Heat Houser

[rope1]

Anybody put a heat houser on a newer compact lately? Do you actually get enough heat generated to be bennificial or is it a waste of money. I've been looking at stuff on this site from femco FEMCO, Inc.
Called and they were getting $425 plus s&h, thought it might be worth it to stay warm if I could get enough heat moved back from the motor.

 

[jimmy1]

Rope1, Have not used one of these sinse the 60's. We used to put one one a Ford 5000 while running the harvester at corn cutting time and it worked well, or a least it seemed to then. I remember being toasty warm in there and sometimes rolling back the sides by the engine to reduce the heat that was being captured.

Jim

 

[TCowner]

Rope1, I had one on a John Deere 4600 compact utility about 6 years ago. When I traded the tractor later for a TC40D NewHolland I kept the windbreaker (heat houser) and put on the New Holland. I had a NewHOlland emblem put over the leeping deer logo so it didn't look out of place.

The windbreaker does a decent job of blocking the wind but of course does not work as well as a cab. I even added a few extra work lights to the top of it to help with my night time snow plowing. I later purchased a Curtis cab for the New Holland which was a lot more money but provides a much nicer environment.

The downside to the curtis cab is that it takes 2-3 hours to install (including the hot water heater) and probably half that time to remove. The windbreaker is probably less than an hour. Bottom line, if you don't want to spend the money for the cab then the Femco unit is probably worth it. Just realize its limitations.

 

[rope1]

I like the idea of keeping the wind off, but I'm really wondering if you could actually feel any heat coming back off of the tractor. Last night we didn't have hardly any wind, but my feet were still getting awful cold, even though it was -8 I really hate to freeze completeley solid after and hour or two.