I found these online, and they just arrived yesterday. I first saw them a couple of years ago, but put off getting them until recently, due to the cost. But a few days ago, I went up when it was pretty cold out, and although I have the Soros Ventube mod which really seals pretty well compared to the stock Cessna juice cans, there was still some air leakage, and I wasn't dressed for it. I decided to bite the bullet--we only go around once.

I put them on this afternoon, and wonder of wonders, they really work--no air comes through the wing vents at all. They seemed awfully pricey at $115 for the 4 of them, but it turns out that they're extremely well made out of aluminum. I can't tell if they're just painted or powder coated, but they look good. For winter flying, keeping any cold air from coming in sure helps out the heater! When I take them off, I might try bending them a little more--they don't quite match the curvature of the leading edge, although it's close.





Here's the source: https://www.saircorp.com/home.php?cat=256

Cary

I cover about 90% of my wing vent openings with some of that blue painters masking tape in the winter.
I leave a little bit uncovered so that if I want air, its available.
Also I understand that the thermometer in the LH vent is more accurate f there's some airflow over it.
I also cover up the openings in my nosebowl which were added to increase airflow over the oil cooler, as well as covering part of the oil cooler itself.
The blue tape works well, is cheap, & is easy to see so I remember to remove it when the weather warms up.
It also matches the blue trim on my airplane.

Looks good Cary. Because my pipeline loop was multiclimate, I just stuffed foam rubber in place of the can inside. That way I could pull it out when I got South. Tri-Pacer would have been warmer North but too warm South with little control.

How do they actually attach? Website doesn't say much.

Cary,

Cool find, thanks for posting.

Bill

asadarnell wrote:How do they actually attach? Website doesn't say much.

It looks like you just slip in a backing plate into the air vent opening and then the screw clamps the 2 pieces together.

robw56 wrote:

asadarnell wrote:How do they actually attach? Website doesn't say much.

It looks like you just slip in a backing plate into the air vent opening and then the screw clamps the 2 pieces together.

That's correct. I found it easier to take the front and back apart, and use the screw like a handle to hold the back plate to get it in the right place (not too critical, just need to make sure that it's solidly behind the leading edge skin). That takes a little finagling--the tube in my right wing had to be bent just a little on the lower edge to allow the plate to fit. I'm going to take my Dremel to it and carve away a little of the lower edge of the tube to make it fit better, but bending it up for the moment worked OK.

I hadn't thought of the issue of the OAT gauge misreading without airflow over it. I'll have to check that out next time I go up, although that makes sense that it would be off some. It did register about what I'd expect yesterday, but the only way to know would be to do 2 flights back to back, one with and one without the cover.

Meanwhile, I can count on it being a bit warmer in the cabin. In fact, yesterday with the OAT on the ground at about 50F and in the air around 40F (according to the blocked OAT gauge), I had to turn down the heat, because it was too warm with just my Lands End Squall jacket on (that's sort of a mid-weight jacket). Amazing what curtailing incoming air will do!

Oh, and I thought of painters tape, too, but the blue contrasts with the red of my airplane. It would be definitely a lot less expensive, though--for what I spent, we could probably painters tape the whole single engine Cessna fleet!

Cary

My father invented and patented the original product called Warm Fronts. I currently own all of the new old stock and can under cut their prices on as many as you might need.

These seal up 100% on my 170B. Expensive but my buddy bought them for his 180 and then kept them after he sold the plane and sold them to me for a big discount from new.

https://www.sportys.com/precise-flow-air-vent-kit.html

How do you spell duct tape? That’ll buy a LOT.

MTV

Forgot to mention that being able to actually aim the airflow for each vent in the cabin is worth its weight in gold too.

Aryana wrote:These seal up 100% on my 170B. Expensive but my buddy bought them for his 180 and then kept them after he sold the plane and sold them to me for a big discount from new.

https://www.sportys.com/precise-flow-air-vent-kit.html

How about occupant fresh air in the event of under panel smoke?

bush master wrote:How about occupant fresh air in the event of under panel smoke?

Good point.
In the event of CO in the cabin also.
That's why I like to cover most (but not all) of the vent.

Been using white duct tape, works really well.