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Greetings I'm new to this forum and have an interest in experimental aircraft since the 70's.

I manufacture an engine heater used mainly for sprint car, midgets, and late model race cars but will pre-heat any water cooled engine. The engine heater circulates water throughout the cooling system while sitting in the pits (before starting) up to running temp, saving wear and tear on the (very expensive) engine.

The heater would be perfect to pre-heat a Rotex water cooled engine before starting (summer or winter) and could have it up to running temp while performing the pre-flight inspection. No fuel wasted on warm-up, plus no time on hobbs wasted, longer life between overhauls.

I have searched the internet or a water cooled aircraft engine heaterand have found a lot of heaters that blow hot air but not one that would do the job as good as this one. Does anyone know of such a heater on the market?

I would be interested in someone willing to hook-up the heater to their plane for testing before trying to sell the engine heater for aircraft use.... it can be seen on my website www.TheEngineHeater.com

What do you think?
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  • Re: engine heater

    by » 12 years ago


    The problem here would be that your system usually circulates coolant through the entire engine like an auto, but our coolant only goes through the heads. It wouldn't help a good part of the engine.

    Roger Lee
    LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
    Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
    520-349-7056 Cell


  • Re: engine heater

    by » 12 years ago


    Thanks for the feedback Roger

    Don't you think if your heads are 180 deg that the cylinders and block can't help but get hot?

    How is the lower radiator hose plumbed to the heads? Is there a "Y" fitting going from one hose? And the same going back to the radiator?

    How about the 2 strocks? Is just the cylinder water cooled or is the block also?

  • Re: engine heater

    by » 12 years ago


    Hi Wendell,

    It may eventually heat soak the other components, but it wouldn't be a very fast process. Plus it wouldn't do anything for the oil as we have a dry sump which means a seperate oil tank. One system that does a very good job is a Tanis engine preheated set up specifically with the Rotax 912 in mind and it's electric.

    Roger Lee
    LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
    Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
    520-349-7056 Cell


  • Re: engine heater

    by » 12 years ago


    Thanks again for the response Roger:
    I checked found the video for the Tanis heater and I see now that there is an engine heater for the 4 stroke Rotex.

    That is a very impressive video. The only thing I don't like about it is the 5 hour wait to heat up.
    I think mine would out perform it (with the addition of an oil tank heater) and a blanket. But I don't have access to an engine or a plane to test it. (It would have the radiator, heads, and all the hoses up to 180-195 deg in less than 30 min).

    There are several oil tank heaters on the market that just wraps around the tank (like a heating pad) and that is a great idea. I make an oil tank for a sprint car that has a coil inside that hot water travels through and heats the oil as it heats the engine.

    Anyway, thanks for the info, I still have my eyes in the sky.

    Wendell

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