Author Topic: A36 Rear Seats really cold (Read 1268 times)

James McCarthy · « **on:** November 13, 2008, 09:05:28 AM »

Even with the heater on full it gets really cold in the back of my A36 (E-902) in the winter. In the front, however it gets so hot you can't believe. Is there anything that can be done to fix/redistribute the air? Is there a way to get heat to the back without also getting it in the front?

Bob Ripley · « **Reply #1 on:** November 13, 2008, 11:42:28 AM »

Make sure that the rear seat heat control is functional, next would be to take a look under the floor from front to rear on the right side and see if any of the of the heater ducting is broken or coming apart. You should have heat just below the co-pilot seat at floor level on rear side of front spar and on the right side just forward of the rear door.

James McCarthy · « **Reply #2 on:** November 13, 2008, 12:22:59 PM »

Yes, I've done all that at the last annual. There is plenty of heat coming out of the vent in the back. But, the aftmost seats really get cold due to what feels like a cold draft. I saw something recently that suggested that the cabin air exit on the A-36 is not in a good location and doesn't promote enough flow to allow the hot air to disseminate thoughout the aft cockpit. Don't know if this is true or just a theory.

Bob Ripley · « **Reply #3 on:** December 01, 2008, 10:42:07 AM »

Take a flashlight and look up the tailpipe on the right side and see if the muffler still has the flamecone in it, if you can see all the way to the exhaust manifold the flame cone is missing and allowing the air to pass through so quickly that it does not heat the heater tabs on the muffler enough. The only fix if it is missing is to replace the muffler with a new or overhauled unit.

Don Lawton · « **Reply #4 on:** December 02, 2008, 07:28:46 AM »

Quote from: Bob Ripley

Take a flashlight and look up the tailpipe on the right side and see if the muffler still has the flamecone in it, if you can see all the way to the exhaust manifold the flame cone is missing and allowing the air to pass through so quickly that it does not heat the heater tabs on the muffler enough. The only fix if it is missing is to replace the muffler with a new or overhauled unit.

FWIW, Dawley just repaired mine. Both sides for $340.

http://www.dawley.net/

Joseph Fischetti · « **Reply #5 on:** September 06, 2009, 08:24:33 AM »

The AS36 has two rear heat supplies, One for when the rear seats are forward facing and one when they are club seating. Since I always keep my seats club seating i have closed off the outlet in the center between the seats. That is a great area of loss of heat.

Next I have insulated the heat exchanger covering the right muffler. That is the hottest part of the system and in the greatest need of eliminating the heat loss. I have used a foam insulating tape with a metal cover. I wrapped the duct coming out of the heater. Cover everything you can.

After that I insulated all of the ducts from the fire wall back to the rear. Some of the ducts are adjacent to the belly. At altitude the OAT could be -25 dedrees. You need to get those ducts insulated. I had some left over from the sound proofing interior. Just stuff insulation between the duct and the belly skin

After all that was done my wife was actually hot! she has asked me to "turn it down"

Good luck

Joe Fischetti, PE

I have owned mt A36 for 23 years

Good lick.

Jeff Guttenberger · « **Reply #6 on:** September 08, 2009, 01:26:22 PM »

Joe, What material did you use to insulate the heat exchanger and ducts?

Jeff Guttenberger

Joseph Fischetti · « **Reply #7 on:** November 07, 2009, 08:16:52 AM »

There is a foam with a metal foil covering that I wrapped the heat exchanger with. The insulation I used on the ducts was left over from the sound proofing I did inside the cabin. I had used SoundX for the sound proofing. I knew that material was FAA approved.