block heater and other winter solutions
 

rr. My 87 doesn't like the cold here in VT. I added a fuel additive, but it wasn't good enough. Someone is telling me to use 1 gallon of kerosene for every 10 gallons of diesel.

What do you all like to do for your diesels when it gets real cold?

Is a block heater the best thing to do?

I would have thought it would have come standard. Do I just need a cord kit or a whole heater? Also, are there 2 block heaters?

Thanks

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87 F250 6.9 daily driver, xcab, 4x4
gathering parts for wvo conversion.

86 f250 6.9, xcab, 4x4, plow for sale

I wouldn't use Kero in diesel fuel. Use a premium fuel or use a diesel fuel additive with antigel and cetane booster. For starting up in cold weather. Do use a block heater. It will save the starter and your nerves. OH YES do not use the starter more than 20 seconds at a time with a minimum of 2 minute cooldown between tries. My 93 the block heater was on it. The wvo conversion in cold weather I don't know about how it reacts. I use a commercial B5 biodiesel.

My 2 cents would be switch to synthetic oil. Even on the coldest days that engine will spin pretty fast. The basic 15W40 petroleum oil gets pretty viscus when cold and takes a lot of power to move it when it is as thick as honey. Your block heater works but is a power pig 1500 watts and running a cord to your truck is a pain. Plus if it is a great distance you will need a heavier cord to handle the load. Don't burn your garage down to start your truck. I have an inline radiator hose heater for the extreme cold days below zero. But for the most times above zero to 20 degrees I cycle my glow plugs x2 and in concert with synthetic oil it starts everytime and stays running maybe crank for 8-10 seconds on the high side.

Fuel wise I agree with additives with anti-gel and cetane boost. Power systems white or gray bottle. Never hurts to have the red bottle (911) on hand either. If you are going to a quality station for fuel they probably are having the fuel cut with kerosene right from the distributor so if your adding more is not a good combination. Kerosene actually will decrease your performance has a lower cetane value but keeps your fuel from getting gooey.

Stock block heaters were 1000 watts, if you look over the starter it may be there but the cord may be missing or just hidden. You can get new cords.

6.9-7.3 Engine oil requirements. If you can afford synthetic 0-40 ok......if not.

32F to 100F+........30wt

0F to 100F+..........15W-40

32F to way below freezing ........10W-30

Where In VT are you, Yes The Block heater is the way to go and in real cold climates 2 wouldn't hurt, but you should only need one 1000 watt unit, that is what came in my ride. I just replaced my old heater with a new one from Napa, it was $43 and comes with it's own replacable cord. I was able to install it by removing the feed wire from the starter, that tel me get my large hand up there to work.

I do have the cord from the factory heater still. It is in need of a new 110 end. The origonal end had been replace and I also remove it to test the cord then the element, cord is good, element was open.

I run WVO, and starting is not a problem, my motor will purge all veg out and be back on dino fuel in less than a mile of driving or 20 seconds setting in my drive.

The Napa Replacement heater for our Motors looks almost identical to the origonal.

Forgot to mention,,, Stock heater at my local Stealership was $65.00, then the nice parts man asked me if I needed a cord, that would be an additional $47.00, and he could order both if I wanted them. When the shock wore off and I could talk again I said don't order, I will check around. Dave S. mentioned the Napa unit, It looks to be made by "Kimstat". or something like that, it is much more substantial than the new Kats and you want 1000 watts. And mine even had a instalation sheet with it for how to install in our IDI's :-)

I am in Craftsbury, VT
Northeast kingdom. It can get pretty cold. Definitely way below freezing. I have a cord that was used to plug in an rv. I think it should be thick enough. I'll look for the napa one and an additive
power systems is the best?

I'll look for the napa block heater.

Changing the oil would be a pain in the neck right now, but I'm considering it.

1000 watt heater = 8.3 amps. 14x3 cord 50 ft is rated for 15 amps, 12x3 50' is good for 20 amps, 10x3 RV cord is rated for 30 amps It is alway good to use a larger cord and heavy duty ends. The cord I removed from the stock / origonal heater is a whooping 18ga. because it is short and the last cord before the heater, they get away with it. The new napa cord was a little shorter and is also the whooping little 18 ga. cord.

I have good friends in Brattleboro but they are way south of you.

Stadadyne is probably the best, but PowerServer products are available at more places Walmart even carries Power server products, TSC has the best price around here, AutoZone has it on there shelves also. There are others also.

If you do decide to add Kerosene the additive will even be more inportant as Kerosene has even less lube than our ULS diesel.

You should actualy be using an additive with every fill up to lube your Injection pump.

Ken

Mighty pre-94 7.3 N/A 20k on WVO

I mispoke a little on the block heater wattage since the stock one croaked a long time ago (lack of use) lovely NY weather etc. My inline is 1500 watts at least thats what they claim and I don't use that much either especially this year............ It's power service not systems as I dumped some in today read the bottle said Duh to myself. So my apologies to all on that. The name brand issues I am not sure and don't like to say one is better than the other. But none by far is worse. Like in previous posts the Power (Service) ahh I can say it is pretty common at least in my area. The white or gray bottle I think the gray bottle gives more cetane but as already established reading might be tough for me. The red bottle is the oops already gelled and iced filter fixer I have used this on some backhoes and a couple of dump trucks over the years. But if you stick to using an additive as a must do especially with ultra low sulpher. Let the dust collect on the red bottle.

Winter fuel is usually blended fuel in this day and age.
To make winter fuel they blend kerosene and #2 diesel.
The kerosene has less BTU's per gallon so fuel mileage drops off and power drops off, but the kerosene also has less paraffin in it so it does not gel as easily. When you add kerosene you are diluting the paraffin in the #2 so it does not gel as easy either.

As stated earlier kerosene does not have the near as much lubrication as diesel does, so you still need to run addatives, and you will need to step up the dose size per tank of fuel.
With the cost of kerosene per gallon, the addatives may be cheaper and do a better job in the end.

If you ran something like Stanadyne Lubricity Formula at higher than recommended dosages, your engine would run just fine on straight kerosene even though the power and MPG would take a big hit.

Block heaters can be bought anywhere from 500 to 1500 watts at almost any parts house. The last one I bought from NAPA was a little over 50 dollars and did include the cord. It was a 1500 watt heater.

Rule of thumb on cord selection, the longer the cord the bigger the conductors need to be. When you walk out to your truck after it has been plugged in for a while, if the cord has melted down into the snow or ice it is not heavy enough. You are losing power to resistance in the cord which is making the heat that melted the ice or snow.

The reason the block heater can use such small conductor wire is because it is basically suspended in mid air. This allows the air to circulate around the cord and keep it cool. The only time it may create a problem (fire) is if it is covered in grease and oil from your engine oil leaking all over it. A trip to the car wash can fix that problem.

I picked up a 100' 12-3 cord for what I believe is the stock block heater. Its the biggest I could find without going to a big box hardware store. Is it big enough?

Should be fine just run it for a couple hours and check it. But that size ext. cord is rated for circular saws that draw 1500 watts or so.

#12 wire should be good to 15 amps or 1800 watts at that distance.

Good to hear I made the right decision. I almost bought 14-3 and an ax but decided to just get the 12-3 for the same money instead.

1500 watts at 115 volts is 13.04 amps

#12 wire in a 100 foot cord with a supply voltage of 120 volts will deliver 13 amps at 110 volts at the other end, so actually it is not big enough although close.
#10 wire in a 100 foot cord with a supply voltage of 120 volts will deliver 13 amps at 114 volts at the other end, so it would have been a better choice.
To get the 13.04 amps at 115 volts the heater is asking for would actually require #8 wire in the cord if it were 100 feet long.

Being a master electrician I will not let anyone plug my 13 amp 115 volt circle saw into a 12 AWG extension cord longer than 50 feet.