Fan / Thermostat

[MossRoad]

I see no reason to not have it on all the time. It comes on to prevent overheating of the hydraulics. Its not like its a refrigerant and its gonna cool down to the point that the machine starts responding sluggishly. If its gonna come on automatically 20 minutes after you start running anyway, by turning the fan on from the start, you may prolong reaching that temp by 5-10 minutes at most.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Moderate, and very moderate, disagreement with you Moss on the oil. I feel that in the winter, and your winters not my winters, it would be beneficial to get the oil warm as quickly as possible, then work to cool it. cold to really cold oil is a burden on a hydraulic system. whatever you can do to reduce that burden can only extend the life of the machine.

But in the grand scheme of things, and why I go for only a very moderate disagree, i doubt it makes that much of a difference in terms of longevity to the system. dirt and other stuff that is just going to happen probably kill it quicker.

 

[Barryh]

Moderate, and very moderate, disagreement with you Moss on the oil. I feel that in the winter, and your winters not my winters, it would be beneficial to get the oil warm as quickly as possible, then work to cool it. cold to really cold oil is a burden on a hydraulic system. whatever you can do to reduce that burden can only extend the life of the machine.

But in the grand scheme of things, and why I go for only a very moderate disagree, i doubt it makes that much of a difference in terms of longevity to the system. dirt and other stuff that is just going to happen probably kill it quicker.

I think that you are correct having the fan run all of the time and especially in cold winter startup would be a big mistake.

But I would disagree that leaving it running all of the time after the initial warm up would not help extend the life of the hydraulic system. As in preventing damage to the seals and or accelerate degradation of the oil..

For my purposes I do like the idea of installing a separate switch to turn the fan on after the machine has warmed up significantly. Then I have the option of leaving it running the rest of the time. Not so much in the winter but more for summer.

Especial when working in excessive heat during the summer. That will give me peace of mind that it is not overheating in 90% plus weather.

 

[MossRoad]

Most times in really cold weather like anything under 10F, I don't bother plugging in the fan. Above 10F, I plug it in if I'm going to be out more than 10-20 minutes. That is rare with the PT, as it is so fast at removing snow. Our drive is about 110' single lane and about 30' two lane. I make a pass to the back yard and back, so another 150' out and back. Then I do my elderly neighbor's drive, about 200' single lane and 30' two lane. So, about 300' @ 3 passes is 900'. Knock back the entrances and I'm done in about 10-15 minutes. It takes longer to warm up the tractor than it does to plow 900'. :laughing:

 

[3238dpw]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ing-fan-intermittent.html?highlight=fan+match

I have been meaning to post this for a while but kept forgetting. I remember a discussion somewhere that these little temps switches were not rated for the amps that the PT was putting through them. At the bottom of the thread American Bulldog mentions this and shows his solution