"Long Engine Life Starts With Reiff"
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Reiff vs. The Other Brand
One of the most frequently asked questions we get is "What's the difference between your system and (the other brand)?".
Our band-type cylinder heater does not conflict with your CHT sensors. The other brand's older systems put the cylinder heaters in the CHT ports that are intended for CHT sensors. If you have one of those systems and you want to install an electronic engine monitor you will need to remove those heating elements and replace them with their hollow bolt heaters that replace intake monifold bolts or rocker cover screws. This conversion will cost hundreds of dollars. Why not spend that money instead on a new Reiff system with a new 5 year warranty?
A big advantage of our system is that it is non-invasive. All our parts are installed "on" the engine. Nothing is installed inside the engine, and you do not need to remove any OEM parts or replace any OEM parts with our parts. For example, the other brand replaces the OEM intake manifold bolts with their own heated bolts. These are bolts that have a hole drilled into the shank, with heating elements installed into the drilled out shank. If that hollow bolt ever breaks, the intake manifold flange will be loose and extra air will be sucked in, which will cause the cylinder to run too lean. This may result in a partial power loss (rough engine) and possibly burn up the cylinder or valves. As a general design philosophy we feel it is safer not to replace parts that were installed by the engine manufacturer, especially structural parts like bolts.
Our oil sump heater element is an aluminum strip heater. The other brand uses silicone pads. The aluminum unit is much more durable, and tolerates poor installations a lot better. For example, it won't burn out if you get an air bubble underneath it while bonding it to the oil sump, as silicone pads do. The aluminum heater can also be removed and re-installed at engine overhaul time, or if you trade aircraft. Silicone pads usually are ruined if you try to remove them.
Lower watt density = longer life expectancy. The life expectancy of electric heating elements is correlated to watt density (watts per square inch of surface area). The higher the watt density, the hotter the element runs and the shorter the life. Our cylinder heater is a band that distributes the heat all around the cylinder. The other brand uses a heated bolt screwed into either the CHT port, or replacing an intake manifold bolt. Both ours and theirs are 50 watts, i.e. equivalent heat output, but theirs is about 10 times greater watt density than our band heater.
Cool harness = longer life expectancy. Long term exposure to high heat will degrade a wire harness no matter how well you build it, and the best protection against that is to keep it cool. Our main harness is installed on the COOL (upper) side of the engine. The other brand puts theirs on the HOT (lower) side. In flight, incoming cooling air flows over our harness, which is mounted on top of the crankcase. The other brand's harness is below the cylinders. The cooling air down there is hot, having just passed through the cylinder cooling fins. Also the exhaust pipes exit from the bottom of the cylinders and add to the heat down below.
Reiff |
Other Brand |
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| PREHEAT SYSTEMS: | ||
Lycoming & Continental 4 cylinder engines |
$575 300 watts |
$1162 240 watts |
Lycoming & Continental 6 cylinder engines |
$775 400 watts |
$1320 460 watts |
| High wattage systems | Add $200 to above Doubles the wattage |
Not offered* |
| REPLACEMENT PARTS: | ||
Cylinder element (50 watts) |
$110 |
$235.95 |
Oil sump element |
$130 includes epoxy Durable aluminum HotStrip |
$235.95 + $25.75 for adhesive = $261.70 total Less durable silicone pads |
* Source of competitor data is Aircraft Spruce web site as of 1/20/2024. Note other brand does not offer higher wattage systems comparable to our XP Systems.
A big advantage of our system is that it is non-invasive. All our parts are installed "on" the engine. Nothing is installed inside the engine, and you do not need to remove any Lycoming or Continental OEM parts or replace any OEM parts with our parts. For example, our primary competitor's system replaces the OEM intake manifold bolts with their own heated bolts. These are simply hollowed out bolts with heating elements epoxied into the hollowed out shank. As a general design philosophy we feel it is safer not to replace parts that were installed by the engine manufacturer, especially critical structural parts like bolts.
The best preheat system deserves the best warranty.
Our 5 year, No-Fault, No BS warranty beats the other guys' 3 year "loaded with fine print" warranty.
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Our Warranty
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Test Method
The tests were conducted on our Cherokee 235 with a Lycoming 0-540 engine, which is equipped with both our competitor's system and ours. In each test the aircraft was in our unheated hanger, the air inlets were plugged with foam rubber cowl plugs, the cowling was covered with a blanket which laid over the top and hung about halfway down the sides , and the sump had 9 qts of oil. The temperatures were obtained by a calibrated digital thermometer with a remote probe inserted between the top two fins on the center left cylinder, and a second probe dropped down the oil filler tube with the tip suspended at the 4.5 qt level. The other brand's system includes a 50 w probe on 5 of 6 cylinder heads (a CHT is on the other) and two 50 w elements on the oil sump. For the test of the competitor's system we measured one of the heated cylinders - not the unheated one. Ambient temperature was about 20o F.
Test Results
oF Rise Above Ambient Temperature after 12 hours |
||
Cylinders |
Oil |
|
Reiff XP System |
119 |
128 |
|
Reiff Standard System |
81 |
88 |
Competitor's system |
81 |
57 |
Reiff HotBand cylinder heaters alone |
60 |
46 |
Reiff HotStrip oil heater alone |
37 |
80 |
A comment about the other brand's test results:
Our competitor has a graph which shows their system outperforming ours, however, their testing method gives a skewed result. They measured the temperature with a spark plug thermocouple only about one inch from their heating element in the CHT port, several inches away from our heating element. When we did our comparison tests we wanted them to be fair, credible, and able to withstand independent scrutiny, so we measured at the top end of the cylinder, about midway between our heating element and theirs.
Also note that their test was done without a cover, despite the fact their instructions are to "Always use an insulated cover". A cover holds the heat inside the cowling and helps make the temperatures in the engine compartment uniform regardless of the placement of the heat sources. Leaving the cover off makes the heating less uniform and the heat is more concentrated near the heat sources, so measuring the temp near their element and far from ours further skews the test result in their favor.
Finally, note that the only temperature they compare in their test is the cylinder head. They do not measure the oil.
Heating performance is a function of wattage. Period. Our watts are not better than anyone else's, nor are theirs better than ours.
We recognize that any product test performed by the product's producer (including ours) will be viewed with skepticism by the marketplace. From the perspective of the consumer, the most meaningful test is one performed by an unbiased third party such as Aviation Consumer. That's why we are providing the results of their tests here.
Who is the "pioneer" who invented engine preheating?
If you believe what some say, it was they who did so in the 1970's... "We were the first to develop aircraft engine preheat systems".
Nonsense. Engine heaters for aircraft as well as auto, truck, train, and other engines have been around long before the 1970's.
For example, the US, British, German, and Japanese air forces of World War II preheated their aircraft engines to improve cold starting and combat readiness of their aircraft.
Who is "the leading manufacturer of aircraft engine preheaters for general aviation aircraft"?
The other brand makes this claim prominently on their web site. But both they and we are privately owned companies and don't publish our sales data. Since our competitor does not know what our sales are, how do they know theirs is higher than ours, and therefore how can they claim to be "the leading manufacturer"? Likewise, we do not know their sales, so we cannot and do not claim to be "the leader".
The only objective comparison we can make is web site traffic
We have 63% more daily visitors... 88 daily visitors vs 54.
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Last updated 1/20/2024