I made an engine pre-heater today. Photo is attached. I don’t think it is perfect but will get the job done. It usually takes me 30+ minutes to push the plane out of the hangar so I think if I turn this heater on when I arrive to preflight it will get most of the engine pretty toasty. If I have to wait longer that’s fine too. I decided I just didn’t want to screw with a cellular remote start system as WiFi doesn’t reach into my hangar and I don’t feel comfortable leaving anything turned on attached to my plane. I plan to orient the ducting so the heated air blows upwards through my engine compartment. Thoughts on this?
The ceramic heater itself was $60, and the metal tape and ducting supplies were about another $65 so I’m in about $125 before tax. I also bought a medium fire extinguisher ($26) to keep on the wall in our community hangar.
What I don’t like about it is the metal tape holding the ducting elbows/reducers. I don’t know another good way to attach it to the heater. It just looks sloppy.
The several feet of 4 inch diameter flexible duct ($15) probably isn’t needed. It directs too much hot air into a small spot. I measured the temp 12 inches above the exit and it was still 145F (low setting/1,000 amps). If I removed the flexible duct and measured the air temp 12-18 inches above the elbow it was a more reasonable 110F (also on low setting). These temps were taken from inside my kitchen so there will be further reduction outside.
View attachment IMG_2778.jpeg
The ceramic heater itself was $60, and the metal tape and ducting supplies were about another $65 so I’m in about $125 before tax. I also bought a medium fire extinguisher ($26) to keep on the wall in our community hangar.
What I don’t like about it is the metal tape holding the ducting elbows/reducers. I don’t know another good way to attach it to the heater. It just looks sloppy.
The several feet of 4 inch diameter flexible duct ($15) probably isn’t needed. It directs too much hot air into a small spot. I measured the temp 12 inches above the exit and it was still 145F (low setting/1,000 amps). If I removed the flexible duct and measured the air temp 12-18 inches above the elbow it was a more reasonable 110F (also on low setting). These temps were taken from inside my kitchen so there will be further reduction outside.
View attachment IMG_2778.jpeg
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