engine heater part 2

I have decided to go with a lower radiator hose heater. My question is can I leave it plugged in for days at a time? I wont be driving the tractor everyday but when I do I want it warmed up. Will it hurt the heater to be plugged in for days on end?

Shouldn't hurt it, or the tractor, but nonetheless, check it daily, and also make sure your extension cord/circuit is properly sized. Also, check for cats, before starting any pre-heated engine!

All my engines that need heaters have at least 1500 watt heaters that will start the engines with a two hour heating time. leaving them plugged-in 24/7 will get you huge electric bill and wear on the heater. Armand

What are the odds you'll use it between say,10PM and 6AM for example. Just put it on a timer to come on an hour before you usually get up in the morning. I think you can get a timer that just plugs in to a wall socket can't you?

rrlund has a good suggestion.WE only plug in our equiptment an hour before we fire it up. Works for us. Hope this helps. LOU

thanks alot guys

P,S all the replys has great merrit.AlL GOOD ADVICE. LOU

"Check for cats" is great advice. Years ago we had a Maine Coon Cat, a large kitty with long fur. Although he was a house cat, he enjoyed being outdoors. One morning I drove our car into town and back. Later that morning I jumped back in the car and started it only to hear a loud thump from the engine and the alternator light came on. Stopped the engine, opened the hood and found cathair, no cat, from wheel well to wheel well and all across the engine. The fan belt was flopping loose. Found the cat a few minutes later apparently just fine but minus a wide band of fur from the top of his back to his belly. No blood. He must have been nestled on top of the engine and close to the fan belt that gave him a close shave. His fur grew back and he lived many more years.

Look at a heavy duty timer. Bought mine from Grainger's, or if you have an industrial electrical place should work. The cheap plastic timers don't last long. If you ever had chickens and the lights were on timers get that style heavy metal housing. They have amp ratings. chris

A properly heated tractor around here generally has at least 2 cats on top, around here, anyway!

Someone, on here ran the numbers on heating a 1500 watt heater, 24 hours straight. That was at least a year ago, as some form of this topic comes up with each winter. The figure I remember was about 25 cents per day, if I remember right. Not trying to start any kind of fight about it, and I agree a timer would probably pay for itself, possibly within a year.

Unless you have a thermostat control on it. The worst that could happen. Is that it could boil the water out of it. But you could put it on a timer.That way you could control the heating time.

1500 watt heater on steady would cost $.15 an hour, but the bigger heaters that I have seen have thermostats, so they would probably not be on very steady. Now if they are on a large engine out in the open in the wind at -30F it would cost you $3.60 a day, right?

How much do you pay per KW of electricity ? It's
easy to spend $90+ a month with a 24/7 coolant
heater.

Definitely a timer is the best way to go. You won't waste energy and you will still maximize the amount of heat for the engine.

The area I live in can get pretty cold during the winter. My tractor sitting outside, with block heaters and an oil pan heater, has never failed to start if heated long enough for the temperature of the day. I place a batt of fiberglass insulation on either side of the engine to trap the heat where it needs to be. In fact, I'll run the tractor all winter long with the insulation in place to keep the fuel filters, the fuel tank and engine warm.

I have two with lower hose heaters, but have only used them in below 0 weather.
Their only about 3-400 watts and do not have enough capacity to overheat the cooling system.
Takes about 6 hours to heat the engine from 0F

I have run them 24 hrs + without problems.

I agree with John. A low watt heater will not over heat the engine. But it will take it some time to herat the engine.


As Joe said Check for Cats,Rats,mice,coons,skunks and any other animal looking to stay warm.

I sent many of them to the other side. Before I learned to check for them. Had a big field rat in a 30 KW unit one time. Cranked it up heard a thump and the whole front end exploded

I'm wondering why you don't just install a tank heater? A 1000 watt heater will warm your engine in less then an hour. That eliminates remembering to plug it in the night before. It's also has a thermostat so you can't overheat.

Many heaters, especially hose-heaters end up heating the entire supply of coolant in the radiator and are thus, very slow and wasteful.

A tank heater installed correctly will just heat up the coolant in the cylinder head where it counts.

Same for a frost-plug heater - but they work a bit slower.

I just got looking at my heater spec book. For an AC WD it recommends a 1500 watt tank heater. Bigger then I thought. WD must hold a lot of coolant. Will heat from 0 F to 40 F in four hours.

Hose heater for the same is 600 watts and much slower.

I never had much luck in the life of a radiator hose heater. It seem to burn up quick had to put on three last winter for neighbor that left it plugged in all the time.

Justin, if you go with a lower hose heater, make sure it is located in a part of the hose that slants up to the engine at atleast 45 degrees.

If mounted in a section of hose that lays flat, circulation / engine heating will be poor, and heater life will be short.
If mounted in a section of hose that slants up to the radiator, the heat will go to the radiator instead of the engine.

It may be the heaters I have been able to get the last 10 or 15 years, but I have had 2 of them go bad after leaving them plugged in for extended time periods. One of the heaters had an electronic component go bad. I assume it was an overheat protection "safety" device, but it would not reset. I removed that component and spliced the wires together and that heater continued to work for several more years. When it quit working, I replaced it with an identical heater, but the element burned out within a couple of years. The 3rd identical heater is still on my tractor, and I have not left it plugged in more than a couple of hours at a time. So far, so good.

Of course the dumb things don't go bad when it is convenient to change them, but rather when it is really cold and messy. It always involves draining most of the coolant and replacing it.

Others may have different results, but I will never leave my heater plugged in more than a few hours...I want it to work the next time.

When I bought my 641D Ford about 25 years ago, it had a good lower radiator hose heater that worked great for years. Unfortunately I caught the cord somehow going through some brush and destroyed the plug that needed to be inserted in the heater. I could never find another cord with the proper plug, so I replaced the heater.

I think I will dig that heater out of my parts/junk box and try to find or build another cord for it. It seemed to be a better design, and much faster at heating up the tractor. Good luck!

770 diesel, have block heater, takes 1-2 hours to
heat up at 10 degrees .