Oil weight question and cold weather

Thanks for your tip, won't change what works. Just was a lil worried my
engine would be wimpy at 34F without a warmup.

Your oil won't matter at 34 -- but you might want to pre-heat your engine
before starting it.

We plug 'er in when it gets consistently below 40 F.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
newsoWaf.513037$x96.142214@attbi_s72...
Thanks for your tip, won't change what works. Just was a lil worried my
engine would be wimpy at 34F without a warmup.

Your oil won't matter at 34 -- but you might want to pre-heat your engine
before starting it.

We plug 'er in when it gets consistently below 40 F.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Do you leave it plugged in 24/7? The preheat system I have (Reiff hotpad)
recommends against leaving my airplane plugged in 24/7 because of rust
concerns...

KB

Do you leave it plugged in 24/7? The preheat system I have (Reiff hotpad)
recommends against leaving my airplane plugged in 24/7 because of rust
concerns...

It depends.

If we are on our normal flying schedule (every couple of days), yeah, we
just leave it plugged in.

If it looks like we might not fly for a few weeks, we don't.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Here in South Central Alberta, Canada, we fly our training
airplanes until the temp gets to -25 degrees C (-7 F). We use Aeroshell
15W50 exclusively. If the airplane is away on a cross country, and ends
up outside overnight, we'll probably preheat it if the temp was below
-10C (14F). Starting must be done carefully, as it's easy to kill the
battery, flood the engine, or get the initial revs too high. That oil
is a little stiff and doesn't pump readily when too cold, so keep the
RPM to 1000 or less until things warm up. We find it's best to have an
insulated cowl cover, and a car warmer stuck up into the cooling oulet;
it warms the engine, battery, everything.
40 and 50 F is NOT cold. Some of us, especially the younger
guys, don't even put a jacket on for that.

Dan

Jay Honeck wrote:

Do you leave it plugged in 24/7? The preheat system I have (Reiff hotpad)
recommends against leaving my airplane plugged in 24/7 because of rust
concerns...

It depends.

If we are on our normal flying schedule (every couple of days), yeah, we
just leave it plugged in.

If it looks like we might not fly for a few weeks, we don't.

I also leave my Tanis heater plugged in since I fly every two to three
days.

Additionally, after shutdown I also pull the dipstick of my IO-520 out a
few inches and wrap a cotton cloth around it, covering the oil hole with
the cloth. The cloth catches the condensation that rises up through as the
engine cools.

If the outside temperature drops below 25 degrees F or so, I also wrap the
cowling and prop with an insulated cover.

--
Peter
























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Peter R. wrote:



Additionally, after shutdown I also pull the dipstick of my IO-520 out a
few inches and wrap a cotton cloth around it, covering the oil hole with
the cloth. The cloth catches the condensation that rises up through as the
engine cools.

Why would you want to catch the condensation and then keep it trapped at
the top of your engine? How about don't open the dipstick and let the
air circulate out of the engine normally thru the breather? This way
any water will drip on the floor.

Newps wrote:

Why would you want to catch the condensation and then keep it trapped at
the top of your engine? How about don't open the dipstick and let the
air circulate out of the engine normally thru the breather? This way
any water will drip on the floor.

The cloth absorbs the condensation, where it then evaporates into the air,
rather than drips back into the oil.

I suppose pulling the cap without the cloth would work, too, but there's
something about leaving the engine exposed and vulnerable to creepy
crawlies and such that suggests (to me, anyhow) keeping the oil spout
covered.

--
Peter
























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Peter R - A very interesting idea - does the rag actually get wet? I
wouldn't think there would be enough natural draft to flush the
crankcase of a hot engine with only the breather to supply air.

Idea - Maybe a small 12V cooling fan from a dead cpu etc powered from a
wallwart, set on the oil fill to help exhaust the moisture from the
crankcase? or is there enough natural draft from the heat of the
engine to do this?

nrp wrote:

Peter R - A very interesting idea - does the rag actually get wet? I
wouldn't think there would be enough natural draft to flush the
crankcase of a hot engine with only the breather to supply air.

Perhaps not (I am not an A&P), but I suspect that even this little bit is
better than leaving the oil cap tightly secured on cold days. Yes, the rag
is noticeably damp after a 1/2 day or so the aircraft sitting on a ramp
where temps are below about 30 degrees F. After a couple of days, the rag
is discolored slightly brown, but dry.

To put it another way, I am only about 150 hours into a newly rebuilt
engine, so I will hang charm bracelets off the cowling if the action will
result in a few more hours of useful engine life.

--
Peter
























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