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RV10 Heater Control Cables

R

[email protected]

Well Known Member
I put the stock heater control cables in my RV10 and for two fall seasons in a row I had trouble getting my heater control cables working again. I lubed the sheath on the outside with Triflow and got someone to pull on the knob while I pushed on the valve and I finally got them going again. I am thinking of putting in some different control cables. I see ACS has some teflon lined ones that are less likely to set up over the summer. Has anyone used these? Has anyone had similar problems and found a good solution? I believe the Van's supplied ones don't have any lining at all. Just metal on metal with the core riding on the spiral metal sheath.
 
My airplane is new with 70 hours on it. Same problem. I fiddled with the heater doors the last time I had the cowl off but didn't invest a lot of time in it OR come to any sort of resolution.
 
My 10 had stiff cable after about 6;months of flying. I rerouted the offending cable to a larger bend radius, Coated the internal wire with grease. No problems during the past year, if I have future problems, I will replace with lined/better quality cable
 
Mine bind on the ground but not in flight leading me to the conclusion that the issue isn’t the cables but the doors or the boxes. However I haven’t spent anytime investigating because it’s almost impossible to work in that area and I don’t have a need to open them on the ground.
 
McFarlane cables

I stopped using the ACS cables that come in the kits (delete from order) and use the creep resistant controls from McFarlane. Not much more money and they have a selection of styles and colors of knobs that are already engraved, or custom engrave as you see fit.

I've not had a sticking problem with these controls for the several installations I've used them for. But they also include some nice instructions to clean and lube if needed.
 
Same issue. If I pull hard enough they spontaneously fully release, allowing my hand to get sliced open by the underside of the aerosport panel. I’m pretty good at ripping that old wound open again.

Has anybody found a live that works? Agreed getting to them from under the cowl is a nightmare.
 
[email protected] said:
I put the stock heater control cables in my RV10 and for two fall seasons in a row I had trouble getting my heater control cables working again. I lubed the sheath on the outside with Triflow and got someone to pull on the knob while I pushed on the valve and I finally got them going again. I am thinking of putting in some different control cables. I see ACS has some teflon lined ones that are less likely to set up over the summer. Has anyone used these? Has anyone had similar problems and found a good solution? I believe the Van's supplied ones don't have any lining at all. Just metal on metal with the core riding on the spiral metal sheath.
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Robert did you end up replacing or did the Tri-Flow fix the problem?
 
Wow - timely thread for me.

On my last flight I pulled a little cabin heat for the chilly wife and she soon asked me to turn it off again. "Uh-oh, no-can-do, my love. It seems to be stuck on..."

We opened the fresh air vents to counteract the heat, and I resolved to fix this latest issue before further flight. Cabin heat is a genie one must be able to put back in the bottle at will. Also, the CO detector needs to be put back in the panel just in case :eek:

I have a basic Bowden push pull cable for heat and for oil cooler air after having multiple failures of the TCW servo controls I originally installed - and more in their replacements. Ended up giving them away...

The oil cooler cable works fine. The heater cable evidently doesn't. I will be digging into the inner workings of the thing next weekend when it warms up a bit in the hangar, and it's good to know that there are known problems in the fleet and good replacement options if my first attempts fail.

I just hope this doesn't turn into one of those situations where the failure only manifests in flight but not on the ground. I'm not eager to pull the cowl more than once to remedy this.
 
Bill Boyd said:
On my last flight I pulled a little cabin heat for the chilly wife and she soon asked me to turn it off again. "Uh-oh, no-can-do, my love. It seems to be stuck on..."

We opened the fresh air vents to counteract the heat, and I resolved to fix this latest issue before further flight. Cabin heat is a genie one must be able to put back in the bottle at will. Also, the CO detector needs to be put back in the panel just in case :eek:

I have a basic Bowden push pull cable for heat and for oil cooler air after having multiple failures of the TCW servo controls I originally installed - and more in their replacements. Ended up giving them away...

The oil cooler cable works fine. The heater cable evidently doesn't. I will be digging into the inner workings of the thing next weekend when it warms up a bit in the hangar, and it's good to know that there are known problems in the fleet and good replacement options if my first attempts fail.

I just hope this doesn't turn into one of those situations where the failure only manifests in flight but not on the ground. I'm not eager to pull the cowl more than once to remedy this.
Click to expand...

Bill,
Please let us know what your findings are and what you come up with as a fix.

Thanks,
Zach
 
auburnaviator said:
Bill,
Please let us know what your findings are and what you come up with as a fix.
Click to expand...

Same issue as the OP with cables, PLUS stiffness in the heater door itself (SS heater boxes). I try to keep cable housing lubed, but also lube top and bottom of heater door with white lithium grease where they "drag" on the heater box itself. This seems to help the most with the stickiness.

If building, maybe install a higher quality cable with teflon lining (not metal to metal). If mine weren't such a PITA to replace, I'd do that to mine.
 
+1 for me, same problem. Went up yesterday for first cool weather flight in RV10, one heater cable worked the other would not budge. After about 5 minutes of flying, both cables worked. These are stock Van's cables and I pulled them out last year due to sticking and cleaned and lubed. They are PIA to get to.
 
Since these tend to stiffen up with inactivity during the summer/warmer months of flying could you just add a step to your preflight checklist to “cycle” the cable throughout its full range of motion one time? Wouldn’t this prevent the binding from inactivity? Or would the added cycles cause the cable to wear quicker thus resulting in needing to remove/replace the cable which is what you are all trying to avoid in the first place?
 
Never heard of wearing one of these cables out in this type of application - seems like it would take thousands of flight hours to do so - that's not a concern of mine at all. Waiting on a break in the WX to go down the (unheated) hangar and pull the cowl.

I'm a softie in my old age and don't like cold fingers.
 
I have had the same problem 3 falls in a row. I think I am going to order the Teflon ACS cables and get them installed. It will be a real pain with the engine on.
 
update on cabin heat stuck "on"

The heat cable was stiff but movable when I tried it on the ground today. With the upper cowl off, all looked mechanically okay. I was able to dribble some Mouse Milk penetrating oil onto the outer wound wire jacket that I am sure will find its way to the inside of the cable. It moves freely now with no hint of binding. In-flight check is next. I won't know the long term effects for awhile, but will check back here as the winter flying season unfolds.

The surprise was that now the oil cooler butterfly cable was too stiff to pull out without taking some pliers and putting a slight bend in the far end of the jacket to make it align better with the path of the wire when fully extended. I lubed this one as well, and now it is free enough that I worry the oil cooler airflow will suck the butterfly to some position that the cable won't be able to overcome (it's a non-detent, non-locking Bowden just like the heater cable). Not a big deal, since the butterfly position does not make much difference in stabilized cruise oil temperature anyway...
 
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