Where to tap for coolant

[rfuntime]

I was thinking of adding a fuel tank heater that uses coolant to warm the fuel. Where would be a good place on the block to tap into....or an easy place to tap into a hose to make this possible. OR..is there a better way to do this?? TIA Paul

[JohnC]

Not to be rude, but "Why?"

There is a fuel heater in the bottom of the fuel manager. Should be sufficient. Hot fuel makes less power...

[murphyslaw]

if iI were doing it I would tap into the return line from the heater. that way your not taking more coolent from the engine and you still have the full heat by using the return line. on my plow trucks i take the return line and wrap it around my plow pump's to keep them warm(cold= slow) and the heater still works great.

[rfuntime]

JC:

Not rude...just curious, right? The reason for doing this is I want to run biodiesel in the winter and want to be sure to get home! Don't mind not gettin there, but I darn sure want to make it home!! Paul

[JohnC]

The reason for doing this is I want to run biodiesel in the winter and want to be sure to get home!

Good point. Carry on!

(I think the answer above sounds pretty good.)

[tommac95]

I elected to install a coolant/fuel heat(er) exchanger to enable disconnecting the heater in my fuel conditioner [I'd become paranoid concerning the supposed frailty of the ignition circuit]. The source of heat for my little fuel heater is the heater (return?) hose ... works OK.

[murphyslaw]

cool cool.

how big is your bio tank?

now with this system it would be a good idea to start and stop on regular diesel to prevent line gelling?

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-10/1092232/worthless_without_pics.gif

[JohnC]

Where did you get that gif? I've only seen ity one other place...

[JohnC]

I elected to install a coolant/fuel heat(er) exchanger to enable disconnecting the heater in my fuel conditioner.

Caution, potential catch 22.

How do you heat the fuel if the fuel is gelled and the engine won't run?

[murphyslaw]

Where did you get that gif? I've only seen ity one other place...


I am the one that made it about three years ago.

[JohnC]

I am the one that made it about three years ago.

Any idea how it got onto the Cessna 140 site?

[murphyslaw]

its gotten around. have seen it on a few sites and have passed it on to a few ppl I know and i'm sure hey have passed it around. I know I have posted it on pirate 4x4 and classic bronco forums and plowsite and a few gun sites, so who knows where it is now. lets see whats the membership of pirate plus the 3k members of ak4x4 plus the 4k members of xdtalk plus the 2k members of combatcarry plus the several thousand on the plowsite. have know Idea how many ppl have it and have passed it around.

[JeepSJ]

I am the one that made it about three years ago.

It gets used a lot over on the Jeepsunlimited forums.

[murphyslaw]

yeah Im sure it gets around it is a "public domain" thing since it was posted on the net with no copyright or anything. i did it cause i thought it would be cool and I needed to make a flash icon type thing for my computer tech class I took in H.S.

[rfuntime]

Well, the truck has a block heater. I figured if it was warm enough to start, then the in tank heater could take over. I was hoping it would keep things warm enough if the temp dropped during the day until I had a chance to adjust the bio ratio. Paul

[murphyslaw]

you might use the bio as the main fuel and have a small mabey 5 gallon tank of regular D, to flush the lines if you suspect its gonna be cold while your away from the rig.

[moody]

I would suggest you take the flow from the cab heater supply line. The return from the tank heater could than be plumbed into the heater return. That way you will always have flow even if the cab heater is not turned on. There will be times where you need to heat the Biodiesel but not the cab. You probably want to make the return switchable so it can return before or after the cab heater depending on wheater or not you want to heat the cab.

You might also think about the high flow water pumps that are used it the cooling mods that are talked about here.

[murphyslaw]

I would suggest you take the flow from the cab heater supply line. The return from the tank heater could than be plumbed into the heater return. That way you will always have flow even if the cab heater is not turned on. There will be times where you need to heat the Biodiesel but not the cab. You probably want to make the return switchable so it can return before or after the cab heater depending on wheater or not you want to heat the cab.

You might also think about the high flow water pumps that are used it the cooling mods that are talked about here.


while this is a good point I have always had the opinion with my plow pump setups that if its cold enought to need the pump im gonna need the heater as well.

[moody]

I do not know about biodiesel but I remember reading you want to run SVO at around 160 F all the time.

I belive that hotter is better with biodiesel also.