ORIGINAL: F-18
OK, So I just got back from the chilly frozen lake quite dissapointed.
It was too windy to fly, but I would still have liked to get the engine tuned for the lake. I managed to get it started a few times, but due to improper tuning, it died. Unfortunately, I could not get it started again to get the proper tune. I was thinking that the fuel might have gotten too cold, or the carb got blocked off.
how would cold effect the engine, and what are good ways to avoid it?
Way back in days of yore, and I lived in Chicagoland, I enjoyed ski-flying down to 20*F if the wind was not overly brisk like over 15mph. First I used a couple drops of propylene oxide for start assist, however a couple drops too much resulted in a flooded glow engine.
Some guys flew down to "0" and they found a new solution for cold wx starting. Simply obtain a small squirt bottle of a couple ounces or whatever you like. Mix 50% of your glow fuel with 50% Gasoline. Gasoline has a much lower flash point ( the lowest temperature at which vapors above a volatile combustible substance ignite in air when exposed to flame ) than methanol. The glow engine uses temperature by compression of fuel vapor as a medium for combustion timing. The cold glow engine simply doesn't get the average glow fuel warm enough via compression until it is flooded, or near same.
With the Gasoline-Glow mix, there is a small amount of lubricant from the glow fuel for the start and the gasoline provides the lower flash point. Once I went to such mixture, starting glow engines at 20* was no problem and it was not nearly as touchy as other fluids I had tried.