propane preheater

Another thread made me think about using the portable propane heater I
use in my garage to preheat my airplane. It's the standard metal tube
type with the fan from Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen people simply
attach a flex duct to the end of this type heater and blow the hot air
into the cabin - poor man's red dragon. Any drawbacks?
Thanks
Dave

If this is blowing the warm combustion gases into the cabin, plenty of
drawback. The combustion products are primarily carbon dioxide and water
vapor. Lots of water vapor. The moisture can fog all the windows, or
create frost on the inside of the windows if it is below freezing. OK on
the engine, bad in the cabin.


"dave" wrote in message
. ..
Another thread made me think about using the portable propane heater I use
in my garage to preheat my airplane. It's the standard metal tube type
with the fan from Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen people simply attach a
flex duct to the end of this type heater and blow the hot air into the
cabin - poor man's red dragon. Any drawbacks?
Thanks
Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Stan Prevost ]
Posted At: Friday, December 22, 2006 10:35 PM
Posted To: rec.aviation.owning
Conversation: propane preheater
Subject: propane preheater

If this is blowing the warm combustion gases into the cabin, plenty of
drawback. The combustion products are primarily carbon dioxide and
water
vapor. Lots of water vapor. The moisture can fog all the windows, or
create frost on the inside of the windows if it is below freezing. OK
on
the engine, bad in the cabin.


"dave" wrote in message
. ..
Another thread made me think about using the portable propane heater
I
use
in my garage to preheat my airplane. It's the standard metal tube
type
with the fan from Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen people simply
attach
a
flex duct to the end of this type heater and blow the hot air into
the
cabin - poor man's red dragon. Any drawbacks?
Thanks
Dave

It may also render your CO detector completely useless. Aren't the
combustion products are CO and H2O, not CO2 and H2O?

It may also render your CO detector completely useless. Aren't the
combustion products are CO and H2O, not CO2 and H2O?


Complete combustion results in only C02 and H20.

Incomplete combustion, such as that in an (relatively) oxygen starved
environment, results in the formation of CO (carbon monoxide).

The trick is knowing wether or not you are having complete combustion.
People have died as a result.

Dave

I've got a little ($15) ceramic heater that I put on the floor of the
cabin when I arrive at the airport -- and turn it on, of course. By the
time I've finished preflight and such, the cabin is comfy.

I'm not planning on using it to preheat the cabin. I'm wondering how
this is any different than a red dragon or the large pre-heaters that
the FBO's use.

Dave

Stan Prevost wrote:
If this is blowing the warm combustion gases into the cabin, plenty of
drawback. The combustion products are primarily carbon dioxide and water
vapor. Lots of water vapor. The moisture can fog all the windows, or
create frost on the inside of the windows if it is below freezing. OK on
the engine, bad in the cabin.


"dave" wrote in message
. ..
Another thread made me think about using the portable propane heater I use
in my garage to preheat my airplane. It's the standard metal tube type
with the fan from Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen people simply attach a
flex duct to the end of this type heater and blow the hot air into the
cabin - poor man's red dragon. Any drawbacks?
Thanks
Dave

In article ,
dave wrote:

I'm not planning on using it to preheat the cabin. I'm wondering how
this is any different than a red dragon or the large pre-heaters that
the FBO's use.

Are you thinking about blowing the hot air into the cabin or into
the engine compartment?



Another thread made me think about using the portable propane heater I use
in my garage to preheat my airplane. It's the standard metal tube type
with the fan from Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen people simply attach a
flex duct to the end of this type heater and blow the hot air into the
cabin - poor man's red dragon. Any drawbacks?

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Bob,
I'm really only interested in using it to heat the engine.
Dave

Bob Noel wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:

I'm not planning on using it to preheat the cabin. I'm wondering how
this is any different than a red dragon or the large pre-heaters that
the FBO's use.

Are you thinking about blowing the hot air into the cabin or into
the engine compartment?



Another thread made me think about using the portable propane heater I use
in my garage to preheat my airplane. It's the standard metal tube type
with the fan from Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen people simply attach a
flex duct to the end of this type heater and blow the hot air into the
cabin - poor man's red dragon. Any drawbacks?

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 22:35:13 -0600, "Stan Prevost"
wrote:

If this is blowing the warm combustion gases into the cabin, plenty of
drawback. The combustion products are primarily carbon dioxide and water
vapor. Lots of water vapor. The moisture can fog all the windows, or
create frost on the inside of the windows if it is below freezing. OK on
the engine, bad in the cabin.

Also, there will probably be a moderate amount of crbon monoxide in the
exhaust. This is not really a good idea, and will instantly tuen any CO
detector "black".



"dave" wrote in message
. ..
Another thread made me think about using the portable propane heater I use
in my garage to preheat my airplane. It's the standard metal tube type
with the fan from Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen people simply attach a
flex duct to the end of this type heater and blow the hot air into the
cabin - poor man's red dragon. Any drawbacks?
Thanks
Dave

"dave" wrote in message
. ..
I'm not planning on using it to preheat the cabin. I'm wondering how this
is any different than a red dragon or the large pre-heaters that the FBO's
use.


OK. You said "and blow the hot air into the cabin ", so it sounded like you
wanted to use it to preheat the cabin.