At what temperature do you need to plug in a tractor?

bky · Dec 18, 2011

This got me thinking............... Is there such a thing as this or could one of you electrical savvy people invent a remote switch to turn on the block heater and automatically turn off after say an hour ? You could activate it with a garage door opener............ If you make many millions $ on this idea said:
well you could use "THE CLAPPER"

90cummins · Jan 19, 2012

bky said:
well you could use "THE CLAPPER"

Howbout a CLAPPER!!
Clap on Clap off!

Dr_Zinj · Jan 19, 2012

I plug mine in when I get up at 6 AM if the temperature is in the 20s or lower, and I need to move snow.
It's warmed up by the time I've done my business in the bathroom, had breakfast and my coffee.

Gary Beaulieu · Jan 19, 2012

Buy a block heater cord with a built timer. They exist.

IXLR8 · Jan 19, 2012

Even though I have a radiator hose style heater in my tractor, I have never used it as I don't have power in the building I keep the tractor in, nor is it heated. I have started the tractor in temps as low as -22dF, just cycled the glow plugs several times and it started right up. I let it idle for a minute before I moved anywhere, then worked gently until temp meter moved.

MHarryE · Jan 19, 2012

I have a heavy duty timer rated in excess of the wattage of my block heater. Used it often when I had 2 daughters driving to college, cars for both my wife and me to drive to work, and only a 2 car garage. Now they have long since graduated, its just my wfie and me, and a 5 car heated garage. That HD timer is somewhere around - most of the timers I see now will handle Christmas lights and that's about it.

John_Mc · Jan 20, 2012

MHarryE said:
most of the timers I see now will handle Christmas lights and that's about it.

MY block heater doesn't draw a whole lot of amps. The problem I ran into (heating my tractor as well as a small plane) was that a number of the cheaper timers won't work when the temps really get cold.

SPYDERLK · Jan 20, 2012

IXLR8 said:
Even though I have a radiator hose style heater in my tractor, I have never used it as I don't have power in the building I keep the tractor in, nor is it heated. I have started the tractor in temps as low as -22dF, just cycled the glow plugs several times and it started right up. I let it idle for a minute before I moved anywhere, then worked gently until temp meter moved.

Thats impressive. What oil do you use?
larry

D7E · Jan 20, 2012

The 2 tractors that load hay and grain are plugged in for several days even weeks at a time as you never know when trucks will turn up for a load .
The rest sit in a shop without power till spring .

tractchores · Jan 20, 2012

For reliable remote switches I use a Z wave switch. Range seems to be around 100', but if you have multiple devices they will relay the signal, so you can chain them and get a longer range. I use one to control switches in my garage and workshop, which is detached from the house. I just use it for lighting and to turn on an electric heater before I go out to work in the winter, but it would be easy enough to wire it up to an outlet for a tractor heater. There's a wide variety of controllers and switches that use the Z wave standard and they're not too bad to setup.