We are running a 95 volvo l180 in a plowing operation here in Ct. We had a problem last storm with the fuel gelling. I buy my fuel from a reputable oil company, and then personally treat it when the oil truck arrives. Last storm the loader fired right up, warmed up for about 30 minutes, then when trying to go to the job would blow white smoke, skip and be low on power. I dumped the fuel filters, re filled with diesel 911, added two bottles of 911 to the tanks then rebled the system and started and let idle for 20 minutes. The same problem occured until i took a torch to the fuel filters, and fuel lines to warm the fuel. Has anyone ever added a fuel filter heater to these loaders? I was thinking of making a coil of stainless steel tubing around both filters and run it off a heater hose. What are your thoughts??
Warm the fuel in the first filter from the tank and it will warm up the second one enough as it goes through. Or warm the tank, The in tank heater is the most common one I've seen. No reason to make it stainless, the rest of the cooling system is steel or cast iron, not that it matters here but stainless has a small fraction of the conductance of steel.
I suppose copper tubing would bend easier than stainless as well and conducts heat well. Does volvo make an in tank heater or would it be after market?
Volvo? I would be shocked if Volvo didn't offer an in tank heater, but that doesn't mean you can get one retrofitted to your tank, or that you would want to once you saw what it cost. Heck, even several extra feet of heater hose wrapped around the filter or tank and covered would do the trick (and no extra connections to leak) It's not like you're plowing snow when it's 20 below.
We put 120v 250 watt glue-on heaters (an orange silicon matt or pad with heating wires in it) on the hydraulic tanks and 150 watt heaters on the sump of the fuel tanks. (And block heaters, of course). Seems to work. When I've had problems like what you described, it's been frozen water in the fuel filter/water separator. The 911 doesn't really melt ice, not very much. FWIW, I try to keep at least two spare filter/separators for each machine, and put a new one on with fresh fuel in it if there is any starting or running problem, at all.