Let there be light (and heat)

A southern boy tries to survive his first full winter in Colorado 

Although we've had this house in Colorado for about five years, we've mostly spent summers here with a bit of fall and spring thrown in.  This first full winter as a hangar owner quickly showed me that working on a metal airplane in really cold weather is difficult.  I used my "salamander" heater more than I should have (it says right there on the heater "Do not use in enclosed spaces") figuring that the hangar was leaky enough that I was safe breathing the products of combustion if they were somewhat diluted.  I finally bit

the bullet and had sprayed-in foam applied to the ceiling and door, and since I was already hemorrhaging money I bought and installed a Mr. Heater 80,000 BTU/hr gas heater.  To be truthful, my hangar neighbors (thanks Chad and Tom) did essentially all the work running the gas line, installing the meter and heater, running the wiring and since the were already up there, installing three more super-bright LED ceiling lights for a total of four (brand name is UFO Deformable, 7200 lumens, 6000K color temperature, $24 each on Amazon).  I believe they were concerned that a person my age shouldn't be 18 feet in the air doing that stuff -- looks like my feeble old man act worked.  I did run the conduit and wire around the walls to install 20 new electrical outlets, allowing me to make the fire inspector happier by getting rid of all the extension cords.

The picture shows the heater mounted at the ceiling, and you can also see the blown-in foam (R-28) which looks like Mammatus Clouds (my favorite kind).  The insulation on the bi-fold door looks the same but in a vertical plane.  All that's lacking is the centrally located ceiling fan, which I bought and assembled today.  This should cure the current situation where all the hot air stays at the ceiling while the air below stays about 55 F.  Even with the stratification, it's a huge improvement.  Next comes the fiberglass part of the canopy.  All the endless trimming and trial fitting of the canopy is finished (blog post to follow).

Since we're talking about the future, the engine kit has arrived!  Here's what $30,000 will get you these days:

Engine, prop, ducts, hoses, wires, everything forward of the firewall, causing my wallet to be much lighter.  The good news is that this is the next-to-last kit.  I'll order the avionics kit as soon as I settle on which bank to rob.  Using dollars per cubic meter as a metric, that box will win by a long shot.