Ventubes Replacement Air Vent

The front air vents in my Cessna 182 have been quite annoying, and I think they are for many people. I had heard of these Ventube replacement air vents, and thought it was worth a try since they are pretty inexpensive. So far, they have far surpassed my expectations. So I thought I would write a quick review of my experience.

The Ventubes Replacement Front Air Vent are available at this Vantage Plane & Plastics ventube page and also from Aircraft Spruce ventube page for under $100 for a pair. And they work for most models of Cessna single engine aircraft: Cessna 120, 140, 150, 152, 170, 172, 175, 180, 182, 185, 190, 195, 205, 206, 207, 210 thru F, and 305's.

One thing I wondered was what they would look like in my plane. I did not see any pictures of it. So here are a couple pictures.

Here is one with it closed and locked. It looks pretty similar to the original except it has the bumps around the side to help twist the outside.

Here is a picture with it out and extended. It once again looks pretty similar to the stock one.

The big difference in the way this works is in the sleeve that the new vent fits into. The stock vent does not have this sleeve and leaks cold air between the wind screen and the white molding. The molding stops the air flow a bit, but not that well. We had started stuffing paper towels and such to try to improve the leaking air flow with the old vents. The new vent and its sleeve stops the air flow completely. Very nice!

I read the instructions which looked pretty easy, and my A&P put them in. He said it was easy. I had him transfer the temperature probe over from the old vent as well which was simple for him. There is a 337 Form to file for the STC, but that is not too hard for an A&P.

So the plastic ventubes do not look fancy, but they work great and look pretty similar to the original vents. If you have the original stock vents, I highly recommend you get a pair.

/Brian