Preheating your engine (General Aviation News)

[Neal]

An expert’s tips on preheating your aircraft engine in the winter — General Aviation News

What are the best recommendations for pre-heating an aircraft engine?

generalaviationnews.com

 

[Cubonaut875]

Unfortunately I went with the Reiff system. I should have told Cubcrafters Tannis as I had on my previous Supercub. I only like to turn on the Reiff for a few hours before I fly to get the oil slightly warm. I have found a great timer to start the heater ahead of time. SwitcheOn - 2 channel - 15 amp - PreheatRemote. Works great with the app on my phone.

 

[Neal]

Unfortunately I went with the Reiff system.

I believe you could still add the Tanis and leave the Reiff if you wanted. Do they conflict? The Reiff is just bands around the cylinders and a heat pad glued to the oil pan/cooler? I think Reiff is fine as long as you start the engine (and fly?) after removing power. But yeah, CC should offer options not only in this area but others, however, they are very good about accommodating request such as if you brought your own and asked them to install such as a Tanis system.

 

[Cubonaut875]

The Tannis also has an oil heat pad and it happens to be bonded exactly where the Tannis bonds and it is not possible to remove it, as the Tannis rep told me at Oshkosh. The Reif pad is not compatible with the Tannis system. It is possible to cut the wires to the Reif pad and put the Tannis pad in a less than normal position. So it sounded to me, once you go Reif you can't convert over without some issues.

 

[Waldom]

Hard to beat an installed Tannis heater.

This is posted for those that don't have an installed pre-heater. I now have the luxury of a heated hangar but previously kept a PA-11 in an unheated hangar with electrical service. I rigged up a heater that was left on all the time and kept everything under the cowling at a constant 68F. Unlike most external heating systems, this practically eliminated condensation inside the engine. It was easy to make and inexpensive.

If anyone is interested, I will describe it in another post.

 

[FlyBigE]

If I recall correctly, we had Tanis heaters on most of our aircraft and left them plugged in on the flight line. Each parking spot had an outlet. Our 421's we kept in heated hangers and had fitted blankets and plugs for when away on charters and would used a forced air heater if necessary prior to start. Most of the time the blankets worked well for a few hours in between flights.