Circulating block heater

[Big Muddy rancher]

On my son's 2001 Peterbilt with a C15 Cat has a circulating block heater. The heater works but I think it is plumbed in wrong as it gets hot but doesn't circulate the coolant.
The bottom hose comes off a block from under the cab and the top just goes into the water jacket inside the frame. It doesn't seem to heat the engine block. It also has an immersion type heater in the back of that water jacket that will warm the block.
Anybody know where to plumb the circulating one in?

 

[Silver]

I would plumb it in on a heater hose making sure the inlet was well below the outlet, outlet towards the engine, not the heater core.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I would plumb it in on a heater hose making sure the inlet was well below the outlet, outlet towards the engine, not the heater core.

The inlet does come off a heater hose but not sure where to connect the heater outlet to the block. :?

 

[Haytrucker]

I have no answers, but questions; is this a Canadian (northern) equipped truck? Is the circulating heater in the sleeper heating circuit?
I don't ask from a geographical bias, but from not seeing this kind of plumbing on similar aged trucks, but without sleepers.

 

[littlejoe]

On my son's 2001 Peterbilt with a C15 Cat has a circulating block heater. The heater works but I think it is plumbed in wrong as it gets hot but doesn't circulate the coolant.
The bottom hose comes off a block from under the cab and the top just goes into the water jacket inside the frame. It doesn't seem to heat the engine block. It also has an immersion type heater in the back of that water jacket that will warm the block.
Anybody know where to plumb the circulating one in?

Sorry--not w/o looking--but the more vertical separation, better they work. They can also kinda 'airlock' when first put on or if drained. On the 'immersion' type, my cummins would fire right up with tank heater, but peg the oil pres forever if it was really cold. I put one of them in bottem of oil pan--think they don't draw a lot, sure makes a difference--

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I have no answers, but questions; is this a Canadian (northern) equipped truck? Is the circulating heater in the sleeper heating circuit?
I don't ask from a geographical bias, but from not seeing this kind of plumbing on similar aged trucks, but without sleepers.

I would say it is a northern equipped truck or it is going to be soon.
I think the hose for the inlet of the heat is from the bunk system but the hot water outlet is going to the water jacket on the right side of the motor. I think it need to feed into the engine higher up but not sure where to tap into block. :???:

Yes Little Joe I think a stick on oil pan heater would be a good idea, I used a clamp on style on my old Mack for years and it sure helped. I think now you can silicone on a pad type that does a even better job of heat transfer.

 

[greybeard]

Try go in through a plug in the head.
If you only need the extra heat occasionally try packing Fiberglas insulation around the motor overnight. The immersion heater can keep it warm enough if you can keep all the heat in the block without loosing all the heat off the side of the block.

 

[George]

I like the "Freeze plug" replacement ones the best as they deliver more heat right to the block, if it is very cold a magnetic oil pan heater really helps and it will warm the oil first and then rise thru the block. You can get them at NAPA that come with stainless steel straps for permanent mounting to the bottom of the oil pan.

I used to "Crush Cars" and the loaders and crusher would set in the junk yards with out access to power so I put hydraulic quick connects in the heater hoses of the equipment as well as the pick up we drove back and forth. I then had 2 heater hoses about 20' long with the same connectors on them.

Pull the pickup up to the first loader and hookup the hoses and turn the heater on full and the temp gauge on the pickup would drop to nothing but in about 5 minutes it was back to normal and the loader would fire right up, on to the second loader then the crusher. If it was cold enough that I though I needed that I also hooked up jumper cables to warm the batteries up as well. After just a couple of days of this the anti freeze levels in all machines was the same.

 

[Silver]

I like the "Freeze plug" replacement ones the best as they deliver more heat right to the block, if it is very cold a magnetic oil pan heater really helps and it will warm the oil first and then rise thru the block. You can get them at NAPA that come with stainless steel straps for permanent mounting to the bottom of the oil pan.

I think you're talking about a regular old block heater in the frost plug? If so, those are okay but don't hold a candle to a circulating heater for heating an engine. Like the name suggests, the circulating heater actually moves hot water through block rather than just heating it in one place and trying to radiate heat outwards.

 

[per]

Circulating better than block, oil pan also good idea. If it were mine though I would equip it with a proheat. Expensive yes but it gets winter every year in Saskatchewan.

 

[Silver]

Circulating better than block, oil pan also good idea. If it were mine though I would equip it with a proheat. Expensive yes but it gets winter every year in Saskatchewan.

:agree: :nod:

 

[Triangle Bar]

On my son's 2001 Peterbilt with a C15 Cat has a circulating block heater. The heater works but I think it is plumbed in wrong as it gets hot but doesn't circulate the coolant.
The bottom hose comes off a block from under the cab and the top just goes into the water jacket inside the frame. It doesn't seem to heat the engine block. It also has an immersion type heater in the back of that water jacket that will warm the block.
Anybody know where to plumb the circulating one in?

Those tank heater circulate the fluid by convection. So, I think your heater needs to be lower than your cold water inlet and then your warm water outlet should be higher on the block than the inlet. I installed one on my JD wheel loader and plumbed the outlet into the engine oil cooler, which is located at about mid block height. That allows the warm water to rise up through the block to the head. Works good. It's a 2000 watt tank heater I bought at NAPA.