The last few weeks have been particularly cold and as such I have had a bit of trouble turning over the engine to fire up. Trawling round pprune I found the following:
With regard to that cold battery and engine, think about this. Fuel doesn't vaporise well in cold carbys, and a cold battery has less cranking power. The combination often means lots of frustrating cranking, and often flooding the carby, and flattening the battery.
Again - hot water to the rescue. Pour warm/hot water over the carby of your engine. It results fuel vaporising for a near instant start, and only requires a bit of uncowling in most a/c.
I've successfully used this on Cessna 152,170,180,182, and a Supercub. The 170 is a dream job - just slosh the water thru the aircooling 'hole' in the front of the enginecowl, which leads under the crankcase, and aft to the carby. It's been foolproof for over 10 years with my old bird.
Supposing external power is not available has anyone else tried this and if not what techniques do you use?