Hi Muff.
The detonation thing is a myth.
Probably put about by the ill informed thinking that hotter induction means hotter combustion.
Not so. According to Lycoming, hot air will push the mixture even richer than it normally is which will lower the combustion temperature, pushing the engine away from the detonation zone. Your Robbie runs a mile away from detonation anyway unless you run on mogas or mess with the mixture which I know you dont, dont worry about it. The only downside to too much carb heat is the lowering of maximum available power. According to Lycoming, 15% power loss using full carb heat is possible. This may be a problem in your R22 with a fat pax and lots of fuel.
Keep working that carb heat knob.
Incidently, I agree. The Carb heat assist is worse than useless.
Cheers,
Phil
Edit: Lycoming do warn about detonation when using carb heat on LEANED engines.
They also say that in the cruise using full carb heat and a suitably monitored engine, detonation was never detected in their flight tests.
Last edited by Gaseous; 17th Oct 2005 at 18:58.