That's ok sady.. I'm glad someone actually read what I wrote.

I didn't make the tank myself. I designed the system, and had it all installed. The guys at the shop I went to had to "fill in the blanks" on some of the stuff. I told them I wanted a k1 tank that held a gallon at least.

They came up with that tank. It's made in a dogleg shape out of 5" exhaust pipe. It holds near a gallon and a half. It protrudes down into the area in front of the tire. I will proably "armor" it with a little pvc just for good measure.

The heater itself sounds like a small jet engine. It pumps out a serious amount of heat. I'll have to leave a note on it so that the fire dept doesnt get called.

JP

__________________
________
1985 300SD
2001 Toyota Tundra - soon to be replaced with diesel truck
2006 Honda CRV

No problem, I would only expect the same from other forum members reading my threads.

Sounds cool.. I wonder how much fuel that little heater will burn off in an hour. Ive always wanted to mess around with one, but havent found one cheap enough

Cheap they are not. I was lucky enough to get the heater as a gift. Installation was a lot. They did a heck of a job. But it took the checkbook a few weeks to recover.

Specs on the heater are .11 gal/hr in high. .08 in low

Heater will only run a two hour cycle. If I was at home during the week.. I would probably change the program to run for just 45 minutes or so every morning.

I'm guessing that I'll have a couple weeks worth of fuel running it every day.
longer the weeks that I am gone. I can set it to come on 7 days down the road. But it doesn't have a setting for every day of the week. You would need to set it each night before. Takes like 3 seconds to set it though.

JP

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1985 300SD
2001 Toyota Tundra - soon to be replaced with diesel truck
2006 Honda CRV

Sounds great. Do you have any idea about how it works exactly?

Like I said, I have always wanted to mess around, but never got around to it.

I wonder if it is possible to build one

Its really nice that you can set it ahead of time, and it sounds easy to use.

Thats not much fuel use either.

It must get a lot colder in Maine than I thought it did.

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

For whatever reason the temperatures seem to be even lower in parts of maine than in eastern canada at times. The savings in engine abuse with almost any diesel are probably worth the effort even if it will start itself without one here on certain mornings. But that is doubtful without some assistance even if engine is in good shape. I am not in line for a gift unit but any ideal of their basic unistalled cost?

Wow, that looks like a great system. Even though you got the heater for free, did you look at the Webasto? Those "standing heaters" have always intrigued me, but are probably not necessary on Long Island, unless I was running bio. The install on the heater looks really clean.

Why will you mix the bio with kero instead of #1 diesel? Does it bring the gel temp lower with the kero? How cold do you think you could go with your new systems in place running bio100? Did you consider a fuel filter heater that warms by warm water instead of electricity? How large is the aux. battery?

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

After I posted, I begin to rethink my position on temperature. Maine is north of me and about the same as our upper peninsula, and I know it gets cold up there.

It looks like a very nice install, BTW.

It there a temp sensor on your heater for automatic shutoff?

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

~$1500

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Yes, I did look at webasto. The main reason for the espar is the timer feature. I need to go away, and have it come on 6 days later.

The aux battery is the one that was in the car. A 2 year old 950CA.

The heater is a bit more complex than it seems. It's got a fuel pump, glow pin, flame sensor, water pump, and yes.. it does have water temp sensors so that it will run in high, or low mode accordingly. It will shut the burner down for all sorts of abnormal situations. It will also shut off if the fluid is hot and it doesnt need it.

I figured this was way better than a remote starter.. as diesels don't warm up much idling.

#1 diesel is winterized by them adding k1 to #2. The fuel companies very the amounts according to temps. Up here in Maine.. in the dead of winter they get close to 50/50. I figured.. why buy the #2 portion of the fuel when I only want the anti-gel capabilities of the K1.

JP

__________________
________
1985 300SD
2001 Toyota Tundra - soon to be replaced with diesel truck
2006 Honda CRV

You can probably talk to Hatty about Espar and Webasto heaters. They use the heck out of them on boats.