David-aviator
Well Known Member
The hangar floor is at about 30F with this rotten cold weather in the mid west but I am determined to get Reiff engine pre heat system installed.
The first step is to glue the strip heater to the oil sump so I set up a 1500 watt heater under the engine with a blanket over the whole thing to the prop. After 6 hours the oil sump area was up to 75F so I mixed up the glue and taped the heat strip and glue to the sump with duct tape. After 2 hours the epoxy stuff was setting up nicely and I am sure it will be quite hard by morning. (Off course, two days ago I applied 5 coats of strip eaze to remove the paint from the sump. The heat strip has to be glued to metal, not paint)
Next will be installing the heat rings on the cylinders. That appears easy. They are large skinny hose clamps with a 50 watt heat element glued to each. The wire harness is all made up and appears it will last a long time, it is well made.
As soon as this is all done, I will report the results. Hopefully, the snow on our runway will evaporate in a few days of sub freezing temps. We were lucky with this last storm, we got about 4" of rain and an inch of snow.
The first step is to glue the strip heater to the oil sump so I set up a 1500 watt heater under the engine with a blanket over the whole thing to the prop. After 6 hours the oil sump area was up to 75F so I mixed up the glue and taped the heat strip and glue to the sump with duct tape. After 2 hours the epoxy stuff was setting up nicely and I am sure it will be quite hard by morning. (Off course, two days ago I applied 5 coats of strip eaze to remove the paint from the sump. The heat strip has to be glued to metal, not paint)
Next will be installing the heat rings on the cylinders. That appears easy. They are large skinny hose clamps with a 50 watt heat element glued to each. The wire harness is all made up and appears it will last a long time, it is well made.
As soon as this is all done, I will report the results. Hopefully, the snow on our runway will evaporate in a few days of sub freezing temps. We were lucky with this last storm, we got about 4" of rain and an inch of snow.