Opinions on pre-heaters?
in 912 / 914 Technical Questions
10 years ago
I believe it's fair to say it's established that a disproportionate amount of wear on an engine, particularly like the rotax that has some aluminum parts and some steel, is when it is cold.
Some Rotax and other aircraft owners have various strategies to pre-heat the engine from a simple as putting a lightbulb under the cowl overnight, to more elaborate and robust methods..
I like the idea of a heater that's electrical and installed on the engine and plugged in either overnight or on a timer.
At http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ep/enginepreheaters.html
There are dozens of heaters ranging in price from about $150 to over $700.
Seems like many of them go under the oil sump to heat the oil there.
Doesn't seem like those would do much good as even overnight most of our oil is up in the oil canister in the 912.
Any ideas or experience with any of these or any recommendations?
FYI in southern Oregon here we don't get down to the temperatures of the Midwest or north east but do get a very rare 20 degree F night and in winter would be not unusual for the engine to be down at 35 or 45 degrees when we go out to start up for a winter flight.
Not cold enough so we have any doubt it'll turn over decently and fire up pretty easily.
In short, compared to others preheating our 912 may not be as demanding, but still worthwhile both for reduced wear and a bit easier starting.
Alex
Some Rotax and other aircraft owners have various strategies to pre-heat the engine from a simple as putting a lightbulb under the cowl overnight, to more elaborate and robust methods..
I like the idea of a heater that's electrical and installed on the engine and plugged in either overnight or on a timer.
At http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ep/enginepreheaters.html
There are dozens of heaters ranging in price from about $150 to over $700.
Seems like many of them go under the oil sump to heat the oil there.
Doesn't seem like those would do much good as even overnight most of our oil is up in the oil canister in the 912.
Any ideas or experience with any of these or any recommendations?
FYI in southern Oregon here we don't get down to the temperatures of the Midwest or north east but do get a very rare 20 degree F night and in winter would be not unusual for the engine to be down at 35 or 45 degrees when we go out to start up for a winter flight.
Not cold enough so we have any doubt it'll turn over decently and fire up pretty easily.
In short, compared to others preheating our 912 may not be as demanding, but still worthwhile both for reduced wear and a bit easier starting.
Alex
