Motors Nitro Heli Smoke

[Barge]

I have been flying nitro and gas planes for quite a while and I have always wondered why nitro heli's blow so much soot out the exhaust pipe. I have made the assumption that it is to do with the cooling, running rich, is this correct?

 

[murankar]

Mostly how much oil is in the mixture. The more oil the cooler it can run which means more smoke, dirt and grime on the frames.

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[Stambo]

That's why I prefer my clean green electric craft. Dirty oily fuel means dirty messy aircraft.
And before anyone mentions dirty power plants, in New Zealand, the bulk of our power comes from hydro electric plants.
These are supplemented by geothermal and wind although we do have the the occasional dirty coal fired monster.

 

[Tony]

Because the engine on these is completely enclosed in teh frame and under the canopy, it requires not only the fan that blows directly on the head, but also additional oil to help keep the helicopter engine cool. The nitro content should be about 23%. So it's going to blow out a LOT of smoke. One of the reasons I hate nitro. I just can't stand the smell and the headache it gives me.

 

[Barge]

I got tired of nitro planes, messy and expensive fuel compared to battery or gas engines. I changed to two stroke gas some time ago and I really enjoyed that change. The Hex was my first encounter with batteries and I am very impressed with there performance which will continue to improve as technology escalates in the storage of energy, we are starting to see that now. Gas engines compared to nitro are bulky in pound for pound performance, and unless someone develops a miniature turbo or supercharger there effectiveness in helis is very limited.

And I think that most people would agree that a nitro heli blowing more smoke that a steam train looks rather ordinary. IMO

 

[Walt]

How mutch smoke is too mutch? When I fly my heli in my back yard it not only fills the hole yard with smoke it fills the neighbors yard as well. And the back yards are vary big here in the country. Is it too rich if the fuel drips out the exhaust when spooling up?

 

[Tony]

That is about the right amount lol. If you are flying in calm winds, and it's hard to see the heli at the end of the flight, then you are just right.

Get a temp gun and shoot for a 180ºF head temp. I will bet you are around 160