Good afternoon all. Does anyone know if Reiff preheat has been bought out by Tanis? I've been trying to get ahold of them, but the phone number connects me to Tanis, and they aren't answering emails. Be a real shame if we can't buy the cylinder heat bands anymore...

Boy, I hope that isn't the case. Competition is very good for any company. Tanis finally redesigned their cylinder heat probes because so many were going to Reiff because Tanis' cylinder probes went in the holes generally used for CHT probes, so if you had an engine analyzer......your cylinder heat device had to be a ring under the spark plugs.

Keep us posted, please!

MTV

mtv wrote:Boy, I hope that isn't the case. Competition is very good for any company. Tanis finally redesigned their cylinder heat probes because so many were going to Reiff because Tanis' cylinder probes went in the holes generally used for CHT probes, so if you had an engine analyzer......your cylinder heat device had to be a ring under the spark plugs.

Keep us posted, please!

MTV

Ya, and I've had numerous failures of the intake bolt heaters. So I'd really like to stay with the Reiff bands. I'll keep you guys in the loop if I find out more.

A1Skinner wrote:

mtv wrote:Boy, I hope that isn't the case. Competition is very good for any company. Tanis finally redesigned their cylinder heat probes because so many were going to Reiff because Tanis' cylinder probes went in the holes generally used for CHT probes, so if you had an engine analyzer......your cylinder heat device had to be a ring under the spark plugs.

Keep us posted, please!

MTV

Ya, and I've had numerous failures of the intake bolt heaters. So I'd really like to stay with the Reiff bands. I'll keep you guys in the loop if I find out more.

We ran Reiff pre heaters on a number of FWS aircraft in the far north. I always liked the cylinder bands, and I installed a Reiff on my 170's O-360. I did have one cylinder band short out, but that heater had been in use a lot by then.

MTV

I actually called on this the other day. Hartzell now owns both Tanis and Reiff.

They will be offering the Reiff style heater again soon but as of this week, only Tanis was available so I ordered a Tanis because I really need some kind of heater on my new plane.

mtv wrote: so if you had an engine analyzer......your cylinder heat device had to be a ring under the spark plugs.

MTV

Not true! The Electronics International P-102 Piggy Back probe has been available for decades. I use a full Tanis with EI UBG-16 and the EI Piggy Back probes that mate with the Tanis cylinder well element. This same system is on its third engine (2 x TBO and then some) in our 180, replaced a few elements over the years. Have a Reiff on our Cub, not impressed.

TR

The current Tanis cylinder element replaces a rocker cover screw.

I have the Reiff heat bands on my O520 Continental and sure like them. Sounds like Hartzell is going to own pretty much everything-----exhaust and engine mounts.........

Not only that, Hartzell itself was recently bought by some New York private equity firm from the Hartzell family, and that is rarely good…

Yup, got an email from hartzell that they bought out Reiff and are getting them certifued, so until then they arent selling any. I expect prices to increase significantly, as most everything else Hartzell has bought out has led to a sharp increase in prices. They are also starting to buy out propeller shops, which should make things interesting...

A1Skinner wrote:Yup, got an email from hartzell that they bought out Reiff and are getting them certifued, so until then they arent selling any. I expect prices to increase significantly, as most everything else Hartzell has bought out has led to a sharp increase in prices. They are also starting to buy out propeller shops, which should make things interesting...

Yes, definitely not great news. Not impressed with the "new" Hartzell, and I was definitely not impressed with the "old" Hartzell.

Oh, well, they'll likely be sold to China before long anyway.....

MTV

TR wrote:

mtv wrote: so if you had an engine analyzer......your cylinder heat device had to be a ring under the spark plugs.

MTV

Not true! The Electronics International P-102 Piggy Back probe has been available for decades. I use a full Tanis with EI UBG-16 and the EI Piggy Back probes that mate with the Tanis cylinder well element. This same system is on its third engine (2 x TBO and then some) in our 180, replaced a few elements over the years. Have a Reiff on our Cub, not impressed.

TR

We had bad luck with EI stuff many years ago, so went with JPI engine analyzers. Those are why Tanis went to rocker cover screw heaters.

I ran Reiff heaters in Fairbanks and north on Husky and C170 with O-360. Worked great. Our cutoff was -40, and those planes were out in that a fair bit.

MTV

I agree with MTV. Not impressed with much of anything Hartzell except for the metal Voyager prop for the 185.

I have had Reiff heaters on many airplanes over the years and have been very happy with them.

mtv wrote:

TR wrote:

mtv wrote: so if you had an engine analyzer......your cylinder heat device had to be a ring under the spark plugs.

MTV

Not true! The Electronics International P-102 Piggy Back probe has been available for decades. I use a full Tanis with EI UBG-16 and the EI Piggy Back probes that mate with the Tanis cylinder well element. This same system is on its third engine (2 x TBO and then some) in our 180, replaced a few elements over the years. Have a Reiff on our Cub, not impressed.

TR

We had bad luck with EI stuff many years ago, so went with JPI engine analyzers. Those are why Tanis went to rocker cover screw heaters.

I ran Reiff heaters in Fairbanks and north on Husky and C170 with O-360. Worked great. Our cutoff was -40, and those planes were out in that a fair bit.

MTV

My main point is your statement of spark plug gasket style being the only option (when using legacy well probe elements) is patently false. As for your opinion on the others, I would be careful knocking other manufacturers equipment without the data to back up your claims. I operated an O-470 and O-360 for 15 years out of North Pole to the tune of over 4000 hours in predominately winter operations. My data is well documented by date/temp, oil analysis and engine condition at overhaul, my logs annotate the times for all component changes, therefore I can easily state my experience with times between failure for any installed component. I have tappets and pistons as removed for examples that I routinely use in teaching cold weather operations.

As for EI, I have had zero issues with their equipment and their support is second to none in my opinion. I have thousands of hours on their products in some very harsh operating conditions. I learned long ago as a young fighter pilot, he with the best data wins.

TR

TR wrote:

mtv wrote:

TR wrote:

mtv wrote: so if you had an engine analyzer......your cylinder heat device had to be a ring under the spark plugs.

MTV

Not true! The Electronics International P-102 Piggy Back probe has been available for decades. I use a full Tanis with EI UBG-16 and the EI Piggy Back probes that mate with the Tanis cylinder well element. This same system is on its third engine (2 x TBO and then some) in our 180, replaced a few elements over the years. Have a Reiff on our Cub, not impressed.

TR

We had bad luck with EI stuff many years ago, so went with JPI engine analyzers. Those are why Tanis went to rocker cover screw heaters.

I ran Reiff heaters in Fairbanks and north on Husky and C170 with O-360. Worked great. Our cutoff was -40, and those planes were out in that a fair bit.

MTV

My main point is your statement of spark plug gasket style being the only option (when using legacy well probe elements) is patently false. As for your opinion on the others, I would be careful knocking other manufacturers equipment without the data to back up your claims. I operated an O-470 and O-360 for 15 years out of North Pole to the tune of over 4000 hours in predominately winter operations. My data is well documented by date/temp, oil analysis and engine condition at overhaul, my logs annotate the times for all component changes, therefore I can easily state my experience with times between failure for any installed component. I have tappets and pistons as removed for examples that I routinely use in teaching cold weather operations.

As for EI, I have had zero issues with their equipment and their support is second to none in my opinion. I have thousands of hours on their products in some very harsh operating conditions. I learned long ago as a young fighter pilot, he with the best data wins.

TR

Good for you......sorry I offended you with the spark plug gasket statement....that's what I was told at the time by the owner of Tanis, and I never had any need to go there again.

There is a lot of data on the engines I operated....with Reiff pre heaters. Both Reiff and Tanis made good products, so I'm glad you were happy with yours.

MTV

Not offended MTV, what you say normally fails to meet my threshold of concern. However, as an educator in both operations and maintenance, I become concerned when false statements are misrepresented as facts. Over and out.

TR