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Roger Lee

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Howdy All,

 

As you can see by my post it's the new year and I must be bored this morning. smile.gif

 

The weather is cold and time to talk about keeping warm in the cockpit. I can fly in 25F temps with only a pair of bluejeans (501's of course) and a short sleeve shirt. Here's how to maximize your cabin heating.

First you need to make sure that your cabin heat is opening all the way. This and air leaks is the major cause for you not getting a good heat delivery to the cabin. Pull the cowl off, pull the cabin heat knob all the way out and from the right side of the plane look and feel to see if the little diverter door to the cabin heat is opening all the way. If not adjust the cable a tad shorter. If your diverter door isn't opening all the way the cold air is mixing with the hot air and you are loosing a lot of heating capability.

Second take some 2"- 3" wide clear plastic tape and tape over the holes up above your head in the cabin on both sides. I mean all the holes including where the wing pin handles are too. All these holes need to be sealed. Sealing only a few will only force cold air out of another hole. Make sure that you have the wing root gaps on the outside of the plane taped over with your white bolus tape , too. Most of us already have this done.

If you don't already know many of your cabin doors do leak some air, some more than others, but either way they allow cold air in. Go to the hardware store and get some 3/8" soft weather strip foam (not the harder black rubber). Apply this to the edge all the way around each door up against the black door molding all ready there. Now that you have no cold air entering the cabin the heater works very well.

These few little procedures will keep you nice and toasty for the cold weather flying.

 

 

p.s.

If you want to take sealing the cabin one step further you can get a 2' square piece of 2" thick soft foam and cut it out to the shape that fits right behind each seat that is open to the baggage compartment and fill/seal this area off, too..

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A bit off topic but related to winter flying. At what temperature should/must you preheat the engine? I'm in the Dallas area with relatively mild winters. I have my plane in an unheated but heavily insulated hangar, including the hangar door, so it doesn't get within 10 degrees of the low temps. I can't recall taking off with OAT less than 45.

 

Last night it got down in the mid-twenties and only got up to the low forties. Didn't fly since I was tasked with taking down the Christmas decorations :-( Would it have been 'bad' on the engine if I would've flown?

 

Don't have any cabin heating issues with my Sting S3. Haven't been in -20C but have cruised around -5C and didn't even have my heater on high. Do need to block a couple drafty areas -- flap handle and baggage area. The breeze is nice in the summer not so much in the winter ;)

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Hi Dave,

 

At those OAT you should be ok, but anything you can do to warm the engine is much better. The Rotax will start with a well charged battery in the teens, but if you can warm it up in those low temps your far better off. If I lived where I saw the teens, 20's or even the the low thirties on an everyday basis for a temp I would have a Tanis pre-heater. If you go flying you should do something about the air flow over your radiator to keep the engine temps up. In those low temp regions it is even more important to keep a charger on your battery if you don'y fly regularly than the warm summer months.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This does work. However, I wanted a little bit more elegant look than clear tape. The advantage of the clear tape - simply, effective and no significant weigh, and easy to do. I made a small cardboard template of the major holes- the wing root hole for viewing the aileron connection and the fuel sight hole etc. Then cut a piece of 1/4 inch plexiglass to this shape and about 14 inch bigger radius and then routed a lip on this cut out. This allows for very elegant "professional look" -- disadvantage -- a couple of hours work and you will need a good router and bandsaw to cut out the plexi etc. -.

For the "non - flat holes - such as the holes around the wing pins - I used a foam material which I then painted to match the interior color. Agin, effective, more work, but somewhat more elegant looking in the interior. If anyone wants to see a picture send me an email at dacoats@suddenlink.net.

David Coats

 

Howdy All,

 

As you can see by my post it's the new year and I must be bored this morning. smile.gif

 

The weather is cold and time to talk about keeping warm in the cockpit. I can fly in 25F temps with only a pair of bluejeans (501's of course) and a short sleeve shirt. Here's how to maximize your cabin heating.

First you need to make sure that your cabin heat is opening all the way. This and air leaks is the major cause for you not getting a good heat delivery to the cabin. Pull the cowl off, pull the cabin heat knob all the way out and from the right side of the plane look and feel to see if the little diverter door to the cabin heat is opening all the way. If not adjust the cable a tad shorter. If your diverter door isn't opening all the way the cold air is mixing with the hot air and you are loosing a lot of heating capability.

Second take some 2"- 3" wide clear plastic tape and tape over the holes up above your head in the cabin on both sides. I mean all the holes including where the wing pin handles are too. All these holes need to be sealed. Sealing only a few will only force cold air out of another hole. Make sure that you have the wing root gaps on the outside of the plane taped over with your white bolus tape , too. Most of us already have this done.

If you don't already know many of your cabin doors do leak some air, some more than others, but either way they allow cold air in. Go to the hardware store and get some 3/8" soft weather strip foam (not the harder black rubber). Apply this to the edge all the way around each door up against the black door molding all ready there. Now that you have no cold air entering the cabin the heater works very well.

These few little procedures will keep you nice and toasty for the cold weather flying.

 

 

p.s.

If you want to take sealing the cabin one step further you can get a 2' square piece of 2" thick soft foam and cut it out to the shape that fits right behind each seat that is open to the baggage compartment and fill/seal this area off, too..

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Yes - I used a very small amount of silicone - clear -- However, I learned somewhere in the distance past a very simple and effective way to remove

items like these attached with silicone -- you can pry them off -- but a real simple and very fast way is to use a very tough thread or fishing line etc. and using a minimal sawing motion cut through the silicone like butter and then remove the item - this prevents breakage and possible damage to the underlying surface and also won't scar or scratch the paint etc. The real pain with any use of silicone is that ideally you do need to clean up the "mess" that it makes -- it almost, I say almost, reminds me of the mess using the two part tank sealant. Once cleaned up, it is simple to reattach. Thanks for the comments. I must admit, the use of tape is probably the most efficient and certainly simplifies removal and replacement. BTW- I'll send some photos of the foam parts I made for around the wing pins etc. later -- I painted them this afternoon and should get some photos in the next few days.

 

David Coats

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David, I recall seeing a clear type sealant here in the States that allows one to seal up around windows during the winter months but remove it afterwards. It may be a better fit for your situation? The product is called "Wind Jammer" and it's made by a company called Macco. Says on the can, "Easy to remove". I like your method of sealing and may try this.

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  • 3 years later...

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