Carb Ice today

[Hireandhire]

Whiling away the weekends: until the 'strip dries out by transplanting a Ford Escort carb engine into a CFi Fiesta for my student son......and ..........
Carb Ice!
had the scrap-dump motor hot-wired and without airfilter so I could run it up and ice was forming freely on the Ford VV carb needle assembly this afternoon.
A terrible but visible reminder that in a month or two I must use that carb-heat often and plenty on our little 0-200 RR Continental. Nothing like seeing the frost form to imprint on the memory!
regards
HnH

[FlyingForFun]

HnH - thanks for sharing.

We hear lots of stories about carb ice, many of us have experienced it from time to time, but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone that's actually seen it before.

I don't suppose you took any pictures that you could share with us???

FFF
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[airborne_artist]

My Dad used to get real problems on an old Austin A40 in winter, particularly climbing over Portsdown Hill - just after I'd done my flying scholarship. I suggested carb icing, so he made a mod to draw air from a warm spot, and it worked a treat.

[Johnm]

We have a 1968 Morris Traveller. It's used regularly and doesn't get carb ice because the air intake for air filter housing is half an inch from the exhaust in winter. It's recommended to turn it through 90 degrees for summer:)

[rotorfossil]

I must say I've always found it a bit strange that all carb equipped helicopters have a carb temp guage, but they seem pretty rare in fixed wing. Helicopters use a degree of carb heat nearly all the time to avoid carb icing and particularly when ground idling before takeoff. It was interesting in the Bell 47's which had the sensor at the intake that you had to use carb heat to keep the indication at +32 Deg C to keep out of the icing band. A reminder that there can be a 25 Deg C drop in temp between the intake and the back of the butterfly. I know there are other differences like all carb air is filtered in most helicopters unlike FW where cold air is usually not, and most heli engines are de-rated at ground level and therefore the butterfly is nearly always partially closed, but the idea of only checking for carb ice every 5 minutes has always made me feel a bit uncomfortable when in a fixed wing.

[funfly]

Heard a lovely story about an old timer who came across a fully leathered up young motorcyclist on a cold deserted road vainly trying to start new motorbike.
The old guy knew a trick or two and demonstrated how the carb can be de-iced with a suitably directed wee (well we all used to do it!).
Young motorcyclist very thankfull and a few days later old timer gets a thank you letter from mototcyclist's dad expressing also his thanks to the person who got his daughter out of trouble one cold night.
True story....

[bcfc]

I don't suppose you took any pictures that you could share with us???


FWIW, here's a picture of an iced up carb...

http://www.ultralightnews.com/alerts1/images/carbice.bmp

[RatherBeFlying]

Yesterday was descending in a C-172 to circuit height in -20C Clear 15 mile vis and got a rough engine when restoring power. Did not think there was enough H2O in the conditions to ice up, but the carb heat made the problem go away:ok:

[FlyingForFun]

Bcfc, thanks - I'll print that off and put it up in our flying school, I think!

FFF
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[jimbo jet set]

I used to suffer terribly with carb icing on my GSXR600 motorcycle. It was worst when the conditions were damp and at or just below freezing- the bike used to just stall when you tried to add power, until Suzuki decided to fit automatic carb heaters in later models and I never suffered it again. Makes you wonder why Cessna/Piper etc don't fit them to aircraft..........

Jimbo:*

[robin]

Saw a nice mod on a Jodel with 0-200s which kept the carb heated without affecting the air intake. On mine, we don't have that. It makes me wonder why they changed the position of the carb to make things more ice-prone

[Hireandhire]

(Apologies for going missing - just got back from a trip.)

Nice pic bcfc, definitly one to keep.

FFF - I wish I had thought of that fast enough.
I should get another chance this coming weekend though, and will post if successful for comparison purposes. Mine was more spiky - looking frost build up.


regards
HnH