Pre Heater / Block heaters

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
I give up Goin to bed! got a lovley Sal axle to wirebrush down and weld on swb rear spring mounts. Catch you in the mornin' good luck OP your gonna need it!
 
the way it works (hopefully) is you tap into the coolant system with an imersion heater and pump that plugs into the mains on a timer. so If I leave for work at 0500 the timer starts at 0400. the heater and pump circulates and heats the coolant to operating temperature (75-80 c) so that when you come to start the car the engine will start as if warn and give the benifit of the heater working straight away.

TBH I enjoy makeing things for my landy so it is more fun than anything else. I got the idea from a canadian friend who was telling me that their parking meters also have an electricity point to power their block heaters so I thought I'd have a go :)
 
good article that I'm trying to do the same thing on the cheap :) may go that route if this works :)
 
when i get my new block heater built where is it best to plumb in ? Upper and lower rad hoses or in to the heater matrix ?

You want to connect the block heater in the return hose from the heater matrix with the flow going back in to the heater. The opposite way from how it would normal flow.

This way when the block heater is running it will pump threw the heater matrix giving you heat inside the car if you need It then in to the cylinder head to heat It first then threw the water pump and will be blocked from the radiator by the closed thermostat.

When the engine is running and the block heater is switched off the flow will go threw the heater matrix first then threw the block heater so won't reduce the heat output in the car

if you use a centrifugal pump like a central heating pump there should be very little restriction to flow when the pump is off so there is no need to bother with "T" pieces or three way valves.

I just remembered you have to use high temperature cable when connecting an immersion heater as the terminals can get very hot and melt the insulation on normal cable.
 
When the engine is running and the block heater is switched off the flow will go threw the heater matrix first then threw the block heater so won't reduce the heat output in the car

yes it will, the ''block heater'' will be out in the fresh air and will loose heat - thus reducing the available heat for the interior heater matrix

unless it's really well insulated
 
yes it will, the ''block heater'' will be out in the fresh air and will loose heat - thus reducing the available heat for the interior heater matrix

unless it's really well insulated


So the block heater will act like a sort of radiator cooling as well as the normal rad ? but specifically cooling the water to the heater ? this is so fascinating :)
 
So the block heater will act like a sort of radiator cooling as well as the normal rad ? but specifically cooling the water to the heater ? this is so fascinating :)

we aren't talking about some carefully designed, small, thermally efficient block heater here - we are talking about a big lump of metal that's being connected into the coolant flow

what do you think it will be doing when it's not being externally heated by a 3kw heater ?
 
I'd rarther have somthing that gets hot at the very bottom of the system as heat rises it'll heat the whole system up. loop would eliminate the problem of causing a restriction but hey give it a try and report back
 
I'd rarther have somthing that gets hot at the very bottom of the system as heat rises it'll heat the whole system up. loop would eliminate the problem of causing a restriction but hey give it a try and report back

JW0tdps2FzOPu92Mrvqx2o5Jz_dNpAsXfk9hCglpHlkHc9lrguP0m9J66wa-qxgSo0Ymy76R6aAaLu18lwZ1BWZLvDfCsVzRpsn_YSdbqOp9G58HyPmUy2qLbzRmrWPy_oX19uf-snwCfVxfvTQEgPdOPMvM_Tk6TftfZ3o2I1HgHK92PRTr3LXx
 
Back
Top