Best place to put a stick on hydraulic fluid heater.

[DEWFPO]

I want to put a stick-on 150W silicone heating pad (KAT'S) to pre-heat the hydraulic fluid before use. Where is the best place to put one on the 5600T?

I needs to be a metal location.

Thanks, DEWFPO

 

[Navigator7]

There is only one best place.

Dead center on the bottom of any tank.

However, I faced with the same problem as you (Most likely) I urgently needed to heat hydie oil and water on my pride and joy.
I installed a 3000 watt stick-on heater on my hydie tank (About 100 gallons), a 3000 watt heater on my water tank (150 gallons) and a 3000 watt heater on my oil pan.

With the exception of the oil pan....the hydie tank and the water tank heaters were installed on the sides about 6" to 8" up from the bottom on the side.

Amazingly, it works but is predictably inefficient. The top 1/4 is warm.
If you insulate the top of the tanks ... about half the tank is warm. The bottom is cold but doesn't freeze. It absolutely makes a huge difference.

I put way too much heat on my pan heater and as the pan is ribbed, the stick on pad did not adhere very well. 12 gallon oil capacity .... I would have been very happy with only 500 watt.

Haven't been up close to a TC, I'm wondering if there is a weld on coupling on the tank that would allow for an in tank heater????

 

[PILOON]

Here is an idea that might work.

Heating elements for hot water tanks do exist in 110 volts and some models are made with pipe threads. (for the smaller 'under counter' tanks)
If I recall, they are generally 1000 watts which would heat quite rapidly.

edit: If you only want 500 watts you could use a 220 element wired by 110 as an element is really only a resistor.

Seems easy enough to me to simply weld a threaded boss in order to adapt one of those heaters elements.
OR;
Using a nipple and a 'T' at the return line location (or suction) you could screw the heat element into the 'T' so that the element would in fact then be in the tank.
I suggest return line or suction as this is a low pressure location.

Suction would be best as that would supply pump with the warmest oil first and consequently prime the pump which in turn would mix the oil rapidly.
Bet about a 5 min 'heat cycle' would do the trick!

Those 110 vac pipe thread elements measure about 6" in lenght, so they should work in many setups.

Good luck!

 

[speedy67]

I wouldn't be messing around with a 'jerry-rigged' set-up. A water heater element is just that. Use the proper item in the proper place. You bought a piece of expensive equipment that is a combination of extremely expensive parts (if purchased individually) - hydraulic pumps in particular - the lifeblood of this machine. do you really want to risk having a chunk of burnt-up oil (coke) break off the overheated element and make it's way into the pump? not to mention the degradation of the hydraulic oil caused by overheating?

The thin silicone heater pads if they can be installed in a suitable location are the best. The heat density isn't so high that iw will cause burning of the oil. the recommended sizing assumes that you want to heat it in about 2-3 hours. I find that you can get away with a much lower wattage (1/2 to 1/3 of recommended) unit and have the assurance that it will be warm enough to go to work at any time.

 

[timm9]

I might be wrong but isn't the hydraulic tank, and the fuel tank plastic?

 

[Navigator7]

I wouldn't be messing around with a 'jerry-rigged' set-up. A water heater element is just that. Use the proper item in the proper place. You bought a piece of expensive equipment that is a combination of extremely expensive parts (if purchased individually) - hydraulic pumps in particular - the lifeblood of this machine. do you really want to risk having a chunk of burnt-up oil (coke) break off the overheated element and make it's way into the pump? not to mention the degradation of the hydraulic oil caused by overheating?

Speedy!!!
Is that you? ;-)

Good point about the coke.

I wasn't considering a water heater element....but I'm not exactly sure what.
Remeber we where talking about tank heaters that use the rising heated liquid???

We are talking about much smaller stuff here. Mountain out of a mole hill?

Surely Bobcat knows these thing need to start in the cold and plan accordingly. Keeping the hydie oil dry is probably the biggest preventative and clean the connectors like a doctor each and every time.

I about gagged when I saw Robustus' efforts and keeping hose hoses clean.

 

[DEWFPO]

My thought was to use a 150W (or thereabouts) silicone stick on heating pad. And yes, the tank that I can see when the bed is lifted is plastic. It was -2F last night with snow and ice on the ground so I haven't crawled under the Toolcat lately to check out what is available for me to work with. I don't want to take any chances on putting a heating pad on plastic, even though I'm sure it's rugged.

The manual offers no help at all.

Currently I use an engine block heater but I still need to let the Toolcat idle for a while to warm up the hydraulic fluid before I can use it at full capacity. A waste of fuel and time.

DEWFPO

 

[Navigator7]

I think it even states the on the stick on heating pad directions not to place on plastic. They get hot.

150 watts is almost a 1/4 HP.

In six years I've been to three tractor fires (volunteer fire) started by heat lamps.
A Cat, Murphy's Law and dripping oil were the cause.

Does your hydraulic tank have a water drain?

 

[DEWFPO]

Does your hydraulic tank have a water drain?

I don't think so, I've been thru the manual twice and saw no mention of it in the maintenance sections.

DEWFPO

 

[speedy67]

It is I, Nav. Glad to meet you again!!

IMHO, the worst thing about winter and hydraulic oil is the initial start up. You can get filter heaters that operate in the same manner, as well as some very low wattage heaters too - down to 50 watts. Padheaters.com OR: http://www.wolverineheater.com/

Might be almost as well off to ensure that the oil can flow through the filter and pump upon start-up. So if it's possible, concentrate on heating these.

ANOTHER THOUGHT!! I just had a look at my link and noticed the battery heater - it's 60 watts and has an area of 46.75 sq in. for a heat density of 1.28 Watt/sq in

The 1000 Watt pad has a HD of 13.9, as does the 250, the 50 watt is 11.4W/in2. (I know I just ranted about using the proper product in the proper place) Maybe a battery pad (or 2) on the plastic tank would serve to 'take the chill off'. (Battery's a e plastic) In conjunction with wrapping some of that silver bubble foil insulation around the tank to preserve the heat. http://www.radiantbarrier.com/bubble-foil-insulation.htm

The new pad heaters are self-adhesive, and the battery pad likely doesn't come with that luxury. I had started using these heaters back in the mid 90's before they were self-adhesive, and they included a larger quantity of the high-temperature silicon to use to glue them on yourself - it just had to be a REALY thin layer. I also used a tire patch roller to make sure that it was a thin as possible and as even as possible. I never had one fail. I sold a 500 Watt to another contractor to use on his backhoe and he didn't take the care installing it. It lasted almost 3 seasons before the rubber plies separated and the element overheated.