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Cockpit oil heater


Big Steve

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I have a question for those of you with oil heat in your plane. I am in the process of building mine right now and would like to know what kind of fans you are using. Maybe more inportant than type how many cfm of air do they move. I was thinking of using a square type like they use in computors I just wondered if that would work. They are nice and light and eze to mount but I am not sure if they will blow enough nice hot air to keep my toes warm. STeve building on

Steve Harmon

Lovin Life in Idaho

Cozy IV Plans #1466 N232CZ

http://websites.expercraft.com/bigsteve/

Working on Chapter 19,21

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I have a question for those of you with oil heat in your plane. I am in the process of building mine right now and would like to know what kind of fans you are using. Maybe more inportant than type how many cfm of air do they move. I was thinking of using a square type like they use in computors I just wondered if that would work. They are nice and light and eze to mount but I am not sure if they will blow enough nice hot air to keep my toes warm. STeve building on

the Jabsco marine blowers work the best the computer fans do not put out enough pressure to over come the ducting loses.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/25694?&cid=chanintel&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=25694

Evolultion Eze RG -a two place side by side-200 Knots on 200 HP. A&P / pilot for over 30 years

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(So I guess it's cold and blowing snow up there too, huh?)

 

Fans are great for moving 'free' air, but suk in a ducted application. You may be able to stack two fans, one on top of the other, to marginally improve airflow, but airflow through an oil cooler (or any manner of ducting) will be far better with a blower, aka squirrel-cage.

 

There are light weight 12v blowers, search Mouser.com or digi-key.com, but they're not 'frugal'.

 

Oh, seat of the pants, 100-150 CFM at .25 WC should be adequate for front seat. Depends on the heat load of any 'radiator' you install too.

 

Rick

Rick Hall; MK-IV plans #1477; cozy.zggtr.org

Build status: 1-7, bits of 8-9, 10, 14 done! Working on engine/prop/avionics.
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The little boxers won't do the job. You need volumn and pressure.

 

This is my first version:

 

http://www.iflyez.com/Placards.shtml

 

and you can read about my latest version.

 

http://www.iflyez.com/LongEZ_Retrofit_JAN_08.shtml

 

Waiter

F16 performance on a Piper Cub budget

LongEZ, 160hp, MT CS Prop, Downdraft cooling, Full retract

visit: www.iflyez.com

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Here is a link to west marine. It shows a couple of different kind of blowers.

http://ecatalog.westmarine.com/full.asp?page=442

The squirrel cage blowers are big bulky and probably heavy. I wonder if the ones they call Yellow tip would work. They seam to be smaller and lighter I could put them in line with the heat exchanger. They say they put out 120 cfm.

On the Cozy I have a duct that runs all the way to the back seat of the plane. I wonder if there is enough room to stick the whole heater assembly similar to waiters 2nd unit behind the seat backs above the gear bow and blow into the stock duct hole that we make per plans??? Anybody else thought about that??? Lots of questions STeve

Steve Harmon

Lovin Life in Idaho

Cozy IV Plans #1466 N232CZ

http://websites.expercraft.com/bigsteve/

Working on Chapter 19,21

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... I wonder if there is enough room to stick the whole heater assembly similar to waiters 2nd unit behind the seat backs above the gear bow and blow into the stock duct hole that we make per plans??? Anybody else thought about that??? Lots of questions STeve

Yer way ahead of me in this department, yes I've thought of it.

If the plans duct blows air from the cowling, a heat exchanger in the 'well' should work peachy too. Don't forget to allow for make-up air.

Rick Hall; MK-IV plans #1477; cozy.zggtr.org

Build status: 1-7, bits of 8-9, 10, 14 done! Working on engine/prop/avionics.
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Here is a link to west marine. It shows a couple of different kind of blowers.

http://ecatalog.westmarine.com/full.asp?page=442

The squirrel cage blowers are big bulky and probably heavy. I wonder if the ones they call Yellow tip would work. They seam to be smaller and lighter I could put them in line with the heat exchanger. They say they put out 120 cfm.

On the Cozy I have a duct that runs all the way to the back seat of the plane. I wonder if there is enough room to stick the whole heater assembly similar to waiters 2nd unit behind the seat backs above the gear bow and blow into the stock duct hole that we make per plans??? Anybody else thought about that??? Lots of questions STeve

Nope, been there and tried that. you need about 250 CFM and a squirrel gage puts out more pressure then the axial fans do. you need the pressure to overcome the pressure differential that is in the cockpit. air pressure in the front of the cockpit is higher then the back by 1" wc, so you need to overcome that pressure before you can move any air . heaters mounted in the nose work much better then the ones in the back because they don't have to overcome this pressure and the hot air naturally moves from the front to the back. axial fans put out about 1.5 " wc max. Squirrel cages put out 2.2 to 5" wc.

Evolultion Eze RG -a two place side by side-200 Knots on 200 HP. A&P / pilot for over 30 years

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  • 4 weeks later...

I wish I had a pic of my installation. I used a motorcycle oil cooler mounted in the right rear seat area under the Butt support. The seat bottom forms the plenum. Air is forced fwd using a West Marine axial blower. Speed is controlled by DC pulse width modulation (Kit from MPJA). Heat is controlled by a S/S ball valve (from Granger) controlled at the throttle quadrant. At full throttle it will blow your socks off. I'll try to get some pics over the New Years Holiday and resubmit.

 

HiGeez

Jerry Preiser - HiGeez :cool:

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The axial fan draws the heated air through the oil cooler. air is forced into the existing heat duct abt 6 inches fwd of the 'plans' scat tube entry point. everything else is 'plans'. I promise, I'll take pics tomorrow morning and post on Tuesday.

 

Jerry

Jerry Preiser - HiGeez :cool:

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Big Steve. Here are the promised pics as of this morning. You can email me directly at gyhtwr@hotmail.com or call anytime I'm not asleep @ 864-350-5695 with any questions.

 

Pics are self explanatory, as least to me. This axial fan really puts out the air flow. It will blow your socks off. The printed circuit board is a DC speed controller. the zinc chromated plate is a overboard air dump. I can close it to re-circulate warmed air or dump the air overboard.

 

Jerry

 

ps. tried to attach pics. not enough MB room. email me and I'll send them or go to the other forum. I send them from there.

Jerry Preiser - HiGeez :cool:

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the zinc chromated plate is a overboard air dump. I can close it to re-circulate warmed air or dump the air overboard.

 

Jerry

 

 

Perhaps I am looking at this the wrong way (which is not unusual for today). It seems, in the pictures that your heat exchanger is mounted to the seat front from which it draws air from the cabin, under one thigh or another. The seat top, itself, with the bulkheads and the fuselage bottom acts as a plenum. Your axial fan creates a negative pressure in the plenum, drawing air through the heater core and a positive pressure in the duct to heat the rest of the plane through the plans type plumbing.

 

Here's my quandary. :confused: If the axial fan draws air through the core, there will be a negative pressure in the plenum with respect to the outside air, because of the resistance of the air going through the heater core. Opening your chromated plate will only allow outside non-heated air to be pulled into the plenum and be distributed. It will not dump heated air overboard unless the shape of your bottom creates some sort of venturi effect which creates more negative pressure than does the axial fan.

 

That being said, Your workmanship puts me to shame. It looks beautiful. In the future, would you please send pictures that are slightly out of focus to make me feel better.:rolleyes:

I Canardly contain myself!

Rich :D

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Rich, you're right. Except the 'dump' door is only open when:

 

1. I want outside air, w/ blower sitting at end of runway - no heat, canopy clsd,

2. flow thru ventilation during no-heat conditions,

3. heater in use in the summer and the hot air is intentionally dumped overboard.

4. chewing gum or urine disposal....:)

 

 

jerry

Jerry Preiser - HiGeez :cool:

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Rich, you're right. Except the 'dump' door is only open when:

 

1. I want outside air, w/ blower sitting at end of runway - no heat, canopy clsd,

2. flow thru ventilation during no-heat conditions,

3. heater in use in the summer and the hot air is intentionally dumped overboard.

4. chewing gum or urine disposal....:)

 

 

jerry

If you can do #4 from the front seat, you are a better man than I:cool:

I Canardly contain myself!

Rich :D

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