Twin Hornet 22 - Engine Preheater

[flybuoy]

Is anyone using this preheater? If so let me know your thoughts about it.

Thanks

Roger

[8413]

Hi Roger,
I don't have any experience with the twin hornet.

I installed the MacFarlane Safe-Heet 705 engine oil sump heater on my C90. I've been very happy with it. It is PMA for our engines. It uses a thermoconductive epoxy to adhere to the oil sump. I doubt I will ever have problems with it peeling off due to the epoxy instead of some other brands that use a stick on pad. I turn it off/on with a SwitcheOn and can have the heater come on whenever I like prior to flying. The colder it is the longer I let it pre-heat. Usually at least 4-6hrs.

No matter what you do for an engine heater I would highly recommend the SwitcheOn. It has made the drudgery of pre-heat into a non-event. I show up, pre-flight and go because the engine is already warm. I used to have to show up at least an hour before the flight and even then, I didn't feel like I was giving the engine a proper pre-heat ( I was using a space heater and a dryer hose ducted into the engine compartment). I was going to use the SwitcheOn with the space heater until I was talking to SwitcheOn and they practically begged me to not use the space heater unattended. He said there are a lot of hangar fires due to that. This is why I went with a sump heater.

One thing my engine overhaul shop said was to never leave any form of pre-heat on all the time. He said to only pre-heat prior to the flight, otherwise leave it off. He said he's had engines come in that had been left on pre-heat 24/7 and they had a lot of rust inside.
Josh

[tonycondon]

I have the EZ heat pad as well as cylinder bands from Reiff. Another nice feature is you can preheat anywhere you go.