Engine dryers

wrote:
The 100 watt bulb trick is to merely place a drop cord with a 100 watt
bulb inside the cowl while parked and leave it on 24x7.

I do something similar. I purchased a small 1500 watt ceramic heater
along with a thermostat that is often used with torpedo heaters. I put
the thermostat on the top of the cylinders and the heater in the lower
cowl. I then close up the cowl, put a blanket over it, and plug the
inlets. I set it to the 750 watt setting and the thermostat to ~60
degrees F. Somewhat more expensive than the bulbs (~$120 total) but it
does keep the whole engine at an elevated temperature.

One comment on humidty levels in hangers. In my hanger in the spring
(Michigan) the humidity gets so high that the floor is actually wet.
Also the writing on a white board runs! It seems that the moisture
comes up from the concrete floor.

Regards,
Jerry

wrote:

One comment on humidty levels in hangers. In my hanger in the spring
(Michigan) the humidity gets so high that the floor is actually wet.
Also the writing on a white board runs! It seems that the moisture
comes up from the concrete floor.

Regards,
Jerry

I hear you about the moisture. I used to live in a much more humid
climate (Huntsville, Al) and we had a similar issue about humidity,
especially in Winter. When I first bought my plane, I had to wait for a
hangar and thus was left on the tarmac. When a hangar became
available, I began to notice that the plane seemed muggier than before,
when left outside. I began to notice that the radios, etc. began to act
up when I first started a flight. After a while things would clear up
and work fine. It finally dawned on me that inside the hangar in
winter, etc. I never got the warming effect of the Sun (greenhouse I
guess). Moisture was collecting inside the plane at a much higher
level. You could even smell it. I think in many ways staying outside is
better. I often use to pull my plane outside the hangar even when I
wasn't flying just to get that sunshine on the plane to warm it up and
drive the humidity out. On many a cold day, it was nice and warm
inside the plane once you got inside. Those big windows really let the
Sun in and warmed things up even on the coldest of days.

Regards,
Bud

wrote:
The 100 watt bulb trick is to merely place a drop cord with a 100 watt
bulb inside the cowl while parked and leave it on 24x7. This was first
suggested as a cheap and easy way to preheat, especially if 2 100 watt
bulbs were used. Simply put plugs or rags or such in the cowl openings,
place a blanket or 2 over the cowl, and while not as good as a good
preheater, did keep the engine at a temp above the desired level.
Aviation Consumer did an article on this in the past. They used the
same trick when they were evaluating the dryers, and found that as with
the preheaters, this trick did not perform as well as the devices
designed for that purpose, but did keep moisture out of the crankcase.
They found that this trick kept the air temp inside the crankcase from
5 to 10 deg above the dew point, so no moisture collected on the engine
internals.

I have to wonder whether the moisture evaporated from the
above-dew-point crankcase distills out on the below-dew-point rocker
arms and valve mechanism.

If you are referring to the issue where some of the preheater systems,
when if left on constantly caused moisture evaporated from the hotter
parts of the engine to condense on the cooler parts (such as you
listed) and cause corrosion, well maybe that occurs. The dryers simply
blow dry air thru the crankcase eliminating (theoretically) moisture
from initiating corrosion. I think that many of the articles we read in
aviation publications take a very simplistic approach to research. I
don't think the charge that if you leave a preheater on 24x7 it will
cause corrosion has ever been proven or disproven adequately, as is
also true with many other things we read. For instance, we are
constantly told that water condenses in the oil in the crankcase and
that we need to fly alot to boil it off. Well, I have done my oil
changes for years (close to 40 oil changes by now) and I usually send a
sample off for analysis. I usually drain the oil overnight, and I don't
usually do it after flying but before, since I like to circulate the
fresh oil through the engine, so the oil is cold from sitting up for a
week or two and should have moisture in it according to common wisdom.
However the analysis reports I get back from Blackstone never show any
sign of moisture in the oil! WTH.
But you might be right. I don't know for sure.

Bud


Dave Butler wrote:
wrote:
The 100 watt bulb trick is to merely place a drop cord with a 100 watt
bulb inside the cowl while parked and leave it on 24x7. This was first
suggested as a cheap and easy way to preheat, especially if 2 100 watt
bulbs were used. Simply put plugs or rags or such in the cowl openings,
place a blanket or 2 over the cowl, and while not as good as a good
preheater, did keep the engine at a temp above the desired level.
Aviation Consumer did an article on this in the past. They used the
same trick when they were evaluating the dryers, and found that as with
the preheaters, this trick did not perform as well as the devices
designed for that purpose, but did keep moisture out of the crankcase.
They found that this trick kept the air temp inside the crankcase from
5 to 10 deg above the dew point, so no moisture collected on the engine
internals.

I have to wonder whether the moisture evaporated from the
above-dew-point crankcase distills out on the below-dew-point rocker
arms and valve mechanism.

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...
wrote:
The 100 watt bulb trick is to merely place a drop cord with a 100 watt
bulb inside the cowl while parked and leave it on 24x7. This was first
suggested as a cheap and easy way to preheat, especially if 2 100 watt
bulbs were used. Simply put plugs or rags or such in the cowl openings,
place a blanket or 2 over the cowl, and while not as good as a good
preheater, did keep the engine at a temp above the desired level.
Aviation Consumer did an article on this in the past. They used the
same trick when they were evaluating the dryers, and found that as with
the preheaters, this trick did not perform as well as the devices
designed for that purpose, but did keep moisture out of the crankcase.
They found that this trick kept the air temp inside the crankcase from
5 to 10 deg above the dew point, so no moisture collected on the engine
internals.

I have to wonder whether the moisture evaporated from the above-dew-point
crankcase distills out on the below-dew-point rocker arms and valve
mechanism.

The point of the 100w bulb trick is to keep everything under the cowl
(including the crankcase) a few degrees warmer than the outside environment
to raise the under-cowl temp above the dewpoint.

I don't see any way this technique could hurt.

KB