Snow B7510 keeps surprising.

[Mendonsy]

I stopped by the local dealer and picked up a screw-in heater. The instructions for installation in the box were totally bogus in that they involved cutting a hose. A dealership service guy took one look and told me to destroy them. Then he took me out to a new B-series on the lot, swept the snow off the hood, and showed me how to unbolt the large Allen wrench and quickly twist the plug in before too much coolant runs out, taking care to treat the new threads with a sealant before completely removing the plug. He told me it takes two minutes to do the job.

We'll see.

That sounds like the same instructions the guy on OTT had. He said when he finished that he should have drained the coolant and put it back when he was done.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

That sounds like the same instructions the guy on OTT had. He said when he finished that he should have drained the coolant and put it back when he was done.

The block heater went in just as the technician said it would. He had suggested not draining the coolant, just topping it up afterward. When the plug came out I had a nervous moment before the brass threads of the new unit aligned and bit. The brass looked larger than the plug, but it turned out to fit properly. The job took the two minutes -- plus another half-hour of fussing around worrying if the green slime on the floor was all spillage or partially from a leak. Turns out it was fine. The refill required about a litre of 50:50 mix in the rad and the overflow tank combined.

The Allen wrench to remove the plug is a 17 mm. The socket to tighten the block heater unit, though, is larger than my largest metric socket (30 mm), so I had to dig out the heavy duty sockets. One of them worked. I don't recall which. Because I was twisting a hollow brass fitting into place with a 2' ratchet, I put what I considered very little torque onto it, then waited to see if it was enough. It didn't leak. I used my fingers, rather than hands, on the large ratchet to tighten it. I kept remembering that this is the ratchet I use with a 4' piece of pipe to put the nut on the bush hog blades (400 ft. lb.+)

I found the heater unit is very hot at 1200 watts. I wouldn't leave it on overnight in such a small engine unless it shuts off automatically.

BTW: When I watched the video about cold weather starting of Kubotas, the thing I took away was that the host preheated the engine for a full minute. I've always though 18 seconds was radical, but I guess Japanese engines require long preheat times. My Massey Ferguson 35's Perkins starts to pop and fuss at 10 seconds of preheat. The TAFE's Simpson engine seldom needs more than 7 or 8, though it's an excellent cold-starter.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

I found the heater unit is very hot at 1200 watts. .

The Kill-A-Watt corrected my earlier reading. It draws 3.49 amps. That's a more sensible energy level for a block heater of this size. The 1200 watts on the cord might be a CSA rating for the cord itself.

 

[Mendonsy]

The Kill-A-Watt corrected my earlier reading. It draws 3.49 amps. That's a more sensible energy level for a block heater of this size. The 1200 watts on the cord might be a CSA rating for the cord itself.

That's just over 400 watts. It sounds about right for that size cooling system.