Britain is not a particularly warm part of the world, but I find my Europa
cabin temperature is almost always uncomfortably high. How do others find it ?
It is well known that the undercowling temperature is high, and cold boxes
have been fitted to many Europas to increase carb. input air density. But
this still allows the firewall temperature to be high and conduct into the
cabin. I have tried re-routing my warm air ducts to take input from outside
below the propeller instead of from the heat exchanger (heaven forbid) , but I
still get warmish air from them presumably due to heating of the duct tubes
(Alu.) themselves by conduction.
A mystery to me is the temperature of the pilots control column. The metal
part is uncomfortably hot at the top and increases towards the floor ! On the
passenger side it is is much lower, so I suspected exhaust gases were reaching
the underside of the fuselage, but nothing significant can be felt after
landing.
I do have Naca ducts fitted both the sides in the conventional place but these
just give a concentrated blast on one leg, though fitting a "disperser" funnel
on them has helped a bit.
Most effective is a slot cut to the outside world at the bottom of the
windshield both sides. A comforting blast arrives at the right place to
restore a cool head. I have seen stainless hinged flaps for such apertures on
a Europa and would appreciate the source of such.
Graham C G-EMIN
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