cockpit pre heating

Is there a preferred way to preheat the cockpit/gyros etc with a 110v heater that can be put into the cabin about 20 min before flight. I really don’t want to use a 500/700 watt unit. Tried some boating units like Thermo care but they dont’t put out enough heat.

John
N468JP SR20 #1261

John: I know that the Reiff website has a specific recommendation. They recommend a small ceramic heater and in fact have a particular unit for sale on their web site. However, they recommend getting one at Home Depot or similar.

Here is what they recommend:

Cabin Heaters

It is a good idea to use a cabin heater in cold weather because it is better for your gyros and avionics to keep them warm and dry. Of course, it’s also a lot more comfortable for the pilot to climb into a warm airplane than a cold one. Whenever we are asked to develop a cabin heater to work with our engine heaters, our answer is always the same… we could develop a heater, get it FAA approved, sell it for $375 and make lots of money. But it’s a lot cheaper for the customer to just go to the local Home Depot and buy a small ceramic space heater. For the past several years we have used a compact 850/1500 watt unit that has an adjustable thermostat to maintain whatever cabin temperature you want, and has safety switches to shut it off if it overheats or tips over. We place this heater on the floor of the rear baggage area and run the power cord out the door (it’s flat so the door closes on it easily). This type of heater is small and light so it can be left in the airplane when you travel, but is not installed in the aircraft so does not require any FAA approval.

The bottom line is, it doesn’t make sense to us to produce a small volume, specialized, high priced heater when a mass produced, inexpensive unit will work just as well or even better.

For those customers who want to save the trip to Home Depot, we now stock the same heater we use.

FEATURES

  • Two Settings: 850/1500 Watts
  • Ceramic Fin Heating System
  • Automatic Adjustable Thermostat
  • Safety Tip Over Switch
  • Overheat Protection Device
  • Dust Filter
  • Cord Storage Compartment
  • 3 Year Warranty

$39
SPECIFICATIONS

LxWxH: 7" x 6.5" x 7"

Weight: 4 lbs.

Power: 110-120V/60Hz

Color: Cool Grey

About Ceramic Heaters
These heaters have an element with ceramic plates and aluminum baffles. Electricity passing through the ceramic heats it up; the heat is absorbed by the aluminum and a fan blows the hot air around the aluminum out into the room. Ceramic elements are compact, safer and more efficient than other elements because they self-regulate the electricity flow depending on temperature, thereby preventing overheat situations.

Cabin Heaters

It is a good idea to use a cabin heater in cold weather because it is better for your gyros and avionics to keep them warm and dry. Of course, it’s also a lot more comfortable for the pilot to climb into a warm airplane than a cold one. Whenever we are asked to develop a cabin heater to work with our engine heaters, our answer is always the same… we could develop a heater, get it FAA approved, sell it for $375 and make lots of money. But it’s a lot cheaper for the customer to just go to the local Home Depot and buy a small ceramic space heater. For the past several years we have used a compact 850/1500 watt unit that has an adjustable thermostat to maintain whatever cabin temperature you want, and has safety switches to shut it off if it overheats or tips over. We place this heater on the floor of the rear baggage area and run the power cord out the door (it’s flat so the door closes on it easily). This type of heater is small and light so it can be left in the airplane when you travel, but is not installed in the aircraft so does not require any FAA approval.

The bottom line is, it doesn’t make sense to us to produce a small volume, specialized, high priced heater when a mass produced, inexpensive unit will work just as well or even better.

For those customers who want to save the trip to Home Depot, we now stock the same heater we use.

FEATURES

  • Two Settings: 850/1500 Watts
  • Ceramic Fin Heating System
  • Automatic Adjustable Thermostat
  • Safety Tip Over Switch
  • Overheat Protection Device
  • Dust Filter
  • Cord Storage Compartment
  • 3 Year Warranty

$39
SPECIFICATIONS

LxWxH: 7" x 6.5" x 7"

Weight: 4 lbs.

Power: 110-120V/60Hz

Color: Cool Grey

About Ceramic Heaters
These heaters have an element with ceramic plates and aluminum baffles. Electricity passing through the ceramic heats it up; the heat is absorbed by the aluminum and a fan blows the hot air around the aluminum out into the room. Ceramic elements are compact, safer and more efficient than other elements because they self-regulate the electricity flow depending on temperature, thereby preventing overheat situations.

What you want to look for is ceramic heating units, thermostat, tip over protection, variable heat settings. I think they recommend putting the unit in the baggage compartment.

I am not sure that either the 20 minute or the 500/700 watt limits are sufficient. If the 20 minute is just the preflight time, you would probably want 1500 watts of heat. But, hey, I’m just a California boy, what do I know about ice and snow?

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what works for me is a simple short baseboard(2 'long) “oil reservoir with internal electric heat element” type of heater. I thought about the porcelain 750/1500w types but didn’t feel comfortable with potentially melting something in the cockpit should the direct heat blast from the fan get something too hot if not positioned correctly.The oil reservoir type heater gives a much more slow and steady heat; the downside is that it is much slower since you don’t get that “blast of heat”. If part of the purpose of cockpit heating is also to warm the gyros, I doubt that a quick 10-15 minute porcelain heater will do the job since such a short heat time will only warm the interior space and not more deeply heat heavier pieces of metal like the gyros.
I live in northern minnesota and use the “Beeper Box” which can be remotely activated by placing a beeper inside; remotely phoning the pager turns on the circuit to both the engine heater as well cabin oil/electric heater. At OAT of 10F, with a cowl blanket on, I find that it takes 3-4 hours to get engine cht,oil temps up 60deg; by that time the entire cockpit is toasty and I assume that the panel inst/gyros are warm too.

Although a big fan of engine pre-heat, even in moderate temperatures, I’ve never given much thought to pre-heating gyros. I wonder if the concern is the gyro itself, bearings etc, or with the electric motor powering it? If it is the latter, perhaps a pre-heat of sorts could be accomplished by pulling the breaker on the gyros prior to start, then setting them after runup when the cabin is warmer. On my Lancair that would apply to the HSI and turn co-ordinator, but the attitude indicator would begin spooing up from the start, not being electrically powered. Still if is the electric motors that are of concern, maybe that’s a simple solution?

Thanks for the suggestions but I’m still leery of putting 700-1500 watt heater in the cabin.
Iwent back to West Marine & picked up a TURBO DRYER which draws 90 watts including the fan. It’s sold to prevent mildew and dampness in boats. Heat is approximately that of a 75 watt bulb, which if left on continuously should keep the place reasonably warm - and in the summer hopefully also deam with the humidity

\John
N468JP SR20

I bought the exact ceramic heater indicated in the above post at Wall Mart for $17. Been using it in the cabin for about a month with excellent results. here is how I do it.
Arrive at the airport and go into the hanger and unlock the baggage compartment. Put the heater in the compartment on its box as a pedesatl and plug it in, turn it on at high heat.
Proceed to do the rest of my preflight After about 10-15 minutes when I am ready to take the plane out of the hanger, the inside is warm as toast, I unplug the heater, take the plane outside and go. Works like a charm!

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do you have the same concerns about the high heat blast melting something? Is it a really hot blast of air? This sounds ideal and I thought it was a no-brainer but now I see questions from other people about whether it’s advisable to have 1500W of heat blasting around inside a plane.

Nothing’s ever simple is it?

A couple of questions

Will a good preheating of the engine warm the gyros?

Anyone tried the Tanis floor mat preheater?

Where did you find the 2’ oil heater? Do you feel comfortable leaving it on in the plane while you’re not there - I’d love to be able to do that.

Andy

Roland:
First of all, the “blast” is not THAT hot. Second, I am there in the hanger the whole time it is on. Thirdly, I sit the heater on the box it came in (about 10 inches high), and sit the whole thing in the baggage compartment. The air blows over the back seat into the entire cabin. If it were to tilt over for some reason, the heater automatiucally shuts off. The entire cabin is warm in about 10 minutes. I keep the doors closed and the baggage door just cracked enough to let the electric cord out for the heater.
I see no way anything could get “too hot” or “melt” with these design. Been using it for over a month with excellent results. I highly recommend it and it is cheap and easy to use. Moreover, it does not have to be turned on for long so you can wait until airport arrival to activate.

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Engine preheat warms nothing aft of the firewall.

preheating engine will do nothing to warm the gyros since they are fairly far removed from any engine heating elements and convective heat won’t reach the panel.

most home store(home depot,etc.) sell some sort of oil reservoir with internal electric heating coil. They look like baseboard heaters… Lots of different brands…20-30 $$. The key to these is that they are a SLOW heat. Internet search should yield dozens, i would imagine.

I place it on in the floor of the cabin(cessna) right in front of the pilot/copilot seats. I make sure that no cords(esp headphone) are anywhere near it. Set the thermostat for ~60 and then it cycles on and off when the cabin gets up to temp. When I first tried it I was a little paranoid about overheating something and I literally checked it every 10 minutes for two hours to be sure. But nothing ever got more than warm to the touch. Use it all the time now. Per S.Demy’s comments: I was told that it is the bearings that like to be warmer than colder on startup.

In reply to:


I highly recommend it and it is cheap and easy to use.


Thanks - that’s a done deal then, I’m going out to get me one of those. Cheap and easy in aviation is rare.

I think I said Wall Mart but I rechecked. Got the heater at Home Depot.

Any updated recommendations?

I just got the SwitcheOn controller. My plan is to turn on the Tanis heater the night before, or morning of, and then turn on a space heater in the cabin when I leave for the airport. I’m thinking a ceramic heater should be safe, right?

I got this one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XQKFH7H

When the daily lows are below about 45°, I leave it in on the floorboard pilot side, with the “heat” side facing toward the firewall, on the low setting, and with the thermostat set to what I’ve worked out to be about 65 – 70°. Since there’s a lot of “kick-back” toward the heater (circulation in the footwell of the pilot side of the cockpit), it initially shuts off pretty quick, but eventually gets the cabin pretty comfortable.

I turn the heater on/off with a SwitcheOn; turning it on at least a few hours (even the evening before) I’m going to be flying. Per the information from Reiff, the safety mechanism in the consumer-grade devices is equal to anything else out there, and I tested all sorts of tip-over scenarios with the heater on carpet outside the plane before I reached a level of trust to put it in the plane with me not present in the hangar.

Does this have a flat cable that I’d be able to run through the door (front or cargo) with the door shut?

I wouldn’t call it flat, but it’s thin enough that I can and do close the door with the power cord carefully placed in an area where only the trim molding presses against it… (near the door hinge seems to work well).

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I got something similar.

andily Space Heater Electric Heater for Home and Office Ceramic Small Heater with Thermostat, 750W/1500W https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07DX1L64X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_zCaLFbD1ZD2XZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I’m using a SwitcheOn also. They pointed out to me that the 1500 w setting will draw too many amps. At 1500 w, the unit will draw around 13 amps. With almost a 4 amp draw by the Tanis, it will overload the fuse and trip it. The SwitcheOn unit will then need to be sent in for service.

I have the heater in the cargo area. Works great.

I use my cabin heater at the low setting (750watts). That’s more than enough to heat the cabin if I give it a couple hours.

I am flying today. I turned on the Tanis this morning around 6 AM. By the time I get to the hangar around 2:30 PM, the engine block will be nice and warm. I’ll probably turn off the Tanis and turn on the heater about 1:30 PM. One I get there, I will back the heater down to 750w and will be good to use both at the same time in the future.

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