new here

[garry]

Hi all

 

 I'm new here, my name is Garry and I fly a Savannah VG ( it was a classic ) when i bought it, but I had it converter to VG. It is fitted with a Jabiru 2200 engine. Here in the UK microlights are limited to a MTO weight of 450kg, but we are in the process of lifting that weight up to 600kgs.

 

 I fly out of a grass strip in Newark on Trent Nottinghamshire 

 

 I would like to know what you guys have done to keep warm in winter in your Savannah as the heater in mine is not very good 

 

 thanks all 

[IBob]

Hi Garry, and welcome.
Can't comment on the Classic/VG heater, I believe the muffler setup is quite different than the XL/S.
But I can tell you that the heater in my S is pretty useless too, though how much that is the heater, and how much general draughtiness from various places, I'm less sure....

[Old Koreelah]

Welcome Garry, you’ll find lots of very experienced aeroplane people on this forum.

At the moment you must be one of the few Brits thinking ahead to cold weather!

Our local Aero Club has two Savannas, but both are pulled thru the sky by 912s. This liquid-cooled engine has more scope for fitting a safe cabin heater than an air-cooled Jabiru. 

 

I guess a Jab engine could accomodate a cabin heating cuff around an exhaust pipe, but they’re pretty short and there’s not much room there. It would need to be absolutely gas-tight. You could fit one around the muffler, but it has several leak points; the risk of getting some CO into the cabin is too much for me.

 

A couple of years ago I installed a cabin heater fed by relocated the oil cooler to the side of the cowling (with an air supply separate from my Jab engine) and set up a flap duct to divert warmed air from that directly into the cockpit. It worked okay, but it could never get enough air to keep the oil cool enough, so I went back to the previous arrangement. My cockpit gets quite a bit of heat from the firewall; in zero-degree air it reads about 6C inside; bearable for a short trip if I wear a couple of wooly layers.

The Savanna cowling probably has more scope for doing something with the oil cooler outlet, as long as you can securely separate it’s air from exhaust gases.

[danny_galaga]

Welcome aboard!

[Neil_S]

On 20/07/2022 at 4:20 PM, garry said:

Hi all

 

 I'm new here, my name is Garry and I fly a Savannah VG ( it was a classic ) when i bought it, but I had it converter to VG. It is fitted with a Jabiru 2200 engine. Here in the UK microlights are limited to a MTO weight of 450kg, but we are in the process of lifting that weight up to 600kgs.

 

 I fly out of a grass strip in Newark on Trent Nottinghamshire 

 

 I would like to know what you guys have done to keep warm in winter in your Savannah as the heater in mine is not very good 

 

 thanks all 

 

Hi Garry,

 

I wear a Nomex flying suit over normal clothes - flame resistant and quite warm. Multiple layers is always effective. I reckon there are too many draughts in my Savannah S to bother with the heater.

I'm from the UK and find there are few days over here near Melbourne where cold is really a problem, compared with southern England where I lived!

 

Cheers,

Neil

[sfGnome]

On 23/7/2022 at 11:58 AM, Neil_S said:

 

I reckon there are too many draughts in my Savannah S to bother with the heater.

If I may permitted a small thread drift here, I noticed that no one commented one way or the other about this. Is a draughty cabin common in the Sav, or can it be easily be made breeze-free?

[IBob]

sfGnome, there is a permanently open rearward-cowled vent in the roof of the luggage area.
The doors are a 3 dimensional work of art but not entirely rigid, so do not neatly seal all round (though this could probably be addressed with different thicknesses of draught stop.
The doors have round ventilators that can be closed.
The firewall can be closed off using boots on the control rods.

The remaining major source of draught would be from the rear fuselage, through the various openings around the controls, seat pans, luggage area etc. I expect these could be reduced.

 

The fact remains that you don't need much gap in an aircraft to be very draughty: the coldest flight I have ever made was as pax in a Piper Seneca mail plane, midwinter: the seals round the doors were a bit tired, the resulting draught was strong and constant.

[RFguy]

Hello Garry

the stock Jabiru exhaust cabin heat setup I think works very well in Jabirus with jab engines

- A small 1.25" dia INPUT air duct from the lower front of the cowling that goes to the exhaust cuff box, then the output from that onto the firewall .

So, the system has a high fresh air airflow and pressure with the forward facing duct a

 

I have NEVER heard any Jabiru owners complaining that there were fumes or CO2 in the cockpit.

 

My instructor said my J230 had the best cabin heater of any aircraft he'd ever flown in... 

[morihom5]

hello everyone, how are you doing?

Edited September 22, 2022 by morihom5

[Bruce Tuncks]

I once was in my own Jabiru and the instructor said he smelt exhaust fumes.  It turned out that he was correct. The fumes were entering at the tail, where some tape under the subfin had fallen off. This enabled some fumes to enter through the control-cable holes and travel up the fuse to exit at the doors.

This is counter-intuitive but in agreement with Bernoulli.

These days, at the annual, I take the sub-fin off to check these holes are properly sealed.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Hi morihom and welcome to this site.

[RFguy]

robbenfred50 probably another scammer , most likely

Edited October 20, 2022 by RFguy

[facthunter]

Where do you buy your crystal balls?  Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

Hi robben, what and where do you operate?   And welcome. Of course, you do not need a plane of any sort to come to this site.