Post by Liteway on Apr 6, 2016 7:59:14 GMT -5
I have pointed out elsewhere in the forum, that if you want to provide cockpit heating, you should use a front mounted radiator to make it simpler to accomplish.
Maybe not.
In trying to eliminate unwanted summer heat, I discovered I was getting a pretty good stream of heated air through slim gaps in the REAR bulkhead, even though it was not designed to provide it.
I think I could have devised just as effective a heating system buy installing controllable vents in the rear bulkhead with ducting to carry air forward to the footwell area.
Even with no radiator back there, just heat off the header pipes and engine.
If that sounds counter intuitive to you, it does to me also, because it means there is higher pressure air at the back of the cockpit than there is inside.
All this may be just be due to the unique airo characteristics of my particular build, but it does demonstrate that in some cases heat is available back there that can be tapped.
This does does bring up questions about how efficient a radiator mounted ahead of the engine can be if the direction of air flow may not be as expected or intended and the fan could be placed unintentionally opposing it. The direction of unassisted flow may even vary with speed.
No doubt rear mounted radiators can be made to work fine as builders on this site have proven, but some experimenting with ducting to get the most from a given size of radiator would be indicated.
Maybe not.
In trying to eliminate unwanted summer heat, I discovered I was getting a pretty good stream of heated air through slim gaps in the REAR bulkhead, even though it was not designed to provide it.
I think I could have devised just as effective a heating system buy installing controllable vents in the rear bulkhead with ducting to carry air forward to the footwell area.
Even with no radiator back there, just heat off the header pipes and engine.
If that sounds counter intuitive to you, it does to me also, because it means there is higher pressure air at the back of the cockpit than there is inside.
All this may be just be due to the unique airo characteristics of my particular build, but it does demonstrate that in some cases heat is available back there that can be tapped.
This does does bring up questions about how efficient a radiator mounted ahead of the engine can be if the direction of air flow may not be as expected or intended and the fan could be placed unintentionally opposing it. The direction of unassisted flow may even vary with speed.
No doubt rear mounted radiators can be made to work fine as builders on this site have proven, but some experimenting with ducting to get the most from a given size of radiator would be indicated.
