that heating gyros when very cold is a good idea.

I know, but I have other things clamoring for attention and money.