Hey everyone. When we bought the 205 a year ago, it came with, I believe, is a Tanis sump heater and battery heater (orange pads on both). Yesterday, for the first time, I plugged it in several hours prior to a flight. The thought being to see if it would shorten the time at the end of the runway waiting for my oil temp to come up. Well, it doesn't appear to be working because everything was just as it normally is.

So, if it isn't working, how and where do you start to troubleshoot?

Thanks,
Cory

Hi Cory, hey i think i have one of the glue on ones from the old 182P i had...if i can locate it, its yours fer free if u need it...

JO

p.s. used to work really well, it was a new one when i put a "new" motor in that bird...

Thanks Jo. I'll keep that in mind. In the next week or tow I'll do some poking around and see what's up with it.

The sump heater pad will burn up very quickly if there were any air bubbles left trapped under it when installed. This can be a major pain to do correctly with the engine in the airplane, oil film on the pan, etc. I have also seen first hand the pads that are not made for aircraft such as those purchased at National Aircraft Parts Association or NAPA for short actually catch fire.

The little elements that Tanis uses to go into the cylinders are pretty durable, doubt all 6 would go at once. This is stating the obvious but did you make sure your cord was plugged in securely and powered (no tripped breaker)? Also check the connections of the heater systems harness. They are good connectors but I suppose something could have gotten unplugged during maintenance.

Good luck. Electrical stuff like that can be frustrating!

Grassstrippilot wrote:Hey everyone. When we bought the 205 a year ago, it came with, I believe, is a Tanis sump heater and battery heater (orange pads on both). Yesterday, for the first time, I plugged it in several hours prior to a flight. The thought being to see if it would shorten the time at the end of the runway waiting for my oil temp to come up. Well, it doesn't appear to be working because everything was just as it normally is.

So, if it isn't working, how and where do you start to troubleshoot?

Thanks,
Cory

Are you sure it's a Tanis system? It sounds more like an EZ Heat system. GENERALLY, Tanis systems also have cylinder head probes that go in the CHT probe holes on each cylinder. Also, on big Continentals, the Tanis systems I've seen have silicone heat pads mounted to the top of the engine case.

As noted, the silicone pads will burn out if you don't get all the air bubbles out from under the pad. This is the reason that Reiff switched to a metal heat pad for the sump a while back. My Reiff sump pad failed after 18 years last year. It would trip the breaker after ten minutes or so when the system was plugged in. Replaced the old silicone pad with a new metal one. A simple plug in deal, by the way.

MTV

The Tanis system wiring is pretty simple, you should be able to diagnose it with just a voltmeter by checking all of the connectors at each heating element. Here's the basic wiring diagram that came with mine, though if you don't have cylinder heating probes maybe it isn't a Tanis but they all work about the same. If you are getting voltage at the heater probe plug then I'd check the resistance of the heater to make sure it isn't shorted out or completely open, should get a value that aligns with Ohms law for whatever the expected current draw of the heater is (i.e. a 100w heater @ 120v should have a resitance of 144 ohms).


20140119104600_001 by scottf, on Flickr



20140119104600_002 by scottf, on Flickr

I need to dig through the paperwork/logs and verify what exactly is on it. I thought at one point I saw some Tanis paperwork, but I know all I have is the two pads. I'll be digging into some other things later this week when I get back from AZ and will have the cowl off.

Thanks for the initial info! It's a low priority item, but I'd like to see if it is working and, if it's not, see what it will take to get it working.