This is the latest on the heater, another slow project!
The heater itself is install and wired, still has fuel lines and duct work left to go with a lot of work to do in making new ducts.
Here is the actual Southwind heater installed in the nose of Annie the Apache.
Some of the electrical work up in the nose.
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Kent Dellenbusch wrote:
What’s the lowest part of the Appalachians that you cross?Jaitrol? New or rebuilt?
Ken,
Going to Flemingsburg it’s slightly lower than when I go to Louisville but still over 6,200′. I was at 8,000′ on IFR and there was a fair amount of clouds that were obscuring the mountain tops so I definitley felt better on instruments even though I was actually in VMC most the time over the mountains. Once I got past the Alleghenies I could go lower so I dropped to 6,000′ and it was slightly smoother and faster. Leaving KFGX I ended up back at 8,000′ for rides and staying out of the clouds.
The heater is the orginal Southwind brand. A rebuilt. Gas fired heaters have become EXPENSIVE. If I had to buy one today I probably wouldn’t. Kinda sad but the prices have gone crazy high but I bought mine about 5 years ago. Didn’t know what an investment I had made! The fellow who is doing the work is Bill Sandman. He runs Nexus Climate Control and they were recommended by Hartzell who now owns ALL the gas fired heater companies. So far he and his team have been great. I am hoping for a wonderful result. He will be not only putting the heater in but building new duct work and putting in new fuel lines and controls. Also he plans to put in new fresh air vents and improve the vents I have. I’m ready for better temperature control!
This is how I carried the heater up in Annie to Holland. Notice my cooler with my chilled waters and sandwiches. My wife takes care of me!
This is the heater earlier this year when my mechanic at home was first looking at putting it in. We were really struggling and eventually found out that the heater that was taken out of the plane for an AD was different from the original and I had bought the original for the replacement and it wouldn’t fit. We found Bill Sandman in trying to figure out what was going on. About that point my mechanic decided he was moving and changing home airports so suddenly he really didn’t have the bandwidth for dealing with it and I decided just to use Bill.
Eric
Attachments:
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Took Annie up to Holland, MI for her heater installation. It was a great day (and I didn’t freeze at altitude!) After crossing the mountains I stopped in Flemingsburg, KY for a pit stop. I always love getting fuel cheaper and they had it at $4.99 per gal.
Beautiful weather going up.
Gotta feed those engines!
KFGX is the only airport I’ve been to with an F-4 sitting on the ramp. Not going anywhere but still impressive!
After leaving Flemingsburg the weather just got nicer. I got into Holland just before 4:30 and once we had everything taken care of I got dropped off near the airport at Grand Rapids (KGRR).
I made it to Holland and you can see the shop here. They typically handle larger twins like this Twin Bonanza but somehow I talked them into working on Annie. A quick overnight and I rode back to Charlotte on an A320 (that I used to fly) and was home before noon.
Attachments:
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