PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Carb ice checks - How often?
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Old 8th Nov 2001, 14:23
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Lowtimer
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: UK Work: London. Home: East Anglia
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BCFC -

Car engines certainly _can_ get carb icing but it's rare. Almost every petrol car since the widespread adoption of catalytic converters in about 1989 is fuel injected and uses a water-heated inlet manifold, which effectively eliminates the problem. Back in the '70s and earlier, in the days of the rear-drive Escort and Chevette, you often had a dual position intake nossle leading to the air cleaner, which breathed either cold ram air or (by manual adjustment) from a warm position behind the radiator.
I used to get carb icing years ago on my 1983 1300 cc carb-fed Fiat Uno. At that time there was a thermostatic flap operated by a bi-metallic strip which was supposed to blend in air between the hot and cold sources. The strip packed up and the carb would ice up a treat - classic aviation symptoms. I had to tell the Fiat dealer what to fix (it was under warranty) 'cos they didn't have a clue what carb icing was.
Good thread - by habit I'm a five-minute man myself, but with my skills test coming up soon I shall now be applying carb heat for longer periods (30 sec rather than 15 sec) during those checks. And I'd love to fly behind a nice modern turbo diesel running on jet fuel.
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