Hydraulic oil heater?

[radman1]

Does anyone use a hydraulic oil heater on their TC? It has been consistently in the single digits for the past week and -10-15F at night. I already use an engine heater on timer.

 

[DEWFPO]

I've been curious about this as well. My hydraulic tank appears to be polyethylene and only holds a portion of the fluid. With the fluid so distributed throughout the TC's hydraulic systems it looks like it would be difficult to heat up a reasonable portion of it. When it's time for a change out on mine I'll probably go synthetic.

DEWFPO

 

[3Bladz]

I wonder if arctic fox has something that would work? They make fuel tank heaters.

 

[DEWFPO]

I wonder if arctic fox has something that would work? They make fuel tank heaters.

I checked their website and their heating pad tank heaters need to be installed on a metal tank. They do make other products to heat hydraulic fluid but none of them appears to be an easy or workable solution for the ToolCat.

DEWFPO

 

[J_J]

I was reading an article about keeping the large machines running in the Arctic and Antarctic, and it had to do with a central heater, and a manifold assembly. When the equipment is finished for the day, they either bring them inside a bldg, or leave them outside, and they use QD to plug in for the antifreeze, and engine oil, and hydraulics. The fluid is circulated constantly, and heated, and when they are ready to start a new day, the machine is warmed up enough to go out and operate without worrying about cold start ups, etc.

You could do the same for your hydraulic machine, by plugging into a hydraulic manifold and heating system in your garage or barn, that keeps the hyd fluid circulating at a certain temp, and filtering the fluid at the same time.

A 5 gal container, an electric motor, small hyd pump, filter, and QD's.

When finished for the day, drive up to the heating station, plug in, set the timer, or temp setting and when you next want to use the machine, it will be warmed up and ready to go.