Oil & Fuel Engine block heaters. How long to heat a compact tractor engine [ 3 cylender diesel}

[ron45]

Are these intended to be left on all night? if so are there other options to heat the colling system and block quicker w/o damage to oil or cooling system?

Thanks for your time.

Ron

 

[Snobdds]

People do leave them plugged in all night and there's probably not much harm. However in reality it only needs about 1-2 hours to be effective. When I need it I put it on a timer to come on around 5 in the morning. Then warm up is quick.

 

[CalG]

It might just depend on the out door temperature and how hard the wind is blowing.

If you absolutely need your tractor, put it in a heated shed.

It's NOT rocket science.

 

[oosik]

I never used a block heater. Always used a lower radiator hose tank heater. Leaving it on all night would usually bring the coolant temps up to around 125-140 deg F - depending upon outside temps and wind. I had the tank heater on a timer - ran for two hours and always started just great. I finally built a heated garage - that was, by far, the best. Heated garage will turn a vinyl covered seat back to something other than a frozen brick.

 

[Patches]

I have a lower hose heater on mine, which is parked in an unheated garage. I turn the heater on for an hour and it starts easily

 

[George2615]

I used to use an inline lower hose heater. I had the heater plugged into a HD appliance timer that was set to turn on 2 hours before I got home from work. If I needed to plow when I got home it started up easily. No need for the heater to be plugged in all night when a couple hours is all that is needed.

 

[RNeumann]

I read and responded to your previous post and appreciate your curiosity.
A few things to consider for your off the grid situation as I'm assuming electricity is at a premium.

If you go the coolant route remember their is more coolant and you are also heating the mass of the engine block. So if that's what you want you should find a product that is thermostatically controlled- that way it is only on long enough to heat your coolant to the temperature needed/wanted. 1 hour, over night etc all depends on what temp you want your coolant and block and what the outside temp is.

You also need to consider your goal with this. What you are doing in your cars would be a good guide- is it an issue with those?

The typical concern with cold starting an engine is lubrication. Put a quart of oil outside on a cold night and try to pour it out in the morning. While synthetic is better it is still a noticeable change.
The other concern is fuel. Beyond gelling we can discuss what happens in the engine. Most engines have either glow plugs or a grid heater to aid with starting- so that's not typically an issue.

So if electrical power is not an issue throw heaters at it- block heaters, oil heaters etc. But if power is an issue figure out the watts x time you are willing to commit to this and decide the best "bang for the buck/watt"

 

[Looking4new]

Are these intended to be left on all night? if so are there other options to heat the colling system and block quicker w/o damage to oil or cooling system?

Thanks for your time.

Ron

You can run the block heater all night, but remember that they require electricity to run and that schit is expensive.
I run synthetic 5W30 oil in the CK27 and turn on the freeze plug block heater 2-4 hours before I need to start, depending on outside temps. Outside temps must be below freezing before I even think about block heating. Tractor sits in a unheated portable shelter.

 

[tcartwri]

I have a CT235 and it will spin over like the middle of summer after 90 minutes of block heater.

 

[powerscol]

Same here I run synthetic oil in my CT 235 and at 0 degrees it only takes and hour or so for my block heater to make things easy, Otherwise I manually cycle the glow plugs for 3 cycles and everything is fine, but hydraulics are slow then.