Warming the Cummins

[RonNBama]

The Aquahot seems to warm the engine block so am I to assume that the "block heater" will provide additional security by warming the oil, or are these systems redundant? Supposed to be low 20's when I light her off tomorrow morning and I know a warm Cummins is a happy Cummins.

I plugged the space heater into a monitor last night and recorded power consumption. True to predictions, the 7.5 amp draw shows just under 1KWH per hour of run time. I figure it took about 80-cents of TVA's finest 60 Hz juice to keep the interior in the low 40 degree range with an outside low of 24 degrees.

Heading to Tombigbee State Park for a few days so if any of you Elvis-city folks need me to bring you a cup of pure Alabama antifreeze, speak up.

Oh, and no need to lock up the livestock and chickens, I am well beyond that phase now having completed rehabilitation at a certified facility.

[RonNBama]

The Aquahot seems to warm the engine block so am I to assume that the "block heater" will provide additional security by warming the oil, or are these systems redundant? Supposed to be low 20's when I light her off tomorrow morning and I know a warm Cummins is a happy Cummins.

I plugged the space heater into a monitor last night and recorded power consumption. True to predictions, the 7.5 amp draw shows just under 1KWH per hour of run time. I figure it took about 80-cents of TVA's finest 60 Hz juice to keep the interior in the low 40 degree range with an outside low of 24 degrees.

Heading to Tombigbee State Park for a few days so if any of you Elvis-city folks need me to bring you a cup of pure Alabama antifreeze, speak up.

Oh, and no need to lock up the livestock and chickens, I am well beyond that phase now having completed rehabilitation at a certified facility.

[FleetMan]

The block heater warms only engine coolant, not the oil in the pan. There are electric blanket like devices which you can attach to the oil pan if you want the oil heated also. Temperatures in the 20's should not be a concern if you are using a good diesel rated 15W/40 engine oil.

[Pusherpilot]

My experience with the AquaHot is that it will heat the engine to about 112 degrees using the electric element only. We've used this procedure several time when getting under way from the cabin during winter conditions. Temps in the mid-low 20's. Leave the electric element on and the room temp thermostats set for 50 degrees. About 2hrs before starting turn on the diesel burner in the AquaHot and the engine heat feature. Turn the heat zones in the coach up to 70. the The temp in the coach is always around 70 and the engine at about 120 every time when I start it to get under way. The engine temp always drops 20-30 degrees immediatly after starting due to cold oil. Turn off the engine pre-heat and the electric heater features of the AquaHot. You might want to turn off the diesel burner too bu I usually wait till we hit the road to do that.I always wait a few minutes for the tranny to warm up a bit before moving the coach.

[nodine]

Our coach has been sitting in the driveway for a month without cranking the Cummins ISL. It was 17 yesterday morning when we yawned. We left the house about 10:30 am for Gatlinburg and the old ISL fired up without a sputter or a cough. I do have the Trik-L-Start and keep the Dip plugged in to 50 amp circuit all the time.

Bob