Portable 110 volt power supply for block warmer

[motolife313]

Wanted to get one so I can heat the water in my 7.3 whole at work for a easier and faster startup. I think it takes 8 or 9 amps to run the heater. Do they make power supply units that will put that out for 2-3 hours? Thanks for any help

[ronsii]

At 9 amps that'd be 1000 watts per hour.... plus losses from the inverter part figure 20 percent.... you're gonna need a *lot* of battery


Have you thought about the mini semi heaters for preheat??? I forget the thread but the well driller from ID on here just put one in his crane.. I think... or in something

[ronsii]

Found it... was his drill rig

https://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthrea...00#post8782200

He used a bigger one... I have seen them on the internet fairly cheap(import) for smaller units...

[ronsii]

Here's one of the real cheapies.... I was actually going to put one of these in my powersmoke a few years ago... but since i bring my work truck home I don't run my personal rig every day... and the project kind of lost it's imperativeness

https://www.ebay.com/itm/EasyBuy-All...cAAOSw-EheGEIe

[John T]

Unless you live in Antarctica, The block heater is completely unnecessary.

[bcguide]

Or canada

[thegary]

Buy a Cummins then you will not be an umbilical cord baby! I have a 97 Dodge with a 5.9 . I have only had to plug it in 4 times in the 20+ years I have owned it. 2 of those time were when the grid heater solenoids stopped working. The other 2 times I was on a Job in far north Minnesota and it was 25 below zero in the morning for 2 days. The motel I was at had electric outlets at all the parking places so it must be fairly often they get those temps.

[mla2ofus]

Be cheaper and easier to just buy a 1500w gas genny and chain it to the bed so it can't walk away. Start the genny about 2 hrs before time to start.

[ronsii]

Be cheaper and easier to just buy a 1500w gas genny and chain it to the bed so it can't walk away. Start the genny about 2 hrs before time to start.

Would be possibly cheaper... but a lot noisier and not near as efficient as the plumbed in preheater would be.

[BaTu]

In a 7.3, I think what the "block heater" is doing that's most important is to heat, and thin, the Oil (the reason it's located at the oil cooler). HEUI reacts badly with too thick oil, especially when starting with 15w.

Switching to 5W synthetic is usually enough to eliminate the actual "Need" (as JohnT points out) unless you're in Real negative numbers (not that Celsius nonsense ) But more commonly, that thin oil becomes needed as Injectors get a lot of mileage on them (200K or so). Is that what's going on for you or are you facing really cold temps?

[John T]

In a 7.3, I think what the "block heater" is doing that's most important is to heat, and thin, the Oil (the reason it's located at the oil cooler).

On my 7.3 it heats the coolant/antifreeze not the oil.

I haven’t used it in 25 years and we get some pretty cold winters in the Northeast.

Always starts just fine.

[bigb]

Yes the 7.3 block heater is in the coolant, not the oil cooler. Far better in all respects to have a glow plug system in good working order than to rely on the block heater unless you are in severe sub zero temps. Ways to use the block heater when no shore power is available have been hashed and re-hashed on the Powerstroke forums and been proven to be pretty much a pipe dream.

[duramax-rob]

just let it idle 2-3 hours. diesels only burnout 1/3 gal per hour. if worried about diesel gumming stuff up, im sure you can figure out a high idle. i have let my duramax sit for 7 hrs 8in the heat on fast idle with dog inside and air running. and my injectors are more susceptible to clogging than yours. the old diesels like yours can do that. common rails diesels, mine, have a LOT smaller injector holes than yours.

look at tractor trailers they sit a lot longer than 2-3 hrs. many, many times overnight and all next day. no problem.

my kubota tractor i let sit idling for hours sometimes. my mom when she could still drive would forget to shut her pontiac off after coming home and next day it would either still be running or just ran out of gas!!!

[MinnesotaDave]

Buy a Cummins then you will not be an umbilical cord baby! I have a 97 Dodge with a 5.9 . I have only had to plug it in 4 times in the 20+ years I have owned it. 2 of those time were when the grid heater solenoids stopped working. The other 2 times I was on a Job in far north Minnesota and it was 25 below zero in the morning for 2 days. The motel I was at had electric outlets at all the parking places so it must be fairly often they get those temps.

It is pretty common really up here. Well, where I always lived until now. -40°F sometimes, -30°F often enough, -20°F every year.
Parts of Canada are worse.

At -50°F one time when I ran propane trucks, we didn't shut them off for 3 days. Too hard to re-start.

Two years ago it was stupid cold. Wind chills got near -100°F, forget what the actual temp was.

I'm 4 hours south now, near Minneapolis. Milder here, usually 15-20 degrees warmer

Moto: I'm a fan of the built in units suggested if no power is available. Safe, easy and eliminates cold starts.
Loggers and other heavy equip operators sometimes use propane house water heaters (sitting in the bed of pickup) and use quick connects to the heater hoses.
Doesn't take too long to warm up a skidder motor that way.
Some guys use quick connects from their pickup heater hoses to the skidder's hoses.

[BaTu]

No, not "IN" the oil cooler, but rather heating the coolant AT the oil cooler. And the reason is that you want the oil that's about to be sent to the Injectors to be ready to move more easily. Heating the coolant isn't doing all that much for you (other than creating a heat mass for the oil coming from the pan). I'm tellin' ya, it All About the Oil...

Worn injectors are first diagnosed (again, starts @200K) when cold start problems first appear and when plugging-in for a couple of hours cures the problem it's Not about the warm Coolant

[John T]

Just do what we used to do with the old B model macks....

Throw a roll of toilet paper in a coffee can and dump some in some diesel fuel.

Strike a match and throw it underneath the oil pan.

- true story...

[MinnesotaDave]

Just do what we used to do with the old B model macks....

Throw a roll of toilet paper in a coffee can and dump some in some diesel fuel.

Strike a match and throw it underneath the oil pan.

- true story...

My first mechanic job boss did that with tractors. Put a tarp over the engine area, lit up the coffee can.

My uncle did too, eventually he switched to tarping and using a diesel torpedo heater sitting under a saw horse to keep the tarp off it.

[motolife313]

Thanks for the help ronsii!Diesels like you be warm and don’t like to be ran cold. Don’t wanna wait for it to warm up. That just me. I don’t drive like a pu$$y and use the clutch so when not using it it needs to be revved up more which needs a warmer engine to do so. Block heater works so good you can have your heater on right away. Combustion chamber still takes time to warm up tho but you can take off right after starting it and keep it in a lower gear at a lower rpm to warm up. Not trying to argue these are just how I do it

[motolife313]

Unless you live in Antarctica, The block heater is completely unnecessary.

Thanks for your opinion sweetheart

[cornemuse]

My '84 Blazer 6.2 deez came with a block heater in one of the freeze plugs. NOT necessary in SoCal!!

[John T]

Thanks for your opinion sweetheart

Just plug in the truck at your daddy‘s house.
He will be happy to pay the electric bill.

[John T]

. I don’t drive like a pu$$y and use the clutch

so when not using it it needs to be revved up more which needs a warmer engine to do so. Block heater works so good you can have your heater on right away. Combustion chamber still takes time to warm up tho but you can take off right after starting it and keep it in a lower gear at a lower rpm to warm up. Not trying to argue these are just how I do it

So anyone that uses the clutch in your opinion is a “pu$$y??

That’s good to know.

The rest of your quote is so stupid it’s not even worth responding to.

But that’s another example of the world according to Moto.

[motolife313]

John still mad

[mla2ofus]

Don't know if John's mad but I still believe your thinking is skewed awfully bad with non use of the clutch. The tranny in your pickup is NOT a road ranger and I doubt you'll ever learn to use the throttle properly while shifting. After you wear out the synchos then you'll have to learn how to use the throttle.

[motolife313]

Here's one of the real cheapies.... I was actually going to put one of these in my powersmoke a few years ago... but since i bring my work truck home I don't run my personal rig every day... and the project kind of lost it's imperativeness

https://www.ebay.com/itm/EasyBuy-All...cAAOSw-EheGEIe

Mainly trying to get the engine warmed up so it will run better when I take off