Block heater...worth installing ??

[pmhowe]

I have an L4240, with a block heater. The block heater makes a big difference in starting when the temperature is below 30F. At -10 to -20, I leave it on for an hour or longer. I highly recommend it.

Make sure that your dealer installs the block heater on the right hand side of the engine. Kubota recommends this for the four cylinder engines. The heater is installed on the left hand side for the three cylinder engines.

 

[3v0]

What two guys garage say about lower radiator hose heaters.

Then next easiest and pretty cheap to buy, would be the Lower Radiator Hose Heater. Basically you drain the radiator and cut a section of the lower radiator hose out and install the heater. The trick to getting one of these to work is, because heat rises you want the heater vertical with the water pump. You want the heat to go up into the engine and not to the radiator, so having it mounted just beneath and going into the water pump is best. These are good heaters if install correctly and they will heat the same areas as a Frost Plug Heater would. Some people are afraid that the engine thermostat will close if they use one of these heaters. Well actually thermostats are closed until it reaches a certain engine running temperature then it opens. Most lower radiator hose heaters have a thermostat. And if the water does actually get hot enough, the engine thermostat will open and let some water out into the radiator. But this is rare. And usually lower hose heaters won't get hot enough for that to even happen. Plugs into a 110 volt outlet.

We always used tank heater that connected into the heater hoses on cars. I had a pickup that came with a lower radiator hose heater and it worked fine. The heat moves into the engine without water circulating through the thermostat. You are going to need more watts if you want to heat the radiator.

FWIW Living in northern Oklahoma it seldom gets to where I would plug a car or tractor in. I do not have anything left that has one.

 

[PRF]

Short answer is yes it is a good idea and it will help. Do Not use Kubota's freeze plug heater. They are an incredibly stupid, poor design in that the heating element does not even protrude into the block. In fact it is encased in a steel cylinder. It reaches super hot temperatures and burns out rapidly and barley adds any heat to the block. I installed a circulating heater on mine. The unfortunate part of the lower rad hose heater is that there is virtually no circulation with it either. The thermostat stops the water from circulating.

Does your circulating heater T into the lower radiator hose? Do you have a link for the one you bought?

I have an L4240, with a block heater. The block heater makes a big difference in starting when the temperature is below 30F. At -10 to -20, I leave it on for an hour or longer. I highly recommend it.

Make sure that your dealer installs the block heater on the right hand side of the engine. Kubota recommends this for the four cylinder engines. The heater is installed on the left hand side for the three cylinder engines.

Looks like its going to be a pain to install, so it's back to the drawing board

 

[kuboman]

Does your circulating heater T into the lower radiator hose? Do you have a link for the one you bought?



Looks like its going to be a pain to install, so it's back to the drawing board

The Kubota dealers seem to like to install the freeze plug style on the left side of the block at the front which of course is the wrong place because of the pound in sleeve they send. To install on the right side requires the removal of the hydraulic pump. I do think you might do it with out removal of the pump. I installed my circulating heater using the lines used for the egr cooler. I took off all my egr stuff and used the water connections that it used. Works 100%, may not be an option for everyone but I took great pleasure in removing that junk.:drink:

 

[2458n]

My Kubota is pretty old but when starting in the barn I glow plug it, Crank until it starts ,and then go back to the glow plug position to clean up the smoke.