When I bought my RV-6, it was in California. No real need for a heater. After my purchase Randy installed a muff heater for me. It was enough for the trip to home Alaska last May, 12,500 ft temp was 31-33 deg F along the route.
Now winter is here. Only 9 hours and 44 minutes of visible daylight today, tomorrow we lose another 5 minutes. (in ten days that equals 50-minutes).
When arriving in Alaska one of the first things I had my AP do was to use the muff heater for carb heat.
Now that winter is here, what to do for cabin heat?
Well, I bought a electric heated seat kit from Aero Classic for $120 + Shipping. It contains all of the electrical wiring, switches, a fuse for each seat, and 4 pads, enough to do both seats in my 6. (one pad for each seat bottom and back support)
After talking with the helpful people at Aero Classics, I investigated what kind of seats I had. Was the upholstery glued to the foam? or did I have a seat that the heating elements could be installed in?
The answer is: although the upholstery was not glued to the foam, my seats do have a 1/2" layer of foam sandwiched between the cloth to give a textured pillow pattern.
Not sure if the heaters would work underneath this layer, so I tried something else.
I bought some heavy duty upholstery fabric, and a length of 1" wide elastic weave cord to make some heat "pads" for attaching to the top of the seat that I could sit on.
The heat element is sewn/sandwiched between a top and bottom of the fabric, the elastic cord is wrapped around the outside of the seat or back support.
They work great!
On low setting the pads draw 2.5 amps per seat. This allows a 115deg F temp.
On the Hi setting they draw 7 amps per seat for 135 deg F temp.
At 28 deg F found it very comfortable to use the low setting, the hi setting caused me to start sweating, was way hotter than I needed.
The three photos show my "heat Pads" and how they fit the seats.
Photo one shows the bottom seat and the making of the heat pad for the back cushion:
Photo two shows the same, except side view of the elastic weave attaching pad to bottom seat:
Photo three shows both seat bottom and back with pads installed:
Not sure why only one image is working, all three were linked the same way?!
Best regards,
Mike Bauer
Now winter is here. Only 9 hours and 44 minutes of visible daylight today, tomorrow we lose another 5 minutes. (in ten days that equals 50-minutes).
When arriving in Alaska one of the first things I had my AP do was to use the muff heater for carb heat.
Now that winter is here, what to do for cabin heat?
Well, I bought a electric heated seat kit from Aero Classic for $120 + Shipping. It contains all of the electrical wiring, switches, a fuse for each seat, and 4 pads, enough to do both seats in my 6. (one pad for each seat bottom and back support)
After talking with the helpful people at Aero Classics, I investigated what kind of seats I had. Was the upholstery glued to the foam? or did I have a seat that the heating elements could be installed in?
The answer is: although the upholstery was not glued to the foam, my seats do have a 1/2" layer of foam sandwiched between the cloth to give a textured pillow pattern.
Not sure if the heaters would work underneath this layer, so I tried something else.
I bought some heavy duty upholstery fabric, and a length of 1" wide elastic weave cord to make some heat "pads" for attaching to the top of the seat that I could sit on.
The heat element is sewn/sandwiched between a top and bottom of the fabric, the elastic cord is wrapped around the outside of the seat or back support.
They work great!
On low setting the pads draw 2.5 amps per seat. This allows a 115deg F temp.
On the Hi setting they draw 7 amps per seat for 135 deg F temp.
At 28 deg F found it very comfortable to use the low setting, the hi setting caused me to start sweating, was way hotter than I needed.
The three photos show my "heat Pads" and how they fit the seats.
Photo one shows the bottom seat and the making of the heat pad for the back cushion:
Photo two shows the same, except side view of the elastic weave attaching pad to bottom seat:
Photo three shows both seat bottom and back with pads installed:
Not sure why only one image is working, all three were linked the same way?!
Best regards,
Mike Bauer
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