I plan to plow my driveway with the new hoe, and noticed it came with an engine block heater. How many hours before plowing should I plug it in, and should I put a wool blanket or metalized film blanket over the engine while the heater is running to keep the heat in? Obviously, I'll need to remove it before I start. Other advice for cold weather starting if the hoe has to live outside? I do know to add anti-gel, and biocide to the fuel. Thanks
Load up a Operators manual for whatever make you have as will state that in it. My farm Tractor needs four hours to heat a cold engine.
And I would add: Hook a timer in the power line to the outlet that block heater is plugged into. Then set it so it turns on four hours before you expect to need the tractor. If you want to get all kinds of fancy include a temperature controlled switch down stream from the timer and have it only turn on the power if the outside temp is below what you consider a safe starting temperature for your tractor.
It should start fine in most weather it snows in. If you wait till the next day when it's drifted and cooled off below zero, then you might need to plug it in. I'd plug it in an hour or two before starting it at freezing, just to make it easier on the engine and get it up to temp that much sooner. A battery blanket heater would make a big difference when it's really cold, but I don't think it's going to extend the life of anything. Only hear about using a wind shield when heating air like a torpedo heater or heat lamp. The engine doesn't lose all that much heat it seems.
Like mentioned once it gets near freezing 4 hrs. is plenty , my hoe starts right away down to 10 below but I'd just as soon have it plugged in for wear and tear on the engine and the heater is putting out in 5 min.
There are 5 tractor trailers, 7 tandem trucks, a rubber tire backhoe, 14 loaders and 3 trail groomers plugged in at our shop, all winter, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and it's not as much as you would think. Your utility company could tell you what it would cost. Something like 7cents per hour, lets say 10, so $2.40 a day. That's cheaper than smokes. An extra large coffee here is $2.50
The engine is very happy plugged in, but the transmission and hydraulics need a good warm up too. Just don't go to town with it till the rest of the machine catches up a bit.
I run an in block element style heater,usually plug 'er in for an hour or so in freezing temps, 2 hours or more in single digits...If we've got a major "snow event" coming I'll plug 'er in over night..The most important thing to remember is the gfi receptacle in case of a malfunction, don't want to cook that fancy new machine...
You need a new heater brother, or a tuneup
Not really Old Allis tractor in barn and achieves below freezing inside, block heaters on these were low wattage and barely able to get the block warm after cold soaking.
DMiller just brought up a good point in his last post...I have seen different wattage heaters available for the same tractor. With this in mind, the question gets more complicated, especially when you are figuring in the actual temperature. On the other hand, why not just plug it in about 4 hours prior to use. The heater has a thermostat on it so it will not overheat. Another point to make...do you use the tractor every day at a set time. For example, I do not use mine for a living and it could go days or weeks (especially in cold weather) before using it, so, to me, it is not necessary to keep it plugged in all the time. For a guy making a living with it and it get used 7:00AM every day, it makes total sense to use a timer and have it ready for the 7:00AM start.
It's not going to be used regularly. It's a farm tractor. Cleaning up muck, moving manure, plowing snow, digging gardens.
I have a timer and for the Cummins 4 hours is great.
Well if not needed on short order I might just quick run out and plug in then go back inside to have a couple cups of coffee and fry ups some bacon and eggs and have a leisurely breakfast, then after dishes are washed get dressed for work you are going to do and head out to the shed and it should be good to go. Might want to consider a battery tender to keep the battery charged up if it sets for days at a time in winter.
I think Deere told me to warm it up for 5 - 10 mins.
on any of my diesel powered equipment or trucks that require cold starts in winter, i also use an oil-pan heater COMBINED with a block heater especially if the engine has summer( 15w-40) oil in it. the oil pan heaters are available in magnetic, adhesive (silicone pad-type) or low-wattage immersion element that screws into a bung on the side of the oil pan at the bottom of the sump-ie. cat, cummins, detroit. i like using a good oil pan heater because, why change to light viscosity(winter) oil if you are only going to put 20 hours on it over the winter and then have to change back to summer oil in the spring. that being said, the oil pan heaters need to be plugged in for a minimum of 6 hours to be effective or overnight. that's another reason i use timers on my block heaters. at -20c, 6 hours seems to work- any colder and i leave it plugged in 12 hours or overnight. just my opinion
No one knows the true answer its something you work out in the fall when its getting cold but know snowing find out the happy starting temp with out assistance when it wont fire up easy then plug it in and see how long it takes thats the one and only way to be confident in its cold weather starting ability's Cutting edge is right its dirt cheap to run block heaters with the rates here an 800watt heater which would be large for a backhoe at .12 cents a kilowatt takes $1.15 in 12 hours GFCI outlets are not to be trusted on block heaters and extension cords if yours works great but if you need 15 pieces of equipment to leave in a snowstorm they get rewired to standard outlets For fuel its better to talk to your supplier to see when they switch to winter blend then it is to add things that may or may not be compatible In MN they start tapering out the biofuel garbage in the fall then strait #2 then #2 with additive then cutting with #1 depending on predicted weather
I had an old Bronco with a lower rad hose heater, and as soon as you started the engine, you had heat. Not super hot, but it was there.
It’s almost mid April and I’m still plugging stuff in.
I have never seen a tank heater other than 1500 watts here. It's pretty much the standard that all the parts stores carry. If the engine has good sized upper and lower ports to plug into they usually heat a decent sized 4 cylinder diesel block in two hours to 50 degrees F. Make sure it has a t-stat in the engine or all the heat goes to the top of the radiator and circulates down to the bottom as it cools. According to the coffee shop banter one fellow took three heaters back as junk before he figured it out.