Hi All,
Been watching the thread about cabin heat and since I have Heat/Defrost
installed and use it regularly up here in good old cold, wet Seattle I'll
put in my two cents worth (or is it two lbs worth?)!
First let me say that in this area there is no way you can fly without some
type of heat and especially defrost. When it's cold, damp and cloudy the
windshield does fog up. Last week Cliff & I went flying and the windshield
was totally fogged up before takeoff - we even commented on how effective
the Defrost was. While flying the heat on the toes and the defrost really
helps. I would guess if it was really cold and sunny you may not NEED the
heat - but in Seattle it's never sunny so I wouldn't know!!!
My system uses two heat boxes on the firewall. These are the RV style boxes
---From aircraft spruce. Heat is routed into one box from a blocking plate
that was installed on the back of the radiatior. Air passes through the
radiator and is funneled up into a hose connected to the airbox. I felt the
radiator was safer than using the heat muff (which is standard on my
muffler) because I worry about C.O. Luckly with the rotax you have the
choice of using the radiator. The air box drops into a duct built into the
panel that sends hot air to the toes and then up to the panel top with two
vents for window defrost. The other airbox is for cabin air taken off a
duct in the cowl. I also run carb heat off of the radiator heated air
through another air box.
I have been flying for over a year and through two winters up here and the
system has worked well. My only real problem is that the enging runs a bit
cool when it's really cold and I plan on adding a cowl flap in the future.
Bob Jacobsen
A131 N165BB
http://www.hotmail.com
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