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Touring Motor Gliders Association (TMGA)

Hot air leaking into cabin


Eric Greenwell

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Recently, I realized the hot air I feel in the cabin during a fast climb (5000 rpm, 70 knots) comes from the hot air inlet under the panel. Looking at the muffler/heater shroud, I see there is a vane controlled by the hot air knob, but it doesn't close completely. It's hard to see, but it appears it's built that way, with seam or something keeping it from closing all the way.

Does anyone know how to make the vane close completely? The heat isn't an issue right now, but it is in the summer, especially when ground temperatures can reach 100 F.

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I had my mechanic look at the heater flap while he was doing the annual today. He confirmed my suspicion: it's built so it can't close completely, so it has to be modified to stop the hot air leaking into the cabin. I really noticed the extra on the flights over and back to the Seattle area, so I'm hoping someone has a suggestion about modifying the flap.

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Martin Stepanak, the designer of the Phoenix, replied with this comment: "We can´t seal the flap – is too near muffler so rubber seal would not survive it. There must be a small „play“ due to material stretching = small leak will be there alyways."

I will adopt the solution our dealer, Jim Lee, uses: "I use rubber stoppers from ACE Hardware stuffed into the 2 vents in the cabin.  I can remove them with my toe in flight if I need the heat in a pinch."

I'll try my toes, and if that seems unreliable, I might run a string from the corks to a place on the panel where I can pull on it to remove the corks  :D

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