Pre-heating

[Nark1]

Oil pan only preheat element or full blown tennis system?

[Colonel]

How cold?  In a hangar?

Suggestion:  when you land, put your cowl covers on and plug
the heater in, and let it run 24x7 when the aircraft is parked.

That way, it's always ready to go.  Never cools off, always warmer
than any dewpoint, no condensation.

Battery tender is crucial, too.

[David MacRay]

Tennis? Auto-incorrect?

I would think the full tent would be better because all the parts start out warmer. Less expansion of things that might take different amounts of time to warm up.

Not completely related but.. I had an inline water heater on an old pick up and it sure was nice for the heater to get going faster than waiting for the engine to heat up that water.

[Colonel]

Engines often sit a lot longer in the winter than you might have planned.

I suspect many engines might sit and not run for months.

Camguard.

Moment of Irony:  A person who lives where it never gets cold,
giving winter flying advice.

YukYukYuk

My winter ops:

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[Nark1]

Tanis


Tanis


Tanis


It's like summoning Beetlejuice.




I have the bird in a hangar:
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The winters here get down to 0F soooo math.... -15C ? ish?  (I've been down here too long to use Celsius effectively anymore...). It's going to happen to you to Andy...:)


I have a battery tender.  I guess it's time to start plugging it in every night now.  It's been 10-15*c the last several days, getting frosty in the morning.


I don't know how much showing off I was doing yesterday to the good old student pilot in a 150 in the pattern with me, perhaps I was. Point being; I changed the tailwheel tube, so naturally I have to test the ability of its flight-worthiness. 


I was preheating it with a forced air propane heater.  It works great, but looking ahead and parking at other airports fo the night, a heating solution would be nice.











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[Colonel]

If you have a hangar with electricity, get an engine cover
and figure out any kind of heater.


Battery Tender is essential in the cold to avoiding discharge
and freezing and cracking the battery case.  Acid destroys
airplanes.

[David MacRay]

You could use a thermometer to prove me wrong but I suspect if you had a really good engine cover, you could use a pretty small electric heater, it would have the engine warm enough to go anytime it was warm enough outside that you would want to fly.

Do you get those -40 cold weeks often where you are? No conversion at that temp.

[Nark1]

Heck no to the -40’s.


I pulled the trigger on a Tanis system.  It’ll be here on Monday. 


My biggest concern is overnight stays away from the home hangar.  My wife and I are chasing the Canucks, and will fly to Minneapolis in November to catch a game.
What slurred this entire thing, is learning what the fee for a night in the hangar will be or preheat.  Not to mention the hangar isn’t heated at home. I’d just assume keep a steady temp over the entire winter than blast hot air ever few weeks.


Cam guard is coming too. 


I spend more on this airplane than I do my wife, under the guise of her flying with me to places. She’s okay with this. 

[Colonel]

Winter checklist might look something like:

- change engine oil/filter to multigrade 15w50 or 20w50
  with 5-10% Camguard, depending upon planned usage
- ensure breather tube bypass holes are present and open
- some kind of 120V heater for engine
- Kennon (eg) engine cover
- Battery Tender (constant voltage, not constant current)
- 120V buddy heater for cabin - gyros, etc
- remove wheel pants (they fill with snow)
- if aircraft has been parked outside, care must be taken
  to drain water from fuel (check gas cap seals!) to ensure
  that drains do NOT freeze and plug up
- oil cooler baffle to restrict airflow as applicable
- air inlet restrictors on cowling

I probably forgot a bunch of stuff, but as I mentioned, I
don't really need to know this any more.  Ever again.

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