Kats magnet heater best heat point

[mffarmall]

I have tried to place my kats magnet (hose one has broken 2 times)on oil, radiator, starter. Where is the best place to leave it and just let the engine heat up?

[greg_g]

Originally Posted by mffarmall

Where is the best place to leave it ...?

In the trash can. It's useless on the finned oil pan, too small for the hydraulic sump. It can be of some use on the starter housing, but you're still left with thick engine oil and hydraulic fluid.

My personal solution is an oil pan heater. That said, your fins make that problematic as well. In your case I think a lower radiator hose coolant heater might be the better solution. Then get rid of the thick hydraulic fluid, replace it with AW32. After that, a starter relay and a glow plug relay will put icing on the cake.

//greg//

[jjkane]

I have to agree with Greg as far as the lower radiator hose heater. I installed one on my tractor a couple of years ago and it was one of the best investments I made. It worked wonders getting the engine started especially in the cold weather.

jjkane

[mffarmall]

I have gone through two. But I was thinking over the summer that the problem was that I put the electrical part facing down. Maybe it needed to be facing up? They both worked great for about a week then shorted out. The instructions say to put it into the 5 to 7 oclock position. Any ideas?

[mffarmall]

Oil pan is not fined. Flat but I like the idea of a oil pan heater. I will try that. It couldn't hurt with the way I have gone through lower hose heaters. Most likely it's because of how I placed it. The water can run towards the cap. Probably needs to have the electrical cap pointed up so water is not sitting in it.

[greg_g]

Originally Posted by mffarmall

Oil pan is not fined. Flat but I like the idea of a oil pan heater. I will try that.

I had a pan heater on my Yanmar and loved it. My two Jinmas had finned pans, nowhere to stick a pan heater. Before I learned about the starter and glow plug relays, the best solution I came up with was a Kats (magnetic) on the starter housing.

But both my current tractors have flat pans, and I've gone back to pan heaters. Wolverine brand worked good on the Yanmar, so that's what I put on the KAMA and the TaiShan too. You can read about them here: Wolverine Engine Oil Heaters

//greg//

[Diamondpilot]

Greg is right about the mag heater, they are worthless. I have one I will give anyone who shows up at my house with a cold 6 pack. I put in a lower rad heater 4 years ago and its worked great with no issues. I would buy another and seal it up with silicone before installing if you are having issues.

Chris

[RonMar]

I am going to add a 120V 1KW tank type heater to mine this year. I got one free from where I work off a 30HP Onan diesel genset. This heater had a bad(shorted) snap switch in it and was permanently stuck in the on position. I permanently bypassed the snap switch, but since I only want it to preheat, that will work just fine for me I think. The 284 plumbing on mine will make this a snap. I will go from the drain on the rear of the engine block, to the heater tank and then up to the thermostat housing. Mine has a 5/8" bypass hose about 3" long that goes from the base of the thermostat housing to the water pump inlet. The lower hose fitting on the water pump inlet is a ball valve assembly(opened/closed using a flat blade screwdriver, and should always be closed). I believe this little plumbing loop was possibly for a cab heater loop I will put a "T" into this short line and connect a hose down to the top of the heater tank. Open the block drain, plug in the heater and thermosiphon flow should do the rest