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Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:23 pm
by Dareha
Anyone with a turbovee have a cabin heater installed?
Thank you,
Darrell

Re: Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:07 pm
by MichaelFarley56
I'll be the first to admit that I did not install cabin heat on my turbo AeroVee but if you want to fabricate an exhaust shroud it should be a simple endeavor.

I'm not sure if anyone else has made up a cabin heat setup at this point or not.

Re: Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:52 pm
by fastj22
Those turbos should be reaching EGT temps right? Any danger of gasses leaking out? I would think a blast tube over a loose shroud and into a gated plenum to the cabin could be quite toasty.

Re: Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:59 pm
by planeolbob
Hi Everybody,
Experimental aircraft are great as the builder can put into their project whatever they want. I installed a heat system. It worked fine. At 125 hours I took it out and now put on cheap Wal Mart ski bibs when I want to fly in cold weather. Cheaper, warmer, lighter.

Bob (toasty toes) Mika

Re: Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:01 pm
by sonex1374
I use a universal car seat heater kit from Amazon. It contains a seat pad and backrest pad for two seats (a total of 4 heating pads), with all the hardware and switches required. Total installation consists of mounting the two switches in the panel, connecting each switch to 12V power and ground, and opening up the seat upholstery to stick on the warmer pads. If you figure 2 hours for the job you'll still have time to eat a doughnut or two.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008D2LIRG/ref ... PGW7DHR1G5

You can't go wrong for $50! These are seriously the best kept secret out there.

Jeff

Re: Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:51 pm
by Bryan Cotton
I looked in the reviews - is 10A/seat correct?

Re: Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 7:24 pm
by sonex1374
Each seat draws 3A on low, 5A on high. I can run both seats on high during cruise flight with my Jabiru and the alternator keeps up fine, but I wait until I'm airborne to turn them on.

Jeff

Re: Heater for Sonex/Waiex B turbovee

PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 9:24 pm
by LarryEWaiex121
I've wondered many times about doing exactly what Jeff has done. My main restraint was power draw. With my Jabiru, I felt I was limited in available power. With Dynon panel its less than 3 amps with radio on. With transponder on its about 4 amps. With A/P servoes working it jumped to about 9 amps. Then the big one. With my Aero-Flash old school nav light/strobes the draw went up to right at 15 amps.
I seriously doubted the ability to run anything power hungry.
Now with the Camit 3300 and 40 amp alternator, I can afford to slurge a little and maybe invest in the heated seats, and at minimal weight.
This is the most efficient way I can think of to put heat back in the ole body.
I run a 35 amp main breaker and split away power to a avionics buss that's controlled by a 20 amp breaker. I guess it would be simple enough to pull off the main buss bar and route through another breaker for the heated seats. My max draw shouldn't be over 25 amp in total. Might be pushing the 1 and 1/2 the anticipated draw on the breaker rule?

Larry
Waiex121YX, Jab 3300 to Camit 3300 at 458 hrs, Skyview, A/P. Maybe heated seats?