Cold Weather Operations

[blueldr]

A really dandy engine pre-heater can easily be made with a two speed electric fan heater from Home Depot, a length of clothes dryer exhaust hose, and some very minor sheet metal work to attach the hose to the fan. It will get the engine toasty warm in short order if the airplane is in a hangar with a blanket over the engine. Probably somewhat longer outdoors. A cheap twenty dollar sleeping bag makes an easy engine blanket with a couple of bungee cords.
I've seen one with a "siamese" wye fitting with a second hose going into the cockpit area.

[Ryan Smith]

Well, I was able to procure a heater (from the man that owns the Bonanza that my father owned when he inherited the 170) and have confirmed that I do have electricity in the hangar. Someone had done some shade tree electrical work and had cut the power to that hangar a while back, but our resident electrician took a walk over with me to investigate this evening. I'm going to see if I can't find a timer to get the heater started about two hours early, but if not, I'll get out there and start it up and then probably head back home for a bit.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's advice and guidance. Lots of good information here.

[GAHorn]

If it's really cold...(below freezing)....then turn the heater on the night before and let it run. There's a lot of surface area to heat in only two hours.

[DaveF]

(what George said) ... and plug the front cowl openings and put a blanket over the top.

[Ryan Smith]

Fingers crossed...we'll see how it goes in the morning. Thanks again for the help, everyone.

[johneeb]

Looks good Ryan and I am jealous, this is as close to my airplane as I could get Tuesday.

[Ryan Smith]

Looks good Ryan and I am jealous, this is as close to my airplane as I could get Tuesday.

The attachment Skyhaven snow Feb2015.jpg is no longer available

Yikes! A friend of mine sent me the following picture. It was taken on I-74 in between Champaign and St. Joseph. I lived less than ten miles from there. Stuff like that makes me not miss Illinois!!

[johneeb]

Arish,
I think you can tell from Ryan and my photos where your rain went.

[Ryan Smith]

Preheated for two hours, five shots of prime with one loaded after I pulled the starter, but it wasn't necessary. She started on the second blade and ran like a top. I set a timer on my phone (the handholds on the glareshield hold an iPhone 5S perfectly, BTW) for five minutes and kept the RPM between 800-1000 RPM and then taxied out to warm up.

The airplane has done great today, and I've never seen oil temps this cool! Thank you everyone again for the guidance. It made my morning much less stressful.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

And now go look at how I made my own winterization plates. Or learn how to use aluminum tape which I prefer over duct (duck) tape.

[johneeb]

Preheated for two hours, five shots of prime with one loaded after I pulled the starter, but it wasn't necessary. She started on the second blade and ran like a top. I set a timer on my phone (the handholds on the glareshield hold an iPhone 5S perfectly, BTW) for five minutes and kept the RPM between 800-1000 RPM and then taxied out to warm up.

The airplane has done great today, and I've never seen oil temps this cool! Thank you everyone again for the guidance. It made my morning much less stressful.

Ryan,
I made it down to Urbana today and while there poked around Rudy Frasca's very interesting collection. They have a late model (1955+) 170 with an unusual instrument panel, the center section (about 10 or 11 inches square) is pushed out about 1.5 to 2 inches with a nice 6 pack instrument display (have you seen it?) if I ever join the digital revolution I will be able to take photos.

[Ryan Smith]

Preheated for two hours, five shots of prime with one loaded after I pulled the starter, but it wasn't necessary. She started on the second blade and ran like a top. I set a timer on my phone (the handholds on the glareshield hold an iPhone 5S perfectly, BTW) for five minutes and kept the RPM between 800-1000 RPM and then taxied out to warm up.

The airplane has done great today, and I've never seen oil temps this cool! Thank you everyone again for the guidance. It made my morning much less stressful.

Ryan,
I made it down to Urbana today and while there poked around Rudy Frasca's very interesting collection. They have a late model (1955+) 170 with an unusual instrument panel, the center section (about 10 or 11 inches square) is pushed out about 1.5 to 2 inches with a nice 6 pack instrument display (have you seen it?) if I ever join the digital revolution I will be able to take photos.

I heard they had one, but I never saw it. I always wanted to. The guy that I knew that kept airplanes there was run off for some pretty bad stuff; even before that I was careful to not overstay my welcome there. I didn't really make a strong connection with David, although Rudy is the nicest person anyone could ever hope to meet and opened the doors to the museum for a self-guided tour...to include him telling our group we could sit in his Spitfire.

Your comment about joining the digital age makes me chuckle since you have, hands down, the nicest, most technologically advanced panel in any Cessna 170.