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Sonex 1292
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Date: 1-16-2011
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Number of Hours: 0.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Cabin heater
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Cabin Heater
My original design for the cabin heater was for a fan in the cabin that would pull air from the other side of the cabin, out through two ‘exhaust muffs’ in the engine compartment and then back into the cabin. Unfortunately, even after installing a fan with the highest CFM I could, it still didn’t pull enough warm air. So I completely redesigned this system to use the tried and true ram air approach. For this, I modified the bottom pan of the Baffle kit (where the oil cooler is mounted) and attached a shortened Naca vent to obtain the ram air. I then connected this Naca vent using 2” diameter hose to a heat muff I purchased from Aircraft Spruce. From the heat muff, I connected another 2” hose to a heater box I made so I can route the warm air into the cabin or overboard using a control in the cabin. This means I am reducing the airflow that cools the bottom of the engine and the oil cooler, but I don’t think that will prevent much of a problem.
Image 1 shows a front view of the air inlet at the baffle and the Naca vent. Figure 2 shows the heat muff and image 3 shows the heater box. The heater box is simply a box with a flapper and arm that is positioned to allow the air to flow where I control it. Simple stuff. Since the weather is so terrible, I haven’t been able to fly to see how it works, so I’ll have to report on that after my next flight.
While I was working on the heater, I also looked at why I wasn’t getting a decent charge to the battery. I originally thought that the Regulator was bad, so I ordered a new one and as I was replacing it I saw what the real problem probably was; a bad connection on the output terminal! Since I had already purchased the new regulator and Sonex doesn’t take electronic parts back, I installed the new one. I have to report on this after my next flight also.
Unfortunately, my attempt to fix the slight fuel leak with JB Weld was unsuccessful. Back to the drawing board on that issue.
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