Preheating

How to keep the Cessna 170 flying and airworthy.

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GAHorn
Posts: 21291
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: 3485
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
2023 Best Original 170A at Sault Ste. Marie
Owned from 1973 to 1984.
Bought again in 2006 after 22 years.
It's not for sale!
hilltop170
Posts: 3485
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.
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Richard Pulley
2014-2016 TIC170A Past President
1951 170A, N1715D, s/n 20158, O-300D
2023 Best Original 170A at Sault Ste. Marie
Owned from 1973 to 1984.
Bought again in 2006 after 22 years.
It's not for sale!
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GAHorn
Posts: 21291
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: 664
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
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1951 170A 1468D SN 20051
1942 L-4B 2764C USAAC 43-572 (9433)
AME #17747
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