REFLECTOR: Cabin Heating

[Dave Black]

Chuck,

> Bottom line; I'm going to try a second oil cooler, in series with the front
> cooler, that's dedicated solely to cabin heat.

If you put the second cooler INSIDE the cabin, and use a small fan to
recirculate the air, you'll have all the heat you could ever want. As you have
demonstrated, the Nose Cooler can heat the air only a certain number of
degrees above OAT, since it's always working with fresh, cold air. The
interior recirculating cooler, however, can theoretically bring cabin
temperatures to temperatures approaching that of the oil.

I'm not certain I'd run the coolers in series. In winter, the oil is apt to be
very cool before returning to the engine. And in summer, you'll still have
some leakage of heat into the cabin even without the blower running. I prefer
plumbing the coolers in parallel. This way you can independently choose how
much oil flows through each cooler. 

Dave Black
Shortwing RG