Cold weather, diesel, and silly mistake with my tractor

JDemaris · Nov 19, 2014

I just posted this on another thread. Thought it might be of interest here of what "not to" do.

Had to truck my IH B275 tractor this morning. I plugged in the on-board battery maintainer a few days ago (I thought). Nope - I had the 1500 watt block heater plugged in by mistake. It was running for a week. This is the 2nd time I made this goof. Moral is - don't try to plug in when it's dark unless you've got a flashlight.

I'll say this. 12 degrees F here in Alpena, Michigan and the old diesel started right up!

J.Wondergem · Nov 19, 2014

On my semi truck, I would come home and plug it in for the weekend. If I was home longer, I'd plug it in a couple of days before I had to leave.

Texasmark1 · Nov 19, 2014

Well JD, guess you were just having a "senior moment". I find the number of mine are increasing daily.

Mark

Dieseltech · Nov 19, 2014

You are not alone, seems I do more silly stuff each day. Have an Allis Chalmers 7000 on the snowblower that does not start well cold. Last year had the block heater plugged in overnite so I could clear parents lane the next day. It still would not start, but it was only 5 above. Checked the heater, yup it's on, so drug out the space heater to warm the engine side. That got it going!!

MJ in the UK · Nov 19, 2014

Great pictures of a UK built B275, I still do a lot of work on these little Bradford built tractors. Nearly finished restoring a 1962 B414 and I have a B250 no 549 the 49th one made and I hve just bought number 598 in original condition. MJ

rusty6 · Nov 19, 2014

After a week of heating with the 1500 watt heater I guess it would start right up on the first crank. Usually only needs an hour for mine to start here in Sask.
I made a similar mistake years ago with a battery charger .. Plugged it in to slow charge (I thought) a truck battery and left it unattended in the shed for a day (or two). Next time I opened the door to the shed all I could smell was acid. The charger had been set on "boost" and had pretty much boiled that battery dry. Lucky it was on the bench and not in the truck at the time.

Alan K · Nov 19, 2014

Ive had things like that happen. Might be a good idea to check your antifreeze. Running a heater for extended periods can sometimes evaporate coolant. That happened on my sisters car.

Dick2 · Nov 19, 2014

Harbor Freight sells flashlights - and if you have a coupon they will give you a flashlight!

Fred Werring · Nov 20, 2014

That's funny

I've got the same maintainer, same heater, and done the same thing....just not quite as long

Good to know I'm not the only one

Fred

Cold weather, diesel, and silly mistake with my tractor

JDemaris

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J.Wondergem

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Texasmark1

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Dieseltech

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MJ in the UK

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rusty6

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Alan K

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Dick2

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Fred Werring

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