infidel

The term gelling is misleading. Diesel fuel never really turns to jello to the point that it won't flow, at least at temps experienced in nature.
What happens is wax crystals form in the fuel, it still flows, it just plugs up filters.

Ramitt

I've heard winter fuel "gells" around -20. I recommend a rad cover and high idle. Was 25 out the other morning my 3cyl high idle had luke warm heat in 5min. According to my edge the water temp was 110 degrees. There was some guy I saw that had a small electric heater mounted in his cab and it would come on when his block heater was plugged in.

joem

Oregon requires bio diesel, so I took a quart of summer blend B20 and poured it into a large pickel jar and threw it into the freezer. Next day it was solid, was able to flip the jar upside down and the fuel just stuck to the jar like a soft wax candle

Argo

I live in vail and see -15 in winter multiple days. Never an issue. I have been in silverton the past few days with lows in the mid -20's. Starting has been significantly more hesitant with just the -5 -10 degree change

NE frmhnd

I think that morning it was cold enough that my grid heaters cycled even with the block heater. Had a feed bag tied up in front of my grill, extended down in front of the bumper. I ran my truck to break ice so we wouldn't have to run the duramax (no block heater, why the dealer got them in without is a good question) and I could get some run time to charge my batteries that week.

Had a talk with the guy from the one local co-op a couple weeks ago. A 70/30 mix of #2 and #1 I think he said is good to -12, and a 50/50 mix is good to -18.

Too bad their 70/30 mix (supplier won't let them mix any stronger) gelled on me at 0.

Don T

I guy could use a 2000 wat Honda gen on the back of his truck to run a 1500 wat heater in the Cab lol. I plug my truck in and have the timer come on 4 hrs before I want to use the truck. I start the truck and put it in drive with the park break on and let it run for 5 minutes.Doing that lets the trans warm up and the truck will shift to OD lock much sooner. works for me lol.

infidel

Did you look good?
We have Duramax at work that when I ordered it the dealer said it didn't come with a block heater so I ordered one optional.
First time I went to change the oil I see a block heater with cord on each side of the block, the one that came stock and the one the dealer added $150 onto the sticker price for.
Just looking in from the top I wouldn't have seen either one of them, had to look up from underneath.

Don T

I had a thought that I would like to know if how it would work on our trucks. A friend took me for a drive in his old VW diesel car. Did that thing ever throw heat , I had a look and see where there are two glow plugs in the heater line to the heater core. This is what is used to heat the cars . So why not add a piece of pipe in the line going to our heater cores and thread in two of the same glow plugs that VW uses. Throw a switch to get Cab heat faster. his VW only had one battery so I bet this would help make some extra heat for us. some feed back would be nice ,pro con ?

NE frmhnd

Wish I would have seen this before I changed the oil in it yesterday.

Dane

I'm probably missing something here, but what's wrong with the Cummins block heater and anti gell in the fuel?

fast59

Just install a proheat and never have a cold truck again ever.Much better than in car heaters i've seen a few vehickles burn down because of them.

rickf

I guess but the oil is only in direct contact with the sheet metal oil pan. That pan is not going to transfer any heat itself so any heat transfer will only be rising heat. Unless that oil is super hot there will be little effect to the mass of steel and water above it. By heating the water you get thermodynamic circulation so it is moving through the engine and directly contacting all parts of the engine. In saying that I will admit that a water type block will not heat the oil but I would rather have a warm engine block than just warm oil.

Rick

fast59

Well I can't say I have put my hand on the oil pan to see if it's warm,but I know when I have fired up the equipment in minus-30 oil psi hits instantly after a 5 or 10min when hyd oil is circulated machine is ready to work.I have one on my truck and when i fire her up she's blowing warm air and ready to roll I'll check in the morning and see if it has any warmth on the pan supposed to be -26 overnight .

rickf

I am sure the oil pan will be warm, I am just saying that the heat rising is not going to get the block up to 150 degrees.

rattlerbob5.9

I would rather have the entire core of that little cast iron mass warm at a cold start vs 2 gallons of warm oil being keep in a thin steel pan down below.

Which one do you think will warm the other quicker after start up ??

In a perfect world given the choice both warm would be the best.