Diesel heater on Toolcat

[laurencen]

looking for someone who has mounted a Webasto evo coolant heater on a Toolcat, with temperatures of -25C the block heater barely does anything, this heater heats the coolant this would be a game changer as the Toolcat could be in a remote area and still start and run

 

[laurencen]

this is the unit I am looking at

 

[ruffdog]

Hmmm....a diesel fired coolant heater. Interesting.

 

[DEWFPO]

Interesting..... FYI, the OE block heater on my '09 Model D is a 400 watt freeze plug unit. Seems to me you if you have access, you could add more freeze plug units.

 

[ruffdog]

The newer Toolcats with the Doosan engine use a dry-pocket type heater.

 

[ruffdog]

I couldn't find much info on it but it runs on 12v but the fuel source for heating is diesel fuel. I would worry that the battery gets run down too far to start because of the heater. I would rather get a 120v tank unit in the heater hose and make sure i'm close to an outlet.

 

[DEWFPO]

The newer Toolcats with the Doosan engine use a dry-pocket type heater.

I got one of those on my 4.0L Toyota on the back of one cylinder head and it's a meager 400 watts as well. It hardly does anything when it's really frigid outside.

I had two - 800 watt block heaters in the middle of the heads of a 85 Ford V-8. 2 hours of those being on and you could see it on the temp gauge needle when you turned the key on. Instant heat and instant start no matter how cold it was.

 

[CalG]

this is the unit I am looking atView attachment 727807

Those units were "available" in some markets on Audi Skoda vehicles.

Webasto also makes a fuel oil fired air heater that is used to heat the cabs on over the road trucks and small watercraft. The "overland" 4 wheeling pickup truck crowd has latched onto those for winter camping in tents and the like.

12 hour burn time on a gallon of fuel, and the vehicle battery is not seriously drawn down* (temperature dependent I would suppose)

The European units make use of SS internals, the chyna knock offs are alu. Service life to follow construction. You get what you pay for.

 

[ruffdog]

I know 90 minutes at 0 F didn't seem to heat it like it should.

A 400w heater ain't much fighting the cold AND wind.

 

[ruffdog]

Here is the OP's thread about last winters issues on starting when cold.

Toolcat block heater

I think if I was up there and had to deal with those frigid temps, I would have put the Bobcat synthetic 5w-40 in it.

 

[iah]

Laurencen, I have never installed a Webasto but have installed a couple Espars on Dodge Cummins trucks. I believe Webasto and Espar are very similar. If I were considering of putting one on my 5610 I would look at installing it on the passenger side floor board and plumb the heating lines in via the cab heater glycol heater hoses. That location is also close to the fuel source.
In the pickup market it is common to plumb the hoses so that both the engine and cab heater are heated by the Espar.

If that location is objectionable then the only other spot I can think of would be in one of the rear cover storage pockets, but then you have the hassle of making the heater hoses and fuel line long enough to accommodate opening and closing the rear cover.

 

[CalG]

don't neglect the exhaust vent if putting the unit in a cab.

 

[laurencen]

ruffdog I have the thin oil, it has the dry bulb block heater good for -15C max and that is pushing it, 3 or 4 cycles of glow plugs and lots of cranking, the issue is we like winter vacations in Mexico unfortunately we return to a windy -30C down to -40C and the block heartier does nothing, hardly cranks.

the issue is with a driveway just over half mile from highway to house we can also have couple foot of snow and taller drifts, twice its caught us I have a heater workshop its parked in another 200 yards away no power at end of driveway

with one of these heaters the Toolcat can be at the end of driveway, it would heat coolant up in short order, you get instant heat out the heater once started and easy cranking at least thats the idea

Covid stopped us last couple years but have a trip booked end of January assuming our intrepid PM does not shut borders again, this unit I ordered can be programmed to come on at a preset time and day but even if I had to fire it up and wait half hour on the side of driveway with the wife its better than walking to the shop to clear a path

get the unit on the weekend and figure where to mount it out the way, was hoping someone had installed one at some point.

 

[laurencen]

also this just heats the coolant, there are units that heat just the cab, had one on a boat and worked great the heat output was ducted inside, unit and exhaust outside, they are used lots on school busses, another does both coolant and cab heat, these units have lower heating for coolant and I need to cut a hole in the cab, not wanting to do this option