Pre Heater / Block heaters

With the cold weather coming on I'm thinking of fitting a block heater or water pre heater has anyone got one ? used one ? made one ? in the uk as well

I think mine has one fitted. does it go in the core plug hole on exhaust side?
Dev

yes thats where a blok heater would fit do you use it ?

there are a few types one like small kettle element fiitted in core plug hole and plugged into mains on timer, or fuel burning ones that heat through heater pipes

i want a small kettle element type where would i get a 240 volt type ?

Kenlowe do one but its about £250!!!

I would like a Webasto diesel heater but they are very expensive for the universal ones which can be fitted to any car. There are some on ebay from rover 75’s but from what I have read they are designed to connect direct to the cars wiring loom and can’t easily be altered. There are also some on ebay off Disco 3’s but I suspect they have similar issues to the rover 75 ones unless you have a disco 3 that is.

I did think about sticking an immersion heater in a piece of tube with a pipe in one end and out the other and a central heating pump and plumbing it in to my engine bay and plugging it in to a time switch.

I make biodiesel and have done virtually the same thing to heat my processor.

found a picture

its the black tube in the bottom of the picture

IanFiTheDwarf said:

I would like a Webasto diesel heater but they are very expensive for the universal ones which can be fitted to any car. There are some on ebay from rover 75’s but from what I have read they are designed to connect direct to the cars wiring loom and can’t easily be altered. There are also some on ebay off Disco 3’s but I suspect they have similar issues to the rover 75 ones unless you have a disco 3 that is.

I did think about sticking an immersion heater in a piece of tube with a pipe in one end and out the other and a central heating pump and plumbing it in to my engine bay and plugging it in to a time switch.

I make biodiesel and have done virtually the same thing to heat my processor.

Click to expand...

This is what i was looking at but instead of the central heating pump I was thinking of a a power head from a fish tank ?

Not sure how a fish tank pump would be with the heat, pressure and antifreeze and any pump you fit will have to flow freely when switched off or you will limit the effectiveness of the heater.

I am prey sure a central heating pump covers all the bases but it is a bit big and has the huge 1 1/2" fittings but a pump out of an old combi boiler will have smaller 1/2" or 3/4" bhp fittings.

I have been looking but haven't found anything more suitable.

I would also prefer a smaller heating element like one from w shower but they start at about 7kw.

Mine has a three pin plug that keeps falling out so I might tape it together for the winter
Cant tell if it works or not I imagine it comes on with the glow plugs don't know for sure though
Dev

why would it do that power and time needed to heat engine coolant and block would mean mains power and an hour or so before start up

i would plug it in when i get home from work on a timer and set it to come on at 0430 for when i leave for work at 0530

so where would i get one and what size ?

anyone ?

Theres this one

KENLOWE

but i have just started making one. i will post my progress

IanFiTheDwarf said:

Theres this one

KENLOWE

but i have just started making one. i will post my progress

Click to expand...

I like the idea of building one what parts are you using ? are you going to get rid of the thermostat ?

This is what I have done so far,

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The tube which is a piece of stainless steel rolled to shape will hold an immersion heater element, the brass flange will be silver soldered in along with the two hose connectors which are at an angle to induce a spiral flow.

The pump in the picture was out of a combi boiler I stripped and is a bit bigger and a lot heavier than the little central heating pumps you can get now but it was free so it will do and the disco is not exactly lightweight or short of room under the bonnet.

So the parts are

Central heating pump (any one will do but you will need fittings for it)
Immersion heater element (11” element is the smallest and comes with a thermostat and are rated at 2.7kw or 3kw)
Immersion heater housing
1mm stainless steel 224mm x 300mm rolled to a tube and one end capped
Immersion heater flange from bes.co.uk
Hose connectors (cut and turned down from an old piece of imperial copper pipe)
You will also need some cable and connectors to plug it in and a time switch capable of switching 13A and some rubber heater hose and probably a couple ofe hose connectors and hose clamps

The housing could be made with just a piece of steel pipe or mild steel plate rolled but I found a bit of stainless and my eyes lit up! The hose fittings could be made from steel pipe or a bit of conduit and the flange could be soldered in with normal plumbers solder but I have access to the tools and silver solder which will be stronger.

I like the look of that idea..... I might nick the one I made for my bio processor and give it a try

Although I don't reckon I'll need it as even my tranny used to start up in the coldest of british weather! It'll look good though