garrettgee2001 Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 It seems that my CTLS is just drafty. I have tried just about everything on the forum to try to keep it warm, to no avail. Now, it doesn't help that I just hate cold. I have sealed the doors, taped the overhead opening, adjusted the heater valve, checked the shroud, checked the intake, and it just seems my heater is just to anemic. I got tired of having to fly in a big winter coat and vest and long sleeve and thermals, so I (probably over) engineered a solution. Did a little reverse engineering on the CT heater ducts, and made up my own in CAD. With the added benefit of a high output fan in the mix. Had it 3D printed in flame retardant Nylon 12. This things moves about 10x more air than my poor little stock cabin heating system. Haven't installed yet, but will report back once I get it going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Hi Garrett, Give me a call and I can help you seal up the cabin and make sure the heater is working properly. I could fly in my SW in the teens and 20's with nothing more than a shirt on. I hate the cold too. That's why I live in southern Arizona. That said we've had snow twice in the last 4 weeks. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Cesnalis Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 I have countless winter flights @ ~13,000' in my CTSW. Talk to Roger, you don't have to be cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 That is some impressive CAD and 3D-printing - kudos!!! I’ll be curious for the performance report. I went flying this morning in northern NH around the white mountains with OAT of 13F. Flight went fine, with the defroster and cabin heat keeping up adequately. Just before leaving the hangar though I tried to clean a few streaks off the windshield with my PlexiClean. As soon as I misted it onto the windshield it completely froze. Took me 15 minutes of rubbing to clear it. The days not over yet, but I’m hoping that’s the dumbest thing I do today… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anticept Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 The air going through the system is hot enough to melt the rubber on shoes when it works. You might end up with a melted mess. When the system works too well, it can also damage the windshield. Have one CTs with window damage from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Cesnalis Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 2 hours ago, Anticept said: The air going through the system is hot enough to melt the rubber on shoes when it works. You might end up with a melted mess. When the system works too well, it can also damage the windshield. Have one CTs with window damage from it. True Dat I have burned my foot too many times. I have a nice difusser there now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrettgee2001 Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 7 hours ago, Anticept said: The air going through the system is hot enough to melt the rubber on shoes when it works. You might end up with a melted mess. When the system works too well, it can also damage the windshield. Have one CTs with window damage from it. That's good to know. I didn't realize that, as my heater has never been that good in the 5 years I have had the plane. I know everything is fairly well sealed but, but it seems airflow (specifically volume) is my problem. Going to look over the "firewall forward" part and see what I can come up with first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anticept Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Mix in some cooler cabin air and implement a thermostat system that will cut the fan off if it gets too hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredG Posted January 29 Report Share Posted January 29 Garrett, when you inspect forward of the firewall, look to see that the flat metal flapper in the "thermic choke" (FD terminology) moves fully to the heat position when the heat knob is pulled in the cabin. The "thermic choke" is an aluminum box about 3" each side. A duct from the shroud around the muffler (for carrying heated air) enters the box and a duct exits the box and enters the cabin. The heat control knob on the panel has a cable that controls the position of the flat metal flapper in the box. when the heat is off, the flapper obstructs the flow of hot air. When the heat is on, the metal plate does not obstruct the flow of air (it simply pivots out the way) allowing it continue flowing into the duct that enters the cabin. Due to the construction of this air flow control, you can actually see the flap position. When I first started flying my 2006 CTsw, it was cold in the winter. When I inspected the hot air control unit I saw that the flap would not move to the position that allowed full flow of heated air. When that was fixed, I had much better heat. I do not know if the CTls has the same parts for controlling the flow of heated air. Tom, Corey, or Roger will know. Finally, for all CT pilots, remember that the tighter we make the cabin, the more at risk we become of CO toxicity should we have a leak in the muffler (allowing exhaust to be mixed with warm air that enters the cabin) when using the heater. I use a digital CO meter with an alarm rather than the color changing disk that came with the airplane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrettgee2001 Posted January 31 Author Report Share Posted January 31 On 1/28/2023 at 7:47 PM, FredG said: Garrett, when you inspect forward of the firewall, look to see that the flat metal flapper in the "thermic choke" (FD terminology) moves fully to the heat position when the heat knob is pulled in the cabin. The "thermic choke" is an aluminum box about 3" each side. A duct from the shroud around the muffler (for carrying heated air) enters the box and a duct exits the box and enters the cabin. The heat control knob on the panel has a cable that controls the position of the flat metal flapper in the box. when the heat is off, the flapper obstructs the flow of hot air. When the heat is on, the metal plate does not obstruct the flow of air (it simply pivots out the way) allowing it continue flowing into the duct that enters the cabin. Due to the construction of this air flow control, you can actually see the flap position. When I first started flying my 2006 CTsw, it was cold in the winter. When I inspected the hot air control unit I saw that the flap would not move to the position that allowed full flow of heated air. When that was fixed, I had much better heat. I do not know if the CTls has the same parts for controlling the flow of heated air. Tom, Corey, or Roger will know. Finally, for all CT pilots, remember that the tighter we make the cabin, the more at risk we become of CO toxicity should we have a leak in the muffler (allowing exhaust to be mixed with warm air that enters the cabin) when using the heater. I use a digital CO meter with an alarm rather than the color changing disk that came with the airplane. Thank you for the tip. We actually did look at the valve last annual (October) and found the spring was stretched out and replaced it. We also looked at the full movement of the control arm, but I don't think we actually looked at the valve to see if it was fully moving. What do you use for the digital CO detector? Any suggestions. I have been thinking about getting one, as I have a bad tendency of not including that in my scan. I think a digital one would be much better, especially if it alerted audibly or with a flashing light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredG Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 I use a BW Clip Real Time 2 Year CO Detector 25-100 ppm (BWC2R-M25100). It has a digital readout and an alarm (sound, vibration, and flashing light) at 25ppm (they are used widely in industry). I use it because I am familiar with the unit from my work (I do occupational safety and health). There are quite a few new digital detectors made specifically for aviation and some may be more economical than the BW unit. A big drawback of the BW unit is that it has a two year lifespan which cannot be extended. I think some of the new detectors have longer lifespans and replaceable batteries. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with any of the newer detectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Meade Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 Aviation Consumer had a review of CO detectors in their a recent issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 It seems like a lot of new aviation products are including CO monitors as add-on features. I know some of the new high-end headsets have them (Bose or Lightspeed). I just bought a Sentry to work with my iPad running foreflight. It gives me a backup AHRS, ADSB-in functionality to show traffic on the iPad, and also has a built-in CO monitor with alarm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted March 9 Report Share Posted March 9 On 1/31/2023 at 5:21 AM, garrettgee2001 said: Thank you for the tip. We actually did look at the valve last annual (October) and found the spring was stretched out and replaced it. We also looked at the full movement of the control arm, but I don't think we actually looked at the valve to see if it was fully moving. What do you use for the digital CO detector? Any suggestions. I have been thinking about getting one, as I have a bad tendency of not including that in my scan. I think a digital one would be much better, especially if it alerted audibly or with a flashing light. Hey Garrett, one more thing to check I believe (and I'm very new at these CTs so take it for what it's worth) is the inlet hole in the cowling to the inlet to the exhaust heater muff. The rubber that is supposed to seal this transition is broken so air can bypass easily instead of pushing into the heater muff. I have yet to change mine but hoping that will make a difference as well. Any comments on this Roger ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrettgee2001 Posted March 10 Author Report Share Posted March 10 7 hours ago, PhilT said: Hey Garrett, one more thing to check I believe (and I'm very new at these CTs so take it for what it's worth) is the inlet hole in the cowling to the inlet to the exhaust heater muff. The rubber that is supposed to seal this transition is broken so air can bypass easily instead of pushing into the heater muff. I have yet to change mine but hoping that will make a difference as well. Any comments on this Roger ? Thank you for that. I did replace my a few years ago, but FD at the time didn't have any of the material in stock, so I used some baffle seal. I think that is essentially what is there. I do need to revisit that though and see how it is holding up. It is possible my "fix" made it worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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