Suds
New member
I have a radiator hose heater on my Yanmar and have left it plugged in for days at a time without any apparent damage to either the heater or the tractor.
Gary
Gary
radiator heater - plugged in too long?
- Thread starter 44trxfun
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thcri
Elite Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I haven't seen a block heater with a thermostat. The ones I have seen are just a simple heating element like the one in an electric hot water heater. When plugged in and working properly the generate a constant heat output until unplugged.
Dave )</font>
Click on this link Zero Start Heater and go to page 85. It is a rather large file so it will take a bit. For some reason I can't just copy the test of the page.
I haven't looked at these heaters for a while but I guess I have never seen one that didn't have a thermostat. We use to use them on the farm all the time. We would leave them plugged in all night. You could even hear them turning on and off by the hissing.
murph
Dave )</font>
Click on this link Zero Start Heater and go to page 85. It is a rather large file so it will take a bit. For some reason I can't just copy the test of the page.
I haven't looked at these heaters for a while but I guess I have never seen one that didn't have a thermostat. We use to use them on the farm all the time. We would leave them plugged in all night. You could even hear them turning on and off by the hissing.
murph
I've got a TN65 with a block heater. I too was wondering about leaving it plugged in too long with possible damage to the coolant or the radiator. So instead of talking or theorizing about it. I just went out to the barn and took the radiator cap off and felt the water temperature. The block heater has been pluggled in for about 15 hours and the water in the radiator is just about 70oF. Not even warm! So either the thermostat is not opening because the coolant is not hot enough or there's not enough wattage to really heat the water to being hot. It's about 5oF here in west central Indiana with about a foot of snow.
Soundguy
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You'd be surprised what you can do with just a few electrical components.. like thermistors and triacs.. etc.. scr's.. etc. Not hard to make a heater with some very basic thermally limited properties.
Take a look at stock tank de-icers. Fairly common, cheap units.. not much too them.. yet the 'modern' ones only come on under freezing temp, and are thermally regulated...
The goldfish in my stock tank love the de-icer.. they are usually found hanging around it on the very few below freezing mornings we have here in florida.
Soundguy
Take a look at stock tank de-icers. Fairly common, cheap units.. not much too them.. yet the 'modern' ones only come on under freezing temp, and are thermally regulated...
The goldfish in my stock tank love the de-icer.. they are usually found hanging around it on the very few below freezing mornings we have here in florida.
Soundguy
MikePA
Super Moderator
<font color="blue"> Know I can leave any of my vehicles and tractot plugged in for ever and they will not boil over. </font>
Being able to keep a block heater plugged in all the time does not imply it has a thermostat. Many block heaters have a wattage that limits how many degrees they can increase the temperature of the coolant.
Being able to keep a block heater plugged in all the time does not imply it has a thermostat. Many block heaters have a wattage that limits how many degrees they can increase the temperature of the coolant.
johnday
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44rx; I don't know if I've got a thermostat or not on my block heater for my Stroker, but I do know I left it plugged in for a couple days by accident. There was no radiator boil over or anything bad happened. The ambient temps were below freezing all that time, around 20-25 degrees. It would seem to me that with the relative low wattage of these heaters, excess heat would be given up thru the radiator by convection currents to the ambient air . Some people I know with the same setup as mine, say they get heat to the defrosters immediatley upon startup. That's something else that has never happened either, I must be plugging it in wrong or something /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif It would be nice if it would tho! Thermostat or not, I'd find it hard to believe you could hurt anything like you, or myself, did. Now if you had something on the lines of a 5000 watt heater......... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
chriswheeler
Platinum Member
I work for a large public utility that has a fleet ( close to 100) of stationary and wheeled gen sets. The block heaters are NEVER shut off summer or winter. Kim Hotstarts that we commonly use shut off at about 160 degrees. Only problem with this is the block heaters themselves burning out over a couple of years of use. I can't see where any of these small diesels in tractors could be harmed operating the same way. We can't take a 3000 HP V20 up to speed without a warm up and apply a load in 30 seconds any other way. I will only plug my tractor block heater in a hour or two before I intend to use it, but this is just me saving the electricity.
Chris
Chris
Egon
Epic Contributor
Okay - okay - 50 some years of using block heaters And I'll admit to complete ignorance on their operation, function and use. Everybody happy now!!!
Still know brick walls are hard!
Egon
Still know brick walls are hard!
Egon