Re: Engine Heaters

 

D Story, ATP writes:  " As long as the plane
is flown regularly, there shouldn't be any water to cause corrosion."

 

I am sorry that I cannot agree with this statement.  I fly regularly, and here in the cold climate of Northern Illinois, I regularly see beads of water condensed on the top of the dipstick handle the next day.

 

That I find presence of water is not at all surprising, since water is a natural product of burning fuel in an engine.  And, I regularly get my oil temp above 200 degrees.

 

The water is always present to some degree.  The question remains the same-do you want to heat the sump and tips of the cylinders to drive into the far reaches of the engine (i.e., lifters, cam lobes, and cylinder walls) so it can corrode more surfaces?

 

Then engine, for most scenarios, is a closed system, a closed bottle.  The only way to rid it of combustion products-water-is to open the system-remove the dipstick, for example, and bubble dry nitrogen into the sump while the whole engine hotter than the boiling point of water.

 

Short of doing this, In the winter I pop my dipstick snd leave it slightly ajar after flights and wipe the water off the inside rubber washer the next day before flight.  The residual engine heat has allowed some water to escape the engine overnight.  It is not a perfect fix, but perhaps I have kept some water from condensing on my lifters and camshaft lobes...

 

David Jones