How long does an engine coolant heater need to be plugged in?

[BlueKnife]

A common misconception.

Heat "moves" toward cold, in any direction, it does not "rise".

Heated Air, water or any fluid or gas, will tend to "rise" as it is less dense than the cooler air, etc., which is probably where that idea comes from.

Not seeing how that's a "misconception". Hot liquids or air rise in cooler liquids or air.

 

[AnotherBueller]

Yup, Stupid hurts.

Yup,sure does and costs money too.

 

[CalG]

Not seeing how that's a "misconception". Hot liquids or air rise in cooler liquids or air.

This gets tricky when trying to warm a cast iron engine block. We all know that the "heat don't rise in Cast ". Heat moves through the mechanisms of Conduction, convection and radiation. Only convection appears to follow the "heat rises" misconception. While a simple circulator blasts that "observation" to bits.

Don't ever introduce the adiabatic rate into such a conversation. People will call you a nerd ;-)

 

[Williy]

HEAT DON"T RISE?????? Explaine this" walk into a home that
uses forced air for heat why are the floors cold and the ceiling
always warm????? In the winter time my car my feet are cold
but the heater on full blast will melt the ice off the back windows???
Hot air balloons can't get off the ground?????????

willy

 

[KenEtch]

The block heaters I have used had a sweet spot of 3 hours on time to raise the block temp to around 40 degrees f over ambient.
Less time and the block was not uniformly warm, more time didn't raise the temp any more.

This was my exact experience, three (3) hours warmed the block/water to it's limit. Added time only wasted electricity with no additional benefit. I used a timer with heavy extension cord to start heater 3 hours before going to work. Mine was a Ford diesel.

 

[Skeans1]

About the best kind of preheaters are the diesel burners that circulate coolant with their own water pumps something like an Espar. These are used instead of the plug style of heater for Offroad applications as well as on highway applications it’s cheaper to run as well as nothing has to be plugged in. Most run on their own timers and burn for about 2 hours so little fuel it’s not noticeable.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Not seeing how that's a "misconception". Hot liquids or air rise in cooler liquids or air.

its only because in your initial post you only stated ''heat'' and not ''heated liquid''

 

[beenthere]

I had one of the engine heaters that gets cut into the radiator hose. I would plug it in and hour or two before I wanted to start the tractor and it didn't seem to help at all. Did I need to leave it plugged in longer? Like over night? Was it a junk heater? Do they not really work below O degrees? Should I have had a battery heater?

Need to plug it in long enough that it helps start the tractor or find out what other problem your tractor has going on that is keeping it from starting.
Not much more we can pinpoint to help you solve the problem.

 

[BlueKnife]

its only because in your initial post you only stated ''heat'' and not ''heated liquid''

This whole conversation is about heating antifreeze, which is a liquid.

 

[CalG]

HEAT DON"T RISE?????? Explaine this" walk into a home that
uses forced air for heat why are the floors cold and the ceiling
always warm????? In the winter time my car my feet are cold
but the heater on full blast will melt the ice off the back windows???
Hot air balloons can't get off the ground?????????

willy

Why do boats float?