What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

In Flight Adjustable Oil Cooler

Geico266

Geico266

Well Known Member
I hate flying with oil temps that don't hit 210F at least once a flight. This is impossible to do with a Lycoming in the winter unless you block off the oil cooler. Well, that is all well and good it you fly local, but I can go from the frozen NE tundra to temperate AZ in 5 hours. An inflight adjustable oil cooler is very handy. I've installed Van's inflight adjustable oil cooler shutter doors on a couple of 0-360's with great success, but they are for rectangular openings. Temps in the winter can be maintained quite nicely to 200F, this keeps moisture build up to a minimum in winter. Less water, less corrosion.

Anyone do this on a -10 with an IO-540? I know a guy in Tea, SD did one, but I don't have a picture of it. Anyone make one and can share a pic?

Any ideas?

As always thnaks in advance for any help / advice.
 
Last edited:
Like this?

http://www.nonstopaviation.com/rv10-controller-cooler-p-14566.html

Air-Controller-for-Oil-Cooler.JPG
 
That is it! I knew someone was working on making one. Now I don't have to reinvent the wheel!

Thanks!

For those of you who rely on the ol vernatherm you might want to look at an inflight adjustable oil cooler. Getting your oil to 210F is essential to keeping the moisture level in your oil & crankcase low. After your next flight take the dip stick out and watch the steam pour out of your engine. Heating up the oil to 210 each flight keeps build up to a minimum as the moisture boils off.

Food for thought.
 
Last edited:
Isn't this what the vernatherm is supposed to do?

And the oil temp I've heard over the years is 180F, vs 210. I've never had any problems through the years running the Lyc in stock form - that is w/o a way to control airflow thru the cooler.

I do know one guy who put a butterfly in front of the oil cooler in an attempt to reduce cooling drag. It had no measurable effect on airspeed though.
 
Bill Wightman said:
Isn't this what the vernatherm is supposed to do?

And the oil temp I've heard over the years is 180F, vs 210. I've never had any problems through the years running the Lyc in stock form - that is w/o a way to control airflow thru the cooler.

I do know one guy who put a butterfly in front of the oil cooler in an attempt to reduce cooling drag. It had no measurable effect on airspeed though.
Click to expand...

Most vernaterms I've seen can't get the oil temps over 165F in the dead of winter here in NE. That leaves alot of water in the oil & crankcase. Reaching 210F boils the water out of the oil. Rotax recommends hitting 210+ every flight for their 912's. Oil manufactures recommend hitting 210F once a flight also. In the summer that is reached on climb out. Max oil temp is 240F.

To each his own.
 
Geico266 said:
Most vernaterms I've seen can't get the oil temps over 165F in the dead of winter here in NE. That leaves alot of water in the oil & crankcase. Reaching 210F boils the water out of the oil. Rotax recommends hitting 210+ every flight for their 912's. Oil manufactures recommend hitting 210F once a flight also. In the summer that is reached on climb out. Max oil temp is 240F.

To each his own.
Click to expand...
Most Rotax 912 operators (myself included) have a roll of 2" wide metal foil HVAC duct tape in their hangar. Place one strip over the top 2" of the oil cooler during the winter months. Oil temps tend to run higher and come up to the minimum takeoff temp quicker. Still, this doesn't do enough in the really cold climates (e.g., WI/MN/MI), and they use oil and coolant thermostats with good results (remember, the engine is partially water cooled).

I do admit that the foil tape is not as flexible or as cool (pardon the puns) as a thermostat / veritherm or a damper on the oil cooler. However, it reminds me of the pressurization control valve on SpaceShipOne - a cork plugging a hole in the fuselage. The pilot would remove and replace the cork as necessary to adjust pressurization. Cost, $0.10. Added weight, zero.

TODR
 
the_other_dougreeves said:
Most Rotax 912 operators (myself included) have a roll of 2" wide metal foil HVAC duct tape in their hangar. Place one strip over the top 2" of the oil cooler during the winter months. Oil temps tend to run higher and come up to the minimum takeoff temp quicker. Still, this doesn't do enough in the really cold climates (e.g., WI/MN/MI), and they use oil and coolant thermostats with good results (remember, the engine is partially water cooled).


TODR
Click to expand...

Agreed, but in the -10 I can fly from -20F into 80F temps on one tank of fuel. If you have taped off the oil cooler for -25 and fly into 80F you are gonna be sweating bullets to get on the ground and get the tape off the oil cooler.

In fact, this winter I had the oil cooler taped off and it was 20F on the ground. I took off to fly 60 miles to a Sat fly in b-fast and the oil temps hit 235F on final 20 mins later. Due to a temperature inversion the air temp aloft was 75F! That will get your attention in a hurry. :eek: Having an in flight adjustable oil cooler on a -10 is a nessessity up here.

JMHO.
 
Last edited:
the_other_dougreeves said:
Most Rotax 912 operators (myself included) have a roll of 2" wide metal foil HVAC duct tape in their hangar. Place one strip over the top 2" of the oil cooler during the winter months. Oil temps tend to run higher and come up to the minimum takeoff temp quicker. Still, this doesn't do enough in the really cold climates (e.g., WI/MN/MI), and they use oil and coolant thermostats with good results (remember, the engine is partially water cooled).

I do admit that the foil tape is not as flexible or as cool (pardon the puns) as a thermostat / veritherm or a damper on the oil cooler. However, it reminds me of the pressurization control valve on SpaceShipOne - a cork plugging a hole in the fuselage. The pilot would remove and replace the cork as necessary to adjust pressurization. Cost, $0.10. Added weight, zero.

TODR
Click to expand...

I use to tape off the oil cooler on my kitfox 912, but got tired of that ruetine real fast. I ended up putting on a thermostate simular to the one given on this thread. Maintains 180 in the winter, real nice. I really want to put one on my RV. It's a real plug and play and forget about it type of thing.
 
Geico266 said:
Agreed, but in the -10 I can fly from -20F into 80F temps on one tank of fuel. If you have taped off the oil cooler for -25 and fly into 80F you are gonna be sweating bullets to get on the ground and get the tape off the oil cooler.

In fact, this winter I had the oil cooler taped off and it was 20F on the ground. I took off to fly 60 miles to a Sat fly in b-fast and the oil temps hit 235 on final 20 mins later. Due to a temperature inversion the air temp aloft was 75F! That will get your attention in a hurry. :eek: Having an in flight adjustable oil cooler on a -10 is a nessessity up here.

JMHO.
Click to expand...
Good point. I've flown the 912 at temps up to 65F (on the ground) with the tape on and oil temps were always in the green (230F is the top of the green for the CT). However ... 80F is a little different.

TODR
 
the_other_dougreeves said:
Good point. I've flown the 912 at temps up to 65F (on the ground) with the tape on and oil temps were always in the green (230F is the top of the green for the CT). However ... 80F is a little different.

TODR
Click to expand...

...and the IO-540 makes a bunch more heat than a 912! AND uses the 12 qts of oil to cool alot more area.

The main thing is to get the oil temps up to 200+ once a flight. Can't do that with a vernaterm.
 
I used this air controller on my 10 and like it so much that I'm installing the RV-10 oil cooler set-up on an 8 right now. I like using it to get the oil temp up quicker and then controlling the exact temp I want also after starting the engine on a hot day you can take off as soon as your oil temp gets to a safe range and then climb out at more FPM because you can block some air off the oil cooler and allow more cooling past the cylinder heads.
This is one of those really good mods. that only takes about an hour to hook up with the only slow down being where you want to mount the push-pull cable.
 
Geico266 said:
Any ideas?

As always thnaks in advance for any help / advice.
Click to expand...

I don't know where you have your oil cooler mounted but mine is remote and I have a door that covers the round duct at the back of the baffles. The door is controlled via a push-pull cable mounted inside the plane. Originally I didn't have the remote cable, but once I moved to TSP I found I needed to be able to have more than a winter or summer position. It takes a little work to get the shape of the door correct so you can open and close it all the way and the door shape will probably vary with each installation. The pivot is a bolt that is double nutted with a nutplate and uses plastic washers. There is one guide bolt to keep the door from bouncing around and getting jammed. There is a curved slot in the door for that bolt to ride in. Plastic washers are used there also.
 
Van's Kit?

Geico266 said:
I've installed Van's inflight adjustable oil cooler shutter doors on a couple of 0-360's with great success, but they are for rectangular openings.
Click to expand...

Hi Larry,

You mentioned Van's kit. I looked on Van's site (search words 'adjustable oil cooler' and 'adjustable') and couldn't find anything relevant. Do you know if it's still made?

Thanks,
 
Ahhh...thanks guys. Silly me, I should have searched for 'oil' or 'shutter'. ;)

There sure seems to be a lot of blockage due to the design. Kudos, however, to the compactness.

Thanks,
 
Here's a photo of the alt air door that I fabricated (didn't like the funky one Van supplies) that could probably be adapted to the oil cooler problem. Basically three layers of 063 aluminum sandwich with a sliding door in the center section. Several layers of paint between sandwiches gives it just enough clearance for the door to slide nicely.



greg
 
blocker of blocker?

Not trying to be a "in-flight heater blocker" blocker........but I found I got little use out of these things. A simple once a year cold season blocking plate works well. Take it off for spring/summer. Does not take long to install it. A friend just put metal tape over his cooler.

If you go with the Vans blocker gear, over $116! :eek: The total weight with the cable? (guessing 1 lb) :eek:

If you fly from winter snow belt to the palm-tree belt, it might come in handy. The idea of warming up faster I guess is an advantage. You can always land and it take the plate off in a few minutes. I'd put it low on my options list, just because of the weight v. value added.

K.I.L.S. = keep it light & simple
 
Last edited:
gmcjetpilot said:
Not trying to be a "in-flight heater blocker" blocker........but I found I got little use out of these things. A simple once a year cold season blocking plate works well. Take it off for spring/summer. Does not take long to install it. A friend just put metal tape over his cooler.
Click to expand...

George, while this may be true for local flying, the problem is going cross country in the -10 in winter. It can be 0F when I leave the frozen northland and in one tank of fuel land where it is 80F+. Without an inflight adjustable oil cooler I would have to land to take the tape off before I get to my destination. Last winter, 20F I took off on a 20 MIN flight with the oil cooler 3/4 taped off. When I landed the oil temp was 235F! Due to a temperature inversion the air temp was 75F.

(See post #8 this thread.)
 
Last edited:
gmcjetpilot said:
Not trying to be a "in-flight heater blocker" blocker........but I found I got little use out of these things. A simple once a year cold season blocking plate works well. Take it off for spring/summer. Does not take long to install it. A friend just put metal tape over his cooler.
Click to expand...
Diamond makes these plates for the DA20 and DA40 that block some of the flow through the cowling, including the oil cooler. They go into a bracket with a 1/4 turn camloc. Super simple.

One thought on those who go the in-flight adjustable route: You might want to make the air cooler cable spring loaded to where it fails open (i.e., max cooling).

TODR
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top