912S - Carb Heat or Not??

[Slyfox]

Al, I am not surprised at all that you may have had carb icing with your airbox setup that brings in cold outside air; with that kind of installation you certainly need a carb heat option. But that doesn't mean that the common setup that most of us have (warm undercowl air with no airbox) is at all likely to experience carb icing in your same climate location. Certainly do what makes you feel comfortable, but you may be going overboard with belts and suspenders.

to add to the description of my setup like mentioned by others. I have an oil cooler right up front under the gear box, a good size one at that. plus I have the oil cooler thermostat. which insures the oil is 180+ so I'm sure my carb are in the warmest air in the back with ru2700 filters which is the smallest you can get for the bing carb. moving to the water system, I incorporate a heater off my radiator (redneck type with funnel off the back and scat tube into the cockpit) I also cover up most the radiator to insure 180+ on the water. so my engine doesn't run cool. might also add to warmer area for the carbs.

[Hockeystud87]

I want to add that when I was using the carb heated air from the carb box I was not impressed with the rise in temperature I saw. I have a carb temp prob that sticks into the inlet air stream of the carb. The rise I saw was only maybe 15F. I can't confirm if this is 100% accurate and not being effected by the carb housing but at lest would have expected a larger rise over all. This was even after having the carb heat on for a few minutes. Not impressive =/.