I have been thinking over plans for a re-circulating engine heater.

My idea requires quick-coupler type dis-connects that, in effect, splice a loop into the existing heater hoses of the engine.

A heated reservoir of coolant, whether it be an outdoor wood-burning boiler-heated reservoir, or an electric, or gas, water-heater full of coolant, with a circulating pump, would push heated coolant through a hose that cycles hot coolant through the engine and back to the source, to be reheated again.

The hoses from heater to engine would be insulated.

A warm engine would be parked where the hoses would reach.

One heater-hose would be, as it were, un-coupled in two, with both ends quick-coupled to the hoses from the heating unit.

The pump would be switched on and engine heat would be maintained, until the next time the engine was started.

If elevations, and design, permitted, one could eliminate the pump from the system, and let convection do the work.

In colder climates, a tube-type heating unit could also be manufactured that circulated warm coolant under the oil-pan; or, better yet, a custom oil-pan could be engineered that incorporated heating tubes within the bottom of the pan, in the oil itself.

The heated coolant would then pass through the oil-pan, and proceed up through the engines coolant system, into the heater-core, and return back to the source, to be heated again.

A similar heat-plate under the batteries could also be designed.

Once built and filled with coolant, the cost of keeping an engine warm would be only pennies/day.

Multiple engines could be plumbed in, in series, if desired.

Is this an original brainstorm; or, has this been done before??

Will it work??

 

I can't answer most of the questions but I have seen convection work to move the heated coolant. In ND I had a truck with an inline engine heater, this was in the heater lines. We had a snow storm with a lot of wind and when I popped the hood the engine and heater hoses had snow sitting on top of everything. I plugged in the engine heater and watched the snow start melting along the hose in the direction of the flow arrow on the heater.

Biggest problem I can see is sealing the system to prevent air from entering the coolant system.

 

Farm Show Magazine had an article last month about a guy selling block heaters with hydralic type quick coupler hoses on wheels that you could use on multiple engines. This thing really put out the heat, they said it could warm up a sub zero engine in less than three minutes. Propane/110 volt powered.

Might want to check this out also http://www.servicemate.com/catalog/p...px?partno=8152

 

That FARM SHOW magazine is full of ideas.

I saw a link to a site that had a similar heater to the Hilton, except it was powered by the diesel from the truck tank, negating the need of a seperate fuel source; of course, it was only $1700.

 

A ramp heat system has been around for years
Here's the Uwe (pronounced OOvay) ramp heat system we supply on transit buses.
http://www.mccii.com/default.asp?szNav=Ramp2

 

we had a similar setup back when i used to work in the quarry. we had an old cat excavator w/ a hammer that sat by the jaw crusher and would hammer on big rocks if they got stuck in the jaw, or were too big to pass through. in the winter, since there was no way to plug it in, and it wasnt mobile (frozen into ground, only the house would swing), they had quick disconnects on the cooling system, and they would drive up to the machine with the welding truck, and it has similar disconnects, and they would plumb the two systems together, and let the welding truck run its warm coolant into the excavator for 30 min or so. ater that, it would usually fire up and run on its own.