Is there any reason to not use a magnetic oil pan heater for a spring weather preheat? They have thermostats on them so they won't overheat. Seems like an economical way to get some heat to the engine. Plug it in the night before you want to fly and take it off prior to your start in the morning.

It would work as long as your pan isn't aluminum. Those interior car warmers work better for me than the oil pan heater anyway. Heats the cylinders as well.

I already use the ceramic heater as well to warm up everything else. I was just thinking this would get more heat to the oil as well.

I use the EZ pan heater. It is glued on the pan and the plug tie wrapped near the oil door. I have left it plugged in for days at a time. It warms the whole engine after a day on. (Confirmed with sample readings on an infrared meter)
The engine starts faster and is ready to fly quicker after runup. Just a thought.

Gotcha Pundy. Like flightlogic said the glue on types are probably better. What is the power consumption like on the glue on units?

I think the current draw is about 300 watts. Aircraft Spruce has them.
I had one go bad after about a year and a half.... the manufacturer just took my word for it and sent me a new one. I did a better job of gluing it on the second time. Comes with adhesive.

These guys sell quality products.. In fact they are FAA APPROVED..... Price is great, and I have been using them for years without any failures........... Pick your wattage for your application....

http://www.archeat.com/

There are past threads on this topic. Electric engine heaters fall into 2 primary categories, those which heat only the oil pan and those which heat the entire engine. Reiff and Tanis make the latter. EZ Heat and others make the oil pan heaters. Reiff also has an oil pan heater as part of its system, the rest of which is heated bands which clamp to the barrels of the cylinders; last year they also came out with an oil cooler heat element. Tanis replaces headbolts with heated versions. Tanis and Reiff have unkind comments about each other, but both systems work pretty well. All systems work better with insulated cowl covers, and even better with blade and spinner covers, too.

I have a Reiff system on my Lycoming 360, and it works superbly. My airplane is hangared, but unheated. The system works much, much better with the insulated covers on.

Cary

I have EZ heat sump heaters on two planes. Both work well, and with an old sleeping bag draped across the cowl, the whole engine is toasty by morning. Hangar is insulated but not heated. Temperatures inside rarely below +20 and more often just near freezing.

Doubtless the Tanis will work down to much colder temperatures than the EZ. But when I'm away from home, I carry a home brew heater similar to Northern Companion, so don't often plug in anyway, thus the Tanis would be overkill in my case.

It is super important to clean all paint off sump and get it squeaky clean before install.

bumper