cold starting -9 F

[jbrumberg]

^^^^ another decent suggestion. I have enough hoarded planks laying around here under the snow. Thank you Thomas

 

[iflywhatevr]

3 hours is what I do. It’s in an Unheated garage and I use a Wemo WiFi plug that I can set to turn on or off at a certain time. We have a 10kwh solar array on the house that comes with monitors showing how much power is being used at any given time. Plug in that block heater and power consumption Spikes quite a bit! So any timer you can use or just walking out and plugging it in before use rather than plugging in overnight will pay for itself in a short time.

 

[jbrumberg]

Ifly- Timers work.; Thanks for clarifying the (assumed) current drain of an engine block meter. A cold start to the morning out our way today (-10ºF ambient temperature). I hope you got your snow managed yesterday before the cold moved in.

 

[Oaktree]

I don't know if this is a good idea...one of those works for me things. I don't have a block heater.
I put either a trouble light with 100watt bulb or real cold a heat lamp on ground under motor then throw an old car cover over tractor.
I have not tried it at -9 though.

That's what I do when it's gonna get below 20° or so. Was -5 this morning, and it started right up with only 1 glow plug cycle. Tractor lives in an unheated garage in winter, and the LK3054 is a cold blooded beast. It's an old trick we used to use all the time 50-odd years ago before electronic ignition in cars came along. Amazing how much heat a light bulb puts out. Just don't try to save energy and use a CFL or LED. :laughing:

 

[oosik]

I've started my M6040 @ -20F. Fired right up. So I was sitting there on the rock hard, ice cold vinyl seat for the recommended 30 minuet warm up period. After about 15 minuets - "what in the H*LL am I doing out here". Went back inside - let it warm up at high idle for another 45 minuets. Shut it down and stayed inside.

I got nothing worth -20F - at any time.

 

[ruffdog]

My body doesn't like to move at those cold temps so I won't put my machinery through it either. I moved some firewood today with the wheelbarrow and the thing did not even need to be warmed up before I used it.

 

[Big Chief]

Did you have enough anti gel in the tank? If not at minus temps you can still get gelled fuel. White smoke is unburned or partial burned fuel. Typically from cold starting.

 

[s78wingrider]

i use a heat tape around hydraulic lines on one side, under the oil pan, then around hydraulic filter

 

[dnw64]

My B3030 started with a 15 second glow plug cycle after 2 hours block heater treatment* at -7° this morning, in about 4-5 seconds of cranking. Let it run at about 1200 RPM for 15 minutes and had "heat" (didn't give me frostbite!) coming out the vents.

*TP-Link outlet run by Kasa app - started it from the bedroom in my underwear. If I'd been itching to get out I could have either set a timer or a schedule to start it while I was still sleeping.

 

[crazyal]

Add more anti-gel. Also get some diesel water remover additive. A block heater is fine but it's not going to fix fuel issues. -9 is real cold any water in the fuel line could freeze and create an obstruction. I always go well beyond what the bottle says with the anti-gel and what I think the lowest temps I may see. Adding too much in isn't going to hurt (other than the small extra cost) but not having enough can be a huge pain.