Weak cabin heat?

[RV3bpilot]

I have limited my flying to above 20F because of the canopy and fiberglass canopy skirt shrink so much in the cold that they do not fit the fuselage well and then leak air. I have plenty of heat coming out of the heat duct but when you have -6F air coming in you will not be warm unless you dress in arctic attire.

[TimO]

Like Vic said, the RV10 if built per plans will probably never be accused of not making enough heat. It makes way more heat than most people can tolerate. I was flying in -10F weather on New Years Day and we had plenty of heat. No seeing the breath in front of the face or anything. In fact, unless it's a short flight, we don't wear jackets in the plane because you can count on plenty of heat.

You may want to check for in leakage at your baggage bulkhead, but you should have so much heat coming out of the heat inlets that you don't even want it all the way up. When I run my heat on full, the rear seat heater heats so well that my entire front seat frame heats up in the back, and it gets too hot to touch. There's just a lot of heat available there, front and rear....if it's built per plans.

[Dorfie]

Originally Posted by woxofswa

Something is definitely wrong. I run cabin heat off off just one muff cuff split to both front and back and we could still bake brownies in the cabin if we wanted to. We completely removed the cuff from the unused side with Vettermen?s blessing and have just a two inch heat shield attached to the can where it is closest to the cowl. Post pix of the system or have an experienced builder look it over. It?s a pretty simple system and my guess is that the problem will be easily found.

I have the same setup as Myron and have sufficient heat. Right side goes into right side muffler shroud and supplies hot air to front and rear. At -18C a while ago with sun shining into cabin it is more than adequate.. No sun then you need more than short sleeves. ( I'm always amazed at the difference the sun makes!!).
Johan

[rdrcrmatt]

Just checked the plans and it is built per plans. I haven't looked in the tunnel yet to confirm in there, I will do that in the next few days.

[rocketman1988]

Mouse nest blocking scat tube?

[rdrcrmatt]

Originally Posted by rocketman1988

Mouse nest blocking scat tube?

Man I hope not!

[vic syracuse]

Attach a shop vac to the inlet of the heat muffs and see what kind of flow you get in the cockpit.

Vic

[ppilotmike]

Originally Posted by vic syracuse

Attach a shop vac to the inlet of the heat muffs and see what kind of flow you get in the cockpit.

Vic

..or watch, as a giant glob of "something" gets sucked out!

[rdrcrmatt]

Originally Posted by vic syracuse

Attach a shop vac to the inlet of the heat muffs and see what kind of flow you get in the cockpit.

Vic

The scat tubes have less than 100 hours on them. they're all still in great condition. I was able to visually inspect their connections to the heat muffs on the exhaust as well as to the heater boxes on the firewall.

I did the shop vac trick today for the front heat inlet just under the proper governor.

It worked as I expected. I didn't have full suction at the vents in the cabin, but I had a fair amount of air moving. I didn't feel suction at the heater boxes when the heat was set to ON in the cabin. When setting the heat to OFF the door moved and I was getting good suction at the scat tube at the heat box. Again, slightly restricted but still good suction.

Still baffled. (no pun intended)

[woxofswa]

Do you have the old single muffler system or the newer dual Vetterman system?

It goes without saying that the muffler shroud should wrap tightly around the edges of the inner can forming an open airspace chamber for the heat to transfer. If somebody errantly packed asbestos type material in there like an old glass pak ATV muffler it could cause your problem. You can easily inspect by removing the two band straps and lifting the outer shroud off. I?ve heard of some people welding little fins on the main can to transfer more heat but I?m telling you, those Vetterman muff cuffs put out massive btu?s when properly operated. Make sure when you put the shroud back on that the two sides seal airtight.