440ICD block heater

[Lavoy]

Anybody have any interest in a simple bolt in 400 watt block heater for their 440 diesel crawler or tractor? I made up a quick one to try it in mine, and thinking of having a few made up if anybody else is interested in one. I might be the only guy foolish enough to run a crawler in cold weather, but thought I would check just in case.
Lavoy

[Gil]

I probably need one more for my gas units than my diesel but I was wondering. What cut out temperature are you designing for? I assume you are heating the water jacket. I always wondered how that approach compared to warming the oil in the pan so that it would flow through the oil pump gears. There is more danger of over heating the oil than the water though. Gil

[whiteclipse16]

I'd probably be interested. Could you provide more details, such as where it will mount etc.?
Why 400W? Some of the ones I had been seeing on ebay were about 1000W or so, but they were for 3 cylinder or bigger.

[Lavoy]

I'm not doing anything that you guys can't do yourself, I just want to make it a simpler, faster, better looking installation, and put it all together as a kit. It will replace the block drain plate on the upper LH side of the block.
400 watts is all that is necessary, even the books say not to use the 1000 watt unit on the 3-53, use the 750 instead, and they don't even list the 2-53 in the application chart. I am not looking for plug it in for an hour and supposedly be ready to go, I want something I can leave on all night and not do any damage, or waste that much electricity. So far plugged in all night in my heated shop, I am getting about 120-130 degrees or a little more. If plugged in outside, I doubt it will get that warm, but still plenty warm enough to fire.
To warm the oil, I am going to put a 250 watt silicone pad heater on the oil pan, I am leary that the block will put enough heat to the oil on a really cold night, and even if the block is warm, below zero 40 wt oil is still going to be thick. I will tie the two together on mine so only one plug in for both heaters.
The rule of thumb on immersion oil heaters is 10 watts per quart, higher on the pad heaters. According to spec, I probably should only use a 150 watt pad heater on this one, but my brother has a 500 watt pad heater on a smaller Kubota 4 cylinder, and it seems barely adequate to me. I just don't think that as much heat radiates from the oil into the block as I would like.
Gas block heaters are no problem, I normally have a few in stock, 440 is the easiest installation, 420 and 430 take a litte more work.
Lavoy

[scampr]

Sounds to me like your hitting a home run with that system especially with the oil pad. All you need to add is a additional way to heat up the operator..

[Gil]

I appreciate you doing all the trial and error for use so we can just plug and play.

Your brother's 500 watt heater may just have a lower cut off temperature. If they are like livestock waterer heaters they cycle on and off until their cut off point. More wattage does not guarantee hotter oil, only that the heater will run hotter when it is warming the oil; and therefore be able to heat more oil faster. Gil

[Lavoy]

I don't think the pad heaters have a thermostat in them, but I could be wrong.
I don't doubt it is getting the oil warm, which is a good deal, but it seems like the heat is not migrating up into the rest of the engine like we hoped. When you spin it over, it still needs to be glow plugged to start, so there just isn't the heat in the block. Unfortunately on this engine in the application it is in, you have to pull the head, or remove the engine to install a block heater, so went with the pad heater.
Lavoy

[whiteclipse16]

Sounds like a great idea to me. Thanks for explaining the wattage rating.

My thinking has been, the diesel needs the heat to help fire. Since most of the cylinder and some of the head has water running all through it, then heating the water would hopefully put heat into the cylinder.
That makes sense about heating the oil also. Last time I started mine, the oil pressure gauge didn't follow RPM like usual when it was cold. It took a little while for it to all get warmed up.

Keep me posted on this and let me know when I can order one.

[Lavoy]

Talked to a guy this morning about it, so gaining ground, just need to find somebody with some spare laser time to get the plates done.
Lavoy

[RanchTruck]

I would go with one of the high wattage percolating tank heaters. Put it on a timer to come on a couple hours before you want to fire it up and you won't be wasting electricity. http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-TN311- ... 442&sr=8-1

We have a 1500 watt one on the 1010 and it works great. I plumbed it in like the factory option, but I couldn't get the temp gauge sender out so I drilled and tapped a new hole in the thermostat housing right next to the temp sender. It pulls cold coolant from the block drain and pumps hot into the head.

They also sell a 850w one: http://www.amazon.com/Kats-12010-Watt-E ... 01-7925460

I have a pad pan heater on my truck and to be honest it doesn't do much on its own. The oil will be warm, but as soon as it gets pumped through the oil galleries of the block it's back to being thick and cold. The pan also has a lot of surface area to dump heat to the air, so the 250 watts doesn't go far. When used with a block heater it works great.

[Lavoy]

Okay, here is a pic of a quick made up first try. This one uses a welded in pipe reducer, I want to eliminate that on the next ones.
Lavoy

[jtrichard]

you could use a thicker plate and thread it ? would you have room in the block for that?

[Lavoy]

That is exactly the plan, just need to find someone with some spare laser time to cut the plates.
Lavoy

[whiteclipse16]

The real question is, is it effective?

[Lavoy]

130 degrees give or take in a warm shop, have not had the crawler outside to test it in the cold.
Lavoy