Preheating

How to keep the Cessna 170 flying and airworthy.

Moderators: GAHorn, Karl Towle, Bruce Fenstermacher

User avatar
GAHorn
Posts: 20968
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 8:45 pm

Re: Preheating

Post by GAHorn »

hilltop170 wrote:.... A 100W drop light will keep an engine warm ....
If anyone still has 100W incandescent lamps. (I squirreled-away a few before they were “outlawed”...but the church talked me out of them to keep a water-line in an equipment-room from freezing.)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
hilltop170
Posts: 3481
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 6:05 pm

Re: Preheating

Post by hilltop170 »

The local home improvement box store sold out of incandescent bulbs years ago for $1 per 4 bulb carton. I bought out everything they had. 8O :idea: :lol:
Richard Pulley
2014-2016 TIC170A Past President
1951 170A, N1715D, s/n 20158, O-300D
Owned from 1973 to 1984.
Bought again in 2006 after 22 years.
It's not for sale!
hilltop170
Posts: 3481
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 6:05 pm

Re: Preheating

Post by hilltop170 »

I did a trial to get some actual pre-heat data using two 100W drop lights (yes George, incandescent lights) under the engine with minimal insulation of one moving blanket draped over the cowl, starting from a not-so-cold, cold-soaked condition of 45°F ambient air temp with measured 55°F cylinder head and oil temps inside an uninsulated closed T-hangar so no wind.

In 12 hours, the oil and CHT temps went from 55°F to 75°F while the ambient air temp fell to 40°F. Once the engine was started, the oil temp initially remained at 75°F indicating the oil and engine internals were heat-soaked at 75°F, a 20°F increase in 12 hours.
One moving blanket over the cowl
One moving blanket over the cowl
Two 100W drop lights hung off the engine cradle
Two 100W drop lights hung off the engine cradle
Richard Pulley
2014-2016 TIC170A Past President
1951 170A, N1715D, s/n 20158, O-300D
Owned from 1973 to 1984.
Bought again in 2006 after 22 years.
It's not for sale!
User avatar
GAHorn
Posts: 20968
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 8:45 pm

Re: Preheating

Post by GAHorn »

One might consider a practice of Turning your FUEL VALVE to OFF if you use heaters beneath or anything using electricity inside your engine compartment.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
iowa
Posts: 663
Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:57 pm

Re: Preheating

Post by iowa »

i'm going to use the milk house heater with dryer ducting
as i prefer anything that is potentially red hot or prone to break
sitting away from my priceless airplane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b-4yn2qj-I

the bulbs are a cheap simple solution, but c o u l d destroy your airplane and hangar
it seems logical that the above method would less likely to do this if untended for a few hours

dave
Image
1951 170A 1468D SN 20051
1942 L-4B 2764C USAAC 43-572 (9433)
AME #17747
Post Reply