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Block heaters, water heaters and electric dipsticks.

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Kevin Lee, Dec 8, 2009.

  1. Kevin Lee
    Joined: Nov 12, 2001
    Posts: 7,676

    Kevin Lee
    Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Just want to say after this thread had been up a bit a HAMBer sent me a PM and offered an inline pump/coolant heater. (the kind you splice into a heater hose) Only condition was that I had to donate to our local animal shelter – which I have. I just thought that was a pretty damn cool thing to do.

    He didn't specifically ask to stay anonymous so I'm thanking Andamo right here.

    It has been in the teens and single digits here off and on. I spliced the heater into the proper hose and decided not to worry about getting it to circulate to the other bank with Y fittings or drilling and tapping the driver's side water pump. And it works great. I can feel heat getting to the other side through the radiator tanks. I have it set on a timer about an hour and a half before I leave for work. Jump in and the flathead fires up with instant heat.
     
  2. HasonJinkle
    Joined: Mar 29, 2007
    Posts: 154

    HasonJinkle
    Member

    Figured I'd resurrect this thread on account of all the global warming that's happening down on the East Coast lately...
    A heater isn't just for your comfort- cold starts will severely reduce the life of your engine. I've seen fresh rebuilds spin bearings the first winter they're on the road on account of cold starts. Also, heating the oil will keep moisture out of it. Cold start + cold short drive = chocolate milkshake oil full of water. Heat that oil before cranking, and let it get up to temperature before putting a load on it!
    On my diesel work trucks I have the following-
    • Dual batteries
    • Battery blankets
    • 2 ea freeze plug heaters
    • fuel tank heater
    These are all hardwired into a single plug. Of course, once it gets below -30 ambient we just leave 'em running 24/7. The V10 gas rigs have a smaller setup with just one freeze plug heater, no tank heater, and a Battery Tender wired in along with the battery blanket. Yeah you're not 250 miles North of the Arctic Circle but if you're cranking your engine and the temperature is less than 20 degrees, you're tearing **** up inside.

    There is some really good advice in this thread- freeze plug is best, then inline coolant. Lower radiator hose inline chingasos don't work as good as direct oil heating, but they work if you can't access a freeze plug or don't have one. They also introduce another potential leak and they corrode quick. Dipstick oil burners are ***. One thing that wasn't brought up was that the universal pad heaters that 29Nash brought up work GREAT on an oil pan. It usually looks like hammered horse**** but if all you need is a few weeks or a couple months worth, then wiring a 100W pan heater on the bottom of your pan will do teh trick. I've also siliconed them onto the underside of the case on aircraft engines, though it's a pain in the cooter if there's oil there, of course.

    And a timer or thermostatic control is definitely worth buying- most freeze plugs are 400W and running that all night will add up.
     
  3. Good to see the outcome kevin!
     

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