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Bus Discussion => Bus Topics ( click here for quick start! ) => Topic started by: Scott & Heather on December 19, 2016, 06:01:47 AM

Title: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Scott & Heather on December 19, 2016, 06:01:47 AM
Yep, it was crisp this morning. I kinda like it. The air is clean. It's quiet. The birds are too frozen to chirp. The snow squeaks under your feet. This will be a nice Christmas. And it's around 75°F inside. (https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fuploads.tapatalk-cdn.com%2F20161219%2Fa034bb605e4d5dac9db00718992f0684.jpg&hash=dee2a9589b0239969aa583596ad13dc8c8e4299f)(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fuploads.tapatalk-cdn.com%2F20161219%2Fcf41c47e28b599f107a2838c8123d778.jpg&hash=fc565553836089c459769898614fe20421483440)


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Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Oonrahnjay on December 19, 2016, 06:16:22 AM
     Do you have a block heater for when you're ready to fire up, Scott?   You're going to be really "cold soaked" after a few days in this weather.  Glad it's all going well for you.  Merry Christmas!
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Dave5Cs on December 19, 2016, 07:01:39 AM
Yep my Wife's sister sent us pictures of her place in up in Grayling MI, this morning, Burrrrrrrrrr
Dave5Cs
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Jim Eh. on December 19, 2016, 09:16:38 AM
Cheer up. Warmer weather is on the way. Was -20 here a few days ago now +25(F).
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Scott & Heather on December 19, 2016, 02:18:48 PM
I don't have a block heater on this coach. Our 9 had one. Worked well. Someday I'll get one installed on this coach. Running 50 weight oil, she protests cold starts. A little squirt from the start can and she fires up.


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Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: sledhead on December 19, 2016, 02:42:01 PM
I have the aqua hot system on the featherlite and I am sure it will be amazing but because I keep the rv in a garage it would be nice to just plug in a block heater on a timer like I did with the M C I and it would be nice and warm before I start it . so I had a kat magnetic heater ( 300 watts ) and now it is stuck to the side of the cat 550 hp engine to pre heat it before start up . now I know at 300 watts it is no where near the 1200 watts of the block heater I had but it should be enough to get it started so I can move the rv outside to start up the aqua hot system  . I too want to put a block heater on the cat as with 3 new big 12 v batteries it is slow to start even when its warmish out

https://www.amazon.com/Kats-1160-300-Watt-Handi-Heat-Magnetic/product-reviews/B000I8YOR4 (https://www.amazon.com/Kats-1160-300-Watt-Handi-Heat-Magnetic/product-reviews/B000I8YOR4)

dave
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Beachfinn on December 20, 2016, 03:43:16 AM
Scott,
I forget, what do you use for heat? Wayyyy too cold for me  :)
Sami
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: blue_goose on December 20, 2016, 06:38:49 AM
Not a hard fix, still time to make the rally in Florida.  Going to be 80 here today.
Jack
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Scott & Heather on December 20, 2016, 11:14:24 AM
Dave, I am interested in a Kat. I'm curious how well you like it? I might just get a Wolverine 1200 watt pad and stick it to the pan. Sami, I have a 40,000 BTU Goodman two stage 98% efficient furnace. But it's not hooked up to propane, power, or ducting yet :) So I'm using my rooftop heatpumps which have kept it fine down to the teens. In these temps we have three little cube heaters (1200 watts each). One in the livingroom, one in the kitchen to keep the shower/bath/kitchen warm and one in our bedroom that we haven't been using much because it roasts us out in the bedroom. One electric ceramic heater in the plumbing bay has kept it toasty in there. No frozen plumbing :) -6F is the coldest we've gotten down to so far this past week. It's warming back up now to the mid twenties so I think we are safe. It was nice to see how warm we could keep it in here in the cold. We keep it a little warmer in here than most would find comfortable because we have a tiny 14 month old who can lose body heat pretty fast if shes not kept toasty. So it's always around 75 degrees in here at chest level. Around 72 at floor level...pushing 78-80 at ceiling level.

Jack, don't tempt me :) I loved the Arcadia rally. We will get there again. Just can't say for sure when :)
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: sledhead on December 20, 2016, 02:08:27 PM
if I did not have the kat heater ( picked it up years ago for a old tractor at a great sale price ) for the price I will install a real block heater in the spring
I turned it on for a 3 hour test in the garage and the engine was warm at 65 f but outside in the cold it would help but not like a block heater . so save your money and install a block heater

I would like to know how well the inline pumped heater's work on the heater lines if any one has used them
 
dave
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: B_K on December 20, 2016, 03:02:18 PM
Dave the older Setra's we used to run came from the factory with an inline pumped heater and thye worked awesome!
;D  BK  ;D
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Scott & Heather on December 20, 2016, 03:37:52 PM
Ok Dave good to know I'll save our money for the real deal


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Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: dtcerrato on December 20, 2016, 04:55:48 PM
Nice contrast between the exterior & interior photos at the beginning of this post. Yes it should be cold, icy, & snow on Christmas - so enjoy & have a great safe Holiday. JimmyHeet makes a real nice block heater, we have the 2000 watt unit. Thanks again for the photos & Merry Christmas to you & yours...
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: bigred on December 22, 2016, 06:37:23 AM
Scott :If your DLS (drip leak and smoke)is like mine,you won't get that thing fired before the next 4'th of July !!!! lol
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Jim Eh. on December 22, 2016, 05:09:01 PM
Scott, look into one of these before a block heater. They produce convection heating much better than a block heater (if installed properly).
http://www.phillipsandtemro.com/our_products/circulation-heaters.asp (http://www.phillipsandtemro.com/our_products/circulation-heaters.asp)
Plus in my mind (such as it is) seems to be easier to install.
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Scott & Heather on December 22, 2016, 06:39:23 PM
Jim those look like a nice system. Simple too. I could plumb it in at the Heater core up front too if I wanted to


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Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Jim Eh. on December 25, 2016, 11:37:10 PM
Not too sure on the amount heat loss by the time it got back to the engine block but sure would be instant heat in the cockpit as soon as you fired up  ;)
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Oonrahnjay on December 26, 2016, 04:44:49 AM
Quote from: Jim Eh. on December 25, 2016, 11:37:10 PMNot too sure on the amount heat loss by the time it got back to the engine block but sure would be instant heat in the cockpit as soon as you fired up  ;) 

      Lots of details would be different, but VW doesn't cast blocks for the TDI diesel (Jetta, Passat, Golf in N America) with freeze plugs so it's impossible to fit an ordinary element-type block heater.  A small company has come up with a system that uses one of those Temro heaters (it's just a kit with the heater, electrical cable and connector, brackets, and replacement hoses with correct length and bends).
      Of course, a bus engine would be different (10 L vs. 1.9), but that system works like a charm -- warm engine to start, instant defrost and interior heat, etc.  I'm gonna guess that one of the "in-line" heaters would be very useful in a bus. 
      VW "dealer accessories" offered a stick-on oil pan heater - I never tried one but the people who did said that they helped a little but there wasn't a lot of heat to the top of the engine and they had a habit of falling off the pan!  I think if I lived in a really cold area, I'd have an antifreeze (or block) heater and an oil pan heater, too.  But for VWs, the in-line seems to be the ticket.
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: MB LeMirage on December 26, 2016, 09:07:58 AM
I had an inline heater on my old caterpillar D4 and it worked awesome. We could fire the old beast up at temps down to the -30s C. Just a $60 Tempro unit from Canadian Tire, but boy oh boy it was the best thing I ever did to that machine.
Ryan
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Jim Eh. on December 26, 2016, 04:25:27 PM
On my 7.3L pick up I disconnected the block heater and just use the Temro. They work better, when properly installed, because they circulate by inversion just that much better.

A note on oil pan heaters... oil when heated tends to separate into layers so basically you are just heating the first 1/2" to 3/4" above the bottom of the oil pan. Not really worth the electricity to drive it.
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Scott & Heather on December 26, 2016, 07:21:43 PM
Jim, if the coolant is circulating constantly, heat loss wouldn't be too bad. The coolant lines are inside the insulated tunnel.


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Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: RJ on December 26, 2016, 08:39:35 PM
Scott -

1st priority is getting that big old 92-series fired up, thus a coolant/block heater on the engine itself.

2nd would be a supplemental coolant heater for the defroster, especially with those big C-series windshields.

3rd to eliminate the use of starting fluid, unless you're planning on rebuilding your engine from its use.

My coach has a block heater, which has been used often over the last couple of years. I have a switch inside to turn it on - a couple hours later she'll fire right up just like it's 70* outside.

Consider it an investment, not an expense!

FWIW & HTH...

;)
Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Scott & Heather on December 27, 2016, 05:49:43 AM
Nice! I like the switch idea. On my 9 I had to go out and plug it in every time.


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Title: Re: -4°F Northern Michigan in Coach
Post by: Dave5Cs on December 27, 2016, 08:19:03 AM
RJ where is your Block heater screwed into the block. right side or on the front behind the dip stick tube?
Dave5cs