Scott Hersha
Well Known Member
I decided to try improving my cabin heat distribution in my RV8 to allow more than just my left foot being roasted…..
I did the same thing as Jerry (Widget) Morris - only different..
I'll try posting pics, but I'm not very good at it, so bear with me. I'm looking for comments and warnings about things I may not have considered, that may make this unsafe - like not having a fresh air vent to the front seat for the winter. I figure I can reach behind me and open the back seat vent to get some cabin ventilation if needed.
Here's what I did: Removed the scat tube from the NACA vent on the left side that supplies air to the front seat eye-ball vents. I have a 'Y' tube which allows me to have two eye-ball vents on my IP for the front seat. I get a very strong blast of air from both of these in flight. I connect this 'Y' tube to the cabin heat valve located on the firewall. My cabin heat valve has a flange that protrudes into the cabin. On this flange is another 'Y' tube that supplies heated air to the IP eye-ball vents through the aforementioned 'Y' tube, and to a short piece of scat that heats my feet. I also cut some holes in the scat tube that goes between the two 'Y' tubes for even 'feet heating'. The NACA vent in the fuselage side is sealed with a piece of blue foam (Home Depot) that I cut and sanded to shape and wrapped in Al duct tape.
How does it work? Well yesterday, the OAT at takeoff was -6 C. I went to 5500' where it was a bit colder and figured that would be a good test. The heat for me in front was definitely better, with even distribution on my feet, and a very good flow of hot air coming from both vents. I'll have to wait until I get a back seater to get the final results from there, but just feeling in the back with my bare hand makes me think it will be a huge improvement over what it was. I can aim the eye-ball vents down and the hot air blows on where my GIB's knees will be. It is much warmer feeling than it was before, so maybe this and a heated seat pad will be good enough. squeezing off the eye-balls controls how much heated air goes where. I have two heat muffs in series feeding one firewall mounted heat box.
I did the same thing as Jerry (Widget) Morris - only different..
I'll try posting pics, but I'm not very good at it, so bear with me. I'm looking for comments and warnings about things I may not have considered, that may make this unsafe - like not having a fresh air vent to the front seat for the winter. I figure I can reach behind me and open the back seat vent to get some cabin ventilation if needed.
Here's what I did: Removed the scat tube from the NACA vent on the left side that supplies air to the front seat eye-ball vents. I have a 'Y' tube which allows me to have two eye-ball vents on my IP for the front seat. I get a very strong blast of air from both of these in flight. I connect this 'Y' tube to the cabin heat valve located on the firewall. My cabin heat valve has a flange that protrudes into the cabin. On this flange is another 'Y' tube that supplies heated air to the IP eye-ball vents through the aforementioned 'Y' tube, and to a short piece of scat that heats my feet. I also cut some holes in the scat tube that goes between the two 'Y' tubes for even 'feet heating'. The NACA vent in the fuselage side is sealed with a piece of blue foam (Home Depot) that I cut and sanded to shape and wrapped in Al duct tape.
How does it work? Well yesterday, the OAT at takeoff was -6 C. I went to 5500' where it was a bit colder and figured that would be a good test. The heat for me in front was definitely better, with even distribution on my feet, and a very good flow of hot air coming from both vents. I'll have to wait until I get a back seater to get the final results from there, but just feeling in the back with my bare hand makes me think it will be a huge improvement over what it was. I can aim the eye-ball vents down and the hot air blows on where my GIB's knees will be. It is much warmer feeling than it was before, so maybe this and a heated seat pad will be good enough. squeezing off the eye-balls controls how much heated air goes where. I have two heat muffs in series feeding one firewall mounted heat box.
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