I use a touch tone decoder at my plane... and call a paging system from the i phone to send tones. When received, it turns on the oil sump heater. (Wed. night is supposed to be 22 deg. this week)
My question is: Has anybody left a space heater in their plane unattended for a while? Was thinking of adding one to the receiver circuit so the cabin would be warm as well as the oil and cylinders when I arrive.
I sleep pretty soundly with one on... and have not gone up in flames. Suppose I will be so lucky with the plane too?

I use a small ceramic heater in the winter to keep everything toasty and it sure is nice to get in a warm cabin. Also it is MUCH better for you instruments especially gyros to start warm. To date I have not burned anything down yet! Not for lack of trying

Mike

Sump heaters and electric heaters in the cabin... In BRW and OTZ we never turned them off once parked. If wx was bad and we sat for a few days they stayed on all that time.

Gump

I second Mike's comment. I also use a small ceramic heater and have had no luck burning anything down.

The caution I'd offer with fan forced space heaters in REALLY cold weather is you want to make absolutely certain that the fan actually starts.

I know of cases where the fan didn't start, the heater overheated and zapped the fuseable link in the heater core....a good thing--intended to prevent your house from burning down.

If I use a fan forced heater, though, I prefer to be present when it starts to verify that the fan actually spools up. In temperatures above zero, I'm not sure that's an issue, but....I don't want to bet my airplane and the city's hangar on a hardware store heater and the possibility that some chinese fuseable link will actually work.

I use a Little Buddy car interior heater regularly, and they are great little heaters. They're available at most hardware and auto parts stores. They do have a fuseable link to protect them. I once plugged one into 220 volts and left it for a couple hours. The locals had figured to rob the airport of a bit of pre heat electricity and tapped into the base of a big light pole, and wired in a standard 110 plug on a 220 circuit. It was a friend's plane, and he asked me to plug it in for him, which I did and verified the fan was running. He got there a couple hours later and said that Little Buddy sounded like a J-58 jet engine in afterburner. But it was still running.

I BELIEVE that ceramic heaters are supposed to be safer, but, don't know that for a fact.

MTV

mtv wrote:I use a Little Buddy car interior heater regularly, and they are great little heaters. They're available at most hardware and auto parts stores. They do have a fuseable link to protect them. I once plugged one into 220 volts and left it for a couple hours. The locals had figured to rob the airport of a bit of pre heat electricity and tapped into the base of a big light pole, and wired in a standard 110 plug on a 220 circuit. It was a friend's plane, and he asked me to plug it in for him, which I did and verified the fan was running. He got there a couple hours later and said that Little Buddy sounded like a J-58 jet engine in afterburner. But it was still running.

MTV

I've got Little Buddy heaters too. Normally I'll run one inside the cowl. If I want to go to the trouble I can stick one in the cabin too, but at my tiedown it requires finding a separate circuit to plug into. They're also great for sticking under snowmachine cowls in very cold weather, if you have a power source.

Early models had metal fans, which always maintained full motor cooling and heat circulation. Newer models have plastic fans, and the old-timers tell me that they just don't last as long. Apparently the plastic softens in the heat and the blades lose their full effect, causing the guts to burn up prematurely. More of a problem if you're running them like Gump describes, I imagine. Mine are 5+ years and going strong.

Besides listening for it to start, which is a sound practice, I make certain that my fuel cutoff is all the way out and the tank selector is set to off. It may or may not save the day when the thing overheats, but it certainly can't hurt. Also I make sure the business end isn't pointed at my gascolator

Those ceramics are pretty safe.
For what they cost, even replace it every season.

Don't pinch the cord in the door.
Use a gfi, then even if it shorts, it should trip.
Don't forget basics like a heavy gauge extension cord and make sure the circuit breaker/wiring/receptacles can handle the load.
Remember a heater load tends to be a sustained draw of power compared to something like a chop saw or even a fridge.

We used space heaters for years at a cabin, no problems.
However, even with heavy duty wiring you could feel the receptacles warm up a little bit after a few days.

I suppose you already cover, but maybe add an extra blanket to make the meter spin a little slower...

I never used to worry about this kind of thing, until a couple years ago I left a battery charger for a cordless drill plugged in & charging at home while I went out for a few hours. I've left them plugged in and unattended on jobsites uncountable times... however, this time, when I got home I was greeted by a house full of thin hazy smoke. The battery had partially melted & the kitchen countertop under the charger was scorched. (not a GFI outlet BTW) I felt pretty lucky the whole place hadn't gone up. Since then I've been nervous about leaving certain items plugged in-- for example, I recently made an unscheduled drive to the airport one evening when I realized I'd left an old spare RG-25 battery on the charger. I thought it would be OK, but didn't want to find out otherwise the hard way.
I do leave a drop light with 125W heat bulb hanging under the engine in the wintertime, with a blanket over the cowl. Since there's no auto-shutoff feature involved, I don't feel it's unsafe, but I am careful about where the bulb is located & where it points.

Hey, thanks for all the great replies. It is 22 degrees this Thanksgiving morning. The space heater has been out at the airport doing it's thing now for 2 and a half days. Will head out shortly to see if I will be flying or sweeping up charred remains. I wonder if AOPA insurance would answer their phone today? Probably not.
At least I know the density altitude at our 5000 foot airport should be pretty good this fine holiday.
And also, A BIG THANKS GO OUT TO UNITED STATES MILITARY VETERANS TODAY.
I treasure the freedom to go fly, go take risks if I choose and answer to no one but God. Cheers guys...

Run a little buddy in the cabin and a little Canadian jobber which is even smaller than the little buddy in the cowl.

Haven't burned the plane down yet. But that is what insurance is for.

As someone else said I always use a GFCI outlet and a cord rated for the amps.

Also I don't leave mine plugged in all the time...plug it in the night before I plan to fly. I'm only five minutes from the plane so it isn't too much of a hassle.