Overthinking a heater?

[jwangelin]

So cold weather is on the way and I’m hoping my PT425 w/Robin keeps up with the temps that get down to 0. I could use the stick on heaters for the oil tank but I’m thinking about an immersion heater. I would move the filler over and set the heater on the opposite side next to the filter. This unit is supposed to be 7-1/2”long and with 2-1/2“ air space I get 5” heated with a 250 watt heater. I figure an immersion heater would be more efficient than one that sticks to the wall.

Am I (as usual) overthinking this?
Thanks Jon

 

[ponytug]

Perhaps. I'd go with the adhesive silicone heaters. You can access them easily, and there's no worry about what a heater failure might do if a piece of it got into your pumps.

Good luck.

All the best, Peter

 

[LouNY]

An immersion heater is much more efficient, many years ago some of them would get too hot when left plugged in and actually coke the oil around it.

 

[Gravy]

I have been trying to come up with a really good answer for this since 2004. What specific heater are you talking about? Do you have a plan for temperature control? If you do, I want to steal your ideas.

The silicone heaters have been marginal at best about transferring heat through the tank walls into the oil, and on a PT425, there's not all that much usable flat space inside the tub to stick one to. I've killed at least three magnetic block heaters apparently because they couldn't effectively transfer the heat, and melted themselves.

 

[RjCorazza]

I have experimented with various heaters for my hst oil over the years. (2) 250w magnetic heaters do ok on 11 gallons, but need to be on all night to see much of a difference. The easiest and most effective solution for me was a 1500w radiant heating dish, but I was always nervous about its placement and potentially melting something underneath the tractor.