Well, I read all about it but never put much concern into it. I live in Georgia, so why worry about getting stuck in the cold. And anyway, does it ever really get cold enough for the engine to not start?
Hmm, I'll never have that thought again. I've been in Maine since last Tuesday and am still here trying to figure out what to do. This post is going to list my different processes for trying to get unstuck.
1) Here is a funny video on the first experience of realizing that I wasn't going home. It was from last Friday afternoon in the 7 degree weather.
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBi_yuhvNAU[\url]
2) I then decided to try to wait out the cold so we went to the ski resort and had an awesome day of skiing. Well, that didn't last long so back to the airport for another look.
3) There has to be some way to heat the airplane but there are no empty hangers at the port and evidently no one here flies much during the winter as there are no heaters here either. So off to Home Depot with a few ideas to see how it works out.
4) First set of purchases were for a propane salamander heater, no idea why they call it that. I also purchased some ducting and a few joints to put it all together. The ducting ended up being so ill conceived that it literally pulled apart and the clamps I got for the joints wouldn't tighten enough to hold two paper bags together. After being extremely frustrated I figured I'd at least try the heater. It literally blew flames out the front and had a roaring fire inside it. Figuring that was only an accident waiting to happen I packed it all back up and returned them.
5) Next I started researching every preheater I could find. It came down to something everyone called the Northern Companion and a Red Dragon. The northern companion had a lot of information on it so I figured out which stove they were using and decided that I'd build my own. After all, what do I have to do today?
So, how did it go you ask? Well, despite all the comments about people using this thing in sub zero temps, it wouldn't light worth a crap. So I honestly couldn't tell you if it would work or not. However, after seeing its size, the distance up the tube into the engine compartment and the complete lack of any force other than heat to make it move around, I could make a prediction that it wouldn't work worth a shit.
There honestly is no way this heater could possibly heat up much more than a cub and even then I doubt that it would work if the temps were much below 20. It was 14 here today and with the wind blowing a bit it just couldn't get itself going. I tried for 45 minutes to get this thing to light up and start getting hot and it never burned long enough for me to even warm a few fingers. So I'm going to give the Northern Companion heater 2 stars while I didn't test their exact heater I think you can see I was pretty close.
But take it with a grain of salt because like I said, the heater never really got going.
I came back to the hotel frustrated and depressed with the situation as it is starting to get old. I ordered a Red Dragon from Spruce with a 6' hose that should be here tomorrow AM. They claim 20,000 BTU's on the Northern Companion with no fan. I also think they got their BTU number purely from the fuel btu ratings so doubt the stove itself is putting out nearly that much. The Red Dragon clams to be putting out 49,000 BTU's and has a 320 cu/ft/min fan on it. It also claims 15 minutes to heat the engine in zero degree weather. So I'll test it next.
If it gets me out of here it will find a place in the plane full time during the winter months as I will NOT suffer this again. :-)
Will post again tomorrow, hopefully from home.
Glenn