The International Cessna 170 Association

Just curious if anyone has any experience with the petro fired auxilary heater which was an option on 170s? Bill K

I'll bet you meant "petrol" (gasoline)... the Southwind heater.

I'm scared of gasoline heaters in the cockpit, but if they don't kill you they'll heat the cockpit.

Dad's 310 had one, and it kept the airplane nice and toasty, but it got a very close inspection every annual.

My Beech Baron had one too...but it was an early Janitrol, one of the few with a cast iron burner-can with no AD notes. The C310 likely had an AD note that required annual inspection. They were notorious for possible fires and CO poisioning if they developed cracks in the burner.

Here's a conversation about them: http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-355634.html

My C-195 has a Southwind 978 MK12 which is a later model and does not have the combustion chamber AD that some of the other models have. It is very efficient and reliable although I have replaced both the combustion fan motor and circulation fan motor over the 12 years I have had the airplane. I run it regularly and it is a very welcome addition in the winter and also on high altitude flights in the summer. I would not install a combustion heater without an emergency gasoline shut-off valve. Aircraft Heating and Electric in Redding, CA sells and maintains them if you really want one. They weigh 20lbs.+ plumbing, thermostat, wiring, and they pull 14amps.

With all that said, if you have the old style cabin heat that burns you left foot and leaves the rest of the cabin freezing, I would spend any heater upgrade money on a later style heat muff heater before I would install a combustion heater. Combustion heaters take up a lot of floor space and ruins your cargo capacity if you ever fly with the rear seat removed, which I do not do in the 195.

I had a C-180 heater installed in my 1951 A model and it heats the cabin very nicely even in Alaska.

I find this discussion of heaters interesting. My plane has the stock heater and will do a fairly good job until the temps get down around 35f. Below that it requires blankets or more clothing or both. A friend of mine has a Navion with a gasoline fired heater (I think its a Southwind?) and he says it has gotten to the point where replacement parts are difficult to find. He has purchased a new heater (forgotten the brand) and paid $5,000 for it Not sure I would spend that kind of money for a heater here in middle TN. He is now developing what will eventually become an STC to add a cabin blower to the system as both the old and new heaters relied on ram air to force heated air into the cabin. Its been interesting to watch his designing/engineering work.