Cabin Heat Question

[ruffdog]

sadly my Toolcat is not the Kubota engine and last time I spoke with the dealer nothing was available they suggest keeping it indoors

Have you ever pulled the heater out to see if it even works? I can feel the engine near the heater and it does warm a bit. Here is your thread from 2 years ago:

Toolcat block heater

 

[laurencen]

hi ruffdog, yes even pulled the heater it works as designed, unlike a wet blockheater that is surrounded by coolant the dry one sits in air and relies on convection to transfer the heat to the coolant, its just not efficent at cooler temeratures

 

[ruffdog]

hi ruffdog, yes even pulled the heater it works as designed, unlike a wet blockheater that is surrounded by coolant the dry one sits in air and relies on convection to transfer the heat to the coolant, its just not efficent at cooler temeratures

I do understand the issue, I have always thought that this heater did not work as efficiently as the freeze plug heater in my tractor. You also get much colder than I do too.

Years ago we would install circulating tank type heaters on medium duty trucks. You can get them 1000-2000 watts and will circulate the warm coolant through the block. Here is a video of a guy putting one on a big deere.

 

[D'oh]

The Loggers around here use to use Quick Couplers, to circulate coolant from the vehicle they drove to work.

Worked good except Old Coolant from 1 would get transferred to the other 1. 5-10 minutes of idling time and the Skidders would be warmed up in -35F

 

[ruffdog]

I just went out to see where I would mount a tank type heater. Everything is so crammed tight that it is hard to see, let alone be able to work on it. (ten pounds of beans in a one pound can) Just trying to find a coolant port on the block is hard and I didn't see one yet. I checked the manual for the port to drain the block of coolant. You remove the hose going to the oil cooler right below the engine oil filter.

 

[laurencen]

couple years ago picked up a Wabasto coolant heater to install, looked all around and just no room to mount it, ruffdog, if you figure where to mount one I would be interested in a few pictures how you squeezed it in

years ago on my series A removed the seat and cover figured I could mount one in line with the heater hoses, good luck be hard to put a beer can in there yet alone a 2 liter bottle size heater

 

[RotorWrench]

Since I won't have mine delivered until next week, I don't have one to look at but I was wondering if the chamber the new style heater mounts in is completely sealed, and if so, why couldn't you fill it with coolant and install a long reach freeze plug style heater. It would definitely transfer heat better.

 

[ruffdog]

The cavity is a precision blind hole bored into the side of the block. The heater slides in with very little clearance so it must be clean. Bobcat says to install dry and not to use grease etc in the pocket. I have seen silicone high temp heat transfer compound and I wondered if it would help/hurt the install. I installed mine dry. Here is a video that shows the install.

 

[RotorWrench]

Yes, I've watched the video before and that's why I question if it's a self-contained or blind bored hole just the size of the heating element or does it open up past the bore? I can't tell from the video.

 

[ruffdog]

Yes, I've watched the video before and that's why I question if it's a self-contained or blind void chamber, why couldn't one fill it with coolant and install a long element freeze plug style heater. It would probably be more efficient for transferring heat, as well as fluid being a better heat sink than air.

Your heater size would still be small and after the heater to fluid to surrounding metal heat transfer is complete, you are still just heating the same area. An element that is sticking inside a water jacket can heat all the coolant in the block which amounts to a larger area. Either way, most small block heaters are 400 watts and can only do so much. You would think by now all manufactures would have better dedicated ports that would support sufficient heaters for very cold climates.

 

[RotorWrench]

it does work, checked with ammeter anf feel, the heat element id hot but around it is not, likely only 25% of the heat gets to motor

picked up a wabasto heater but there is no room to install it on the Toolcat

Doing some research I found many of the cartridge style block heaters don't even come on until 0 degF, especially those used in autos, according to their specification descriptions.

It would be great if we could find a compatible size in the diesel truck models because I found many of them are offered from 750 to 1500 watt ratings. Looking

 

[RotorWrench]

OK, finally got the 5610 delivered Friday evening. Related to this thread, I had purchased an OEM block heater because the seller said there wasn't one installed, that being weird with a piece of equipment coming out of North Dakota.

Got everything unloaded and drove it up to the house. Too late to do anything else so I was going to install the block heater as I was worried I wouldn't be able to start it in the morning, supposed to have a low of 12deg F that night.

Got the block heater and opened the engine door and son-of-a-gun if there wasn't a heater already installed! Glad of that but also ticked off that I had bought the other one. I'll return it. Anyway, plugged it in and crossed my fingers. Next morning it was 11deg F. Felt around the heater and the metal was warm. Cycled the glowplugs twice and started the engine. She was slow to fire off but she did start. That was good news but any colder and I might have problems.

I decided to try an experiment. I have a small 250 watt magnetic heater I use on the Holder tractor in the winter. I grabbed it and was easily able to slide it from below and attach it to the side of the oil pan. Plugged both up that night. Yesterday morning it was 9deg F. Went through the same start procedure and this time she popped right off. No struggling and didn't have to hold the start button any longer than when warm. The magnetic heater definitely made a difference. I think that's going to work for me. The true test will be when it gets down to -20F or so.

Right now happy with the TC. I think it will serve my needs. Installing a Quick Attach Summit 3600 snowblower tonight.