Cold weather operations

[sandpiper]

It was a perfect day here in the great northwest so decided to get a flight in before it becomes the great northWET again.

It was +52F on the ground so I left on the single vertical piece of 2" tape. Airport is 175' MSL. Climbed to 4000' MSL at 90K and full throttle. Oil temperature was about 230F when leveling off. OAT was +51F. Cruised at 5100 RPM and oil temp settled on 185F. A second piece of tape may have been appropriate but would have required close attention in climb.

Just thought I would post this while fresh in my mind.

Darrell - I haven't forgot that you would like a photo of the shutters I have. I'll try to get that done today. The set I have are not for sale. At least not now.

[sandpiper]

Here are a couple of pictures of the radiator shutter.IMG_1272.HEICIMG_1272.HEIC

[sandpiper]

Well, maybe not a couple. Just the same one twice.

[Skunkworks85]

On 1/25/2020 at 7:59 PM, sandpiper said:

Here are a couple of pictures of the radiator shutter.IMG_1272.HEICIMG_1272.HEIC

For all the people that dont subscribe to the mackintosh hoopla. Here is the picture in a real format.

 

 

Can you please explain on how this works? where is in installed? is it bolted? to the front? Back of the rad? 

 

Thanks,

 

 

[johnnyjr]

Plane is awaiting the BRS so I'm not close enough to take a picture, but will do so when I get it back later this week, I hope.  The bracket is mounted to the front of the radiator and the push/pull knob is on the fire wall just about the left rudder peddle.  

[sandpiper]

The shutter is zip tied to the front of the water radiator using 2 -14" ties. Notice the red dot at upper left of picture. There is one at each corner where the frame is depressed. Tie goes around the front radiator. The width of the entire shutter (11" +/- red dot to red dot) is about the same as the back (oil) radiator. When closed the width of coverage, or blockage, is 8" +/-. When opened the coverage is about 5.5" so each slot is about 1.25" wide.

Years ago there was somebody on this forum that made these. I forget who it was. I am not sure if they are still on the forum but if they are maybe they will speak up.

[GrassStripFlyBoy]

A beautiful sunny day here in Michigan today, did my first flight to confirm the ADS-B TailBeacon install is operational, post flight the PAPR came back 100% pass with 0.00's across the board - almost thought it was bad until I saw duration of flight and segment detail was all there, so that's a major relief.  Also was the first flight for me using Ipad & Stratux - man this new technology is slick, sure is nice to know where the traffic is.  Have been using app's on phone and such, but stepping up to an Ipad and coupling with the in/out ADS-B equipment is one heck of an upgrade.

Second item - installed one strip of aluminum tape across top of rad, with ~ 40F OAT this put temps right on the money.  Plugged the Reiff heater in about 9am, fired up at 4pm and oil temp was ~110 at start, within 3 minutes was above the 122 mark, and solidly in the green for flight.  Cyl head temp decent too.  Did a few landings and temp held more steady after landing as well.  

 

 

[Warmi]

On 1/19/2020 at 9:26 AM, Tom Baker said:

IMO don't waste money on the thermostats, just use a strip of the foil tape. I always used a 2" wide piece all the way across the top here in South central Illinois. You might want to add an extra inch to the middle 8"  to help a little more with oil temp. I have had both CTSW and CTLS. The CTLS has the thermostats as standard equipment, and I still wound up using a strip of tape.

You will need to be cautious when Spring comes. When the air temps reach about 60° you could start to see the coolant get hot.

Sound advice.
Ha ... today I went out in my Sting at around 50 degrees F and I forgot about 2 strips of foil tape I put in last week when it was around 20 degrees ...after reaching my pattern altitude I found myself with one CHT at 255 degrees and another at 241 - while oil temps were still comfortable 190 or so - had to land immediately , but after removing the tape , everything was good again and both oil and CHT kept around 180-190 degrees for the entire flight.

 

[ct9000]

I don't think thermostats are a waste of money, having had with and without CT's there is a world of difference. I just got back from a flight from home at about 60deg f and hundreds of N miles away it was 110deg f temps were all perfect. Climb at home oil 190 cht 200, cruise oil 180 cht 180, climb in hot dry gusty lumpy air oil 210 cht 215. No worry about tape when going from cool to hot air. 

[Warmi]

40 minutes ago, ct9000 said:

I don't think thermostats are a waste of money, having had with and without CT's there is a world of difference. I just got back from a flight from home at about 60deg f and hundreds of N miles away it was 110deg f temps were all perfect. Climb at home oil 190 cht 200, cruise oil 180 cht 180, climb in hot dry gusty lumpy air oil 210 cht 215. No worry about tape when going from cool to hot air. 

It does help but when temps are down in 20s or below I still have to tape to get oil temps above 160 even though my plane came equipped with a thermostat.

[GrassStripFlyBoy]

After flying all winter pretty much on a weekly basis, I'm seeing this manageable with tape.  I placed one strip across the top and did not venture out during the artic really cold days, this managed temps well on the ~ 30 up to 40 degree days.  My last few hops have been closer to 50 degrees, and I removed 1/2 of the strip (split at middle vertical C/L) and numbers were just into the green arc's.  I'll probably leave that 1/2 strip for another month until into the 60's is more average then be back to no tape for summer.  I have found the tape is a fine solution.  I have not ruled out some of the other options for managing oil and water temps, thermostats and thermostasis control, but also like keeping things simple, happy to have a solution that works - trying my best to keep the engine happy long term.

[FlyingMonkey]

1 hour ago, GrassStripFlyBoy said:

After flying all winter pretty much on a weekly basis, I'm seeing this manageable with tape.  I placed one strip across the top and did not venture out during the artic really cold days, this managed temps well on the ~ 30 up to 40 degree days.  My last few hops have been closer to 50 degrees, and I removed 1/2 of the strip (split at middle vertical C/L) and numbers were just into the green arc's.  I'll probably leave that 1/2 strip for another month until into the 60's is more average then be back to no tape for summer.  I have found the tape is a fine solution.  I have not ruled out some of the other options for managing oil and water temps, thermostats and thermostasis control, but also like keeping things simple, happy to have a solution that works - trying my best to keep the engine happy long term.

I've gotten pretty good at the tape game; when it's below 60°F before each flight I consider the temp and what it will be at my intended altitude and decide how much tape I'll need.  I'm usually withing about 10°F to 15°F of my target temp, which is plenty close enough.  I have had an occasion where I take a cold flight in the morning and it warms up later and I forget to reduce the tape.  This usually just leads to temps in the 220-230 range, which is still cooler than I see in the Summer.  I only had to land early to remove the tape once. 

I keep thinking I want to make a shutter system for my radiator, but I keep not doing it because the hassle of tape is less than the hassle of fabricating a mount, selecting the right shutter, running a control cable, blah blah.  If I do it at some point it will be hinged shutters instead of a slider as pictured though.  The slider *always* blocks some portion of the radiator, and with a shutter wide open it has almost zero cross section to block airflow.  That way I could just leave it on and not have to take it off in the Summer.