Engine heater

[kitchenman]

Fitted the engine heater last week

Took 25 min to heat to 60 C



Total time to fit around 30 mins
Just got to wait for the cold weather to test it out
It has a built in stat which shuts down at 60C, then cycles, I spoke to Adam the guy who sells them he says he personally guarantees them for a year

Thanks for the tip on photobucket, a lot easier then doing singles
dave

 

[zippy656]

Where you get it from, and how much?

 

[kitchenman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Engine-Pre-Heater-240v-/190803451934?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:3160

 

[zippy656]

how you plug in?

 

[kitchenman]

At the moment to an extension lead, but I plan to fit a plug to the tow bar to take 250V into the Mav, I used to do that some years ago when I had a Kenlow. Also to power the trickle charger on the leisure battery
The only drawback with the pre heater is the euro plug, but an adaptor is readily available, I got mine from Tesco <£5.
This works fine for me as I am parked off road.
Only drawback I found was forgetting to unplug the lead before driving away
I plan to fit a mains relay into the ignition circuit, just a matter of locating the wire that energises the IP so mains on = no 12V to IP. One of you guys will be able to advise me on that I am sure.:bow
dave

 

[zippy656]

kenlows have a socket on the bumpers on the ones ive seen

 

[rustic]

kenlows have a socket on the bumpers on the ones ive seen

What ever method you use, ensure that there is an RCD earth leakage trip to protect the mains cable outside.

 

[zippy656]

What ever method you use, ensure that there is an RCD earth leakage trip to protect the mains cable outside.

ive got one fitted to the caravan cable, as thats the one id use for a heater in the T2

 

[kitchenman]

Hi,
Thanks for the RCD warning, I already have them in my consumer unit.
A real life saver
I already have the cable, I had mains in my old van, I am well retired now so work out of my Mav after taking out seats and fitting a deck, just got to get a new plug old one had a fight with a low wall:doh
Close up of the pre heater,

I plan to put some thinner high density foam under it so save the hose

I like photobucket, no need to change file size
dave

 

[arcascomp]

I had a thought on one of these - what sort of amps does it draw? I wondered if it was possible to run a battery -> inverter -> heater arrangement as I can only really park on the street.

Could recharge battery at work during the day maybe

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I had a thought on one of these - what sort of amps does it draw? I wondered if it was possible to run a battery -> inverter -> heater arrangement as I can only really park on the street.

Could recharge battery at work during the day maybe

In practice, probably not... they are around 2Kw, so via an inverter, it would be drawing around 200amp from the 12v side.

80Ah battery to 50% would give you pretty much 12 mins running, and nothing left to start the car The heater takes about 30mins to warm the engine.

 

[rustic]

I had a thought on one of these - what sort of amps does it draw? I wondered if it was possible to run a battery -> inverter -> heater arrangement as I can only really park on the street.

Could recharge battery at work during the day maybe

This would not be a practical application.

2 kw, the draw on the mains for the heater shown in the picture will be 8 amps, and at 12 volts you would be drawing over 160 amps, via the inverter for the duration...

You would need a set of batteries the size for a milk float....

You would probably need 4 seperate 110 Ah leisure batteries, which would allow you to run the heater for approx 2 sessions of 1/2 hour before the battery was discharged to 50% It would not be practical to use the alternator on the vehicle to charge these batteries, unless you had a very long drive to work:doh.

So a separate alternator plus all the wiring...


Rustic

 

[arcascomp]

Ouch, hadn't clocked the wattage on ebay - 2Kw - way outta battery league!! Well, it was just an idle thought!

My thoughts were more long the lines of a removable battery pack to charge from the mains each day to then power up the heater in the morning - dunno what I was thinking about, as obviously there would need to be loads of leccy to heat up that ol block of iron!

 

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

so does that heat the matrix first then the block, or where does the heat go first?

 

[kitchenman]

OK, the pre heater has a pump, one hose connection says 'outlet' that is the offset one.
I assumed the normal flow on the Mav is from stat to cab heater to cylinder head
All going well the hot water from pre heater goes through cab heater, into cylinder head then out through stat to pre heater.
Anyway after a few minutes the block near the exhaust started to get warm, it was according to my IR temp gauge 40C when the pump switched off at 60C
The real test will be when ambient is nearer zero, not for a long while I hope.
dave