Battery Powered Block Heater

Anyone ever use a battery powered blanket for warming machinery/equipment in the cold?

For some reason, I got it into my head that a 5F/-15C morning would be the perfect time to do some brush hogging with my walk-behind DR mower out at my orchard. After about 10 minutes of trying to get it started I gave up and decided it was not to be that morning. Last week, I was dealing with low pressure in a really cold propane torch I was trying to use, and there are couple more months of winter to go.

I've been looking for an easy way to heat things up while out there, but don't have electricity or gas available at the orchard. Burn barrels can throw off a lot of heat, but would be a bit of a pain to set up. So, I've been thinking about using an inexpensive battery powered blanket as a makeshift block heater and was wondering if anyone has tried something similar. If so, how well did it work?

I have never tried this, but I'm sure it would help.
I wonder how long a battery would last?
Might, take a bit to  heat up the metal enough for it to be above ambient room temperature.

Battery heat might be worth trying, just remember heat rises in air so put the blanket under or all around not over what needs heat.

thomas rubino wrote:I have never tried this, but I'm sure it would help.
I wonder how long a battery would last?
Might, take a bit to  heat up the metal enough for it to be above ambient room temperature.

According to Amazon, it say's it should last about 4 hours on a standard 20V DeWalt battery, so I'll figure 2 hours per battery. Luckily, I have several so that shouldn't be a problem. I doubt it will ever get things warm, but just going from 5F to 45F would be a huge improvement for some things.

Decided to spend $30 and order one. Will report back in a week or two with the results.

Milwaukee tools make jackets for tradesmen using 18V batteries.

They work for things like propane bottles and batteries, but I don’t know if they have enough output for a cold chunk of metal the size of a small engine.

We used to use a torpedo heaters, but have switched over to one of the Chinese diesel heaters. Set it by the equipment, point the air outlet at the oil pan or bottom of the block, and let it go. A small engine takes 5-10 minutes, a tractor takes 30-60.

The Amazons were slow in delivering the battery powered heater this weekend, so I wasn't able to test it out. However, placing warm coals from a fire pit in pot under my brush hog for about 20 minutes worked wonderfully in getting it started in 5F weather. Hoping to try out the electric blanket next weekend.

Another option: drain the engine oil and bring it inside to warm to room temperature.

That's what they did in WWII when they were ferrying aircraft over the pole to the USSR. Otherwise the planes would have been impossible to start.

So, it was about 15F this morning and I can report that the battery powered blanket was a colossal failure in warming up the engine enough to get it started.

My first warning was the blanket wouldn't even turn on in the cold. I had to keep it inside my coat for about 20 minutes for it to be warm enough to turn on. Once I finally got it started, it ran for about half an hour, but the battery powered blanket was still quite cold. It just didn't have enough power to make a difference in starting the engine.

To get the engine started, I ended up making a small fire in the pot shown above, suffocating the fire, and then using the pot to heat the engine once again.

With the battery powered warmer out, I decided to make the world's okayest stove by cutting some holes in a stock pot, igniting some charcoal in the pot, and than closing it up. After about 20-30 minutes, the engine was warm enough to start after a few pulls.

I think the next iteration will have bigger holes to allow for more combustion and shorter heating times.

I have the brother to that DR brush hog out here, '82 vintage or so. Was my dad's. Thing is a beast, digests about anything. Maintenance welding repair and a carb kit, the only real work ever done to it.

I got stuck off road in Nevada about -10F with a '72 Dodge 4x4 turning over just too slow, too cold to start, long walk to anywhere. Had a coffee can, spare fuel, and spare oils in the tool box. Made a smudge pot with the coffee can and a can opener punching a ring of holes around the bottom. Mixed gas with enough oils to slow the fire way down, covered the engine with the Mexican blanket from the seat. I perched the pot on a rock as close as felt safe to the oil pan and patiently kept a fire going for an hour or so. Could hear the engine cranking speed pick up when the thinned, warmed oil started circulating. I was late to work, but not as late as walking for help would have made me.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Another option: drain the engine oil and bring it inside to warm to room temperature.

That's what they did in WWII when they were ferrying aircraft over the pole to the USSR. Otherwise the planes would have been impossible to start.

I had a  Ford LTD car  in Indiana,    I bought a heater that went into the oil dipstick slot and it warmed the oil...    it worked very well for me.

This looks to be an example of such a device.

https://www.amazon.com/All-States-Parts-S-P/dp/B01N6EJRJW?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.L9tefDa4w5NgGM8KXS8xLp_ZBjJCKmTCvByAKdX5QzaAwqHvRMeRnui91vBWCvYzGBs76BZwWWqie3BnsMqgyNlpattlw8gnmNGmcqSRp7ypQ8SgauqXHm80XlO7AdtlBm3GX5oXcLF1jG6S1ZVHPcKbxaK_OWUhv3KFxWbwKoYic6TfvynxAu5sy-ho6NYiyhLumjrWnXN6qiJgp4bvQQb2vyt_jZedOwDg5wCl-J4.blmW66IfZ2xMUWZ7PgV77639c7icomJYdmn-OQAOsI4&dib_tag=se&keywords=dipstick+heater&qid=1770186472&sr=8-1

Looks like this is another option for heating the oil in oil pan..

https://www.amazon.com/1190X-Magnetic-Machinery-Vehicles-Surface-Thermostat/dp/B0DQ6Y18PR?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LkeJPjOcGgxVtkjDTeOBn8p4jWbS4_wBZq5Q6TZ45WtXSEn1wdvCOMu_sjXNakOirdegmsYs_CW2sDhGVcYTCEI19jFCsqX9lbppZFe0Mh98VZeLZEE6GUlHbZlUM9O14hp1XyrrSesthK11zx9n8u5Wt2hQqM-Ta_c7wyltIzkT4vIitGOsW-Nst2YF4DCu2MIgemw2K7zrazIoW9vZVCD_ncdQ8iS-vpEuvdoFgpg.-01jLZSbviBeCwe1wesltdZ03aUnc-UtvDrbbJc06Qc&dib_tag=se&keywords=magnetic%2Bblock%2Bheater&qid=1770186733&sr=8-14&th=1

I love all this talk about a block heater.  I installed one on my tractor due to some difficult cold starts.  The addition of the block heater makes the engine think that it is a warm, spring day everyday.

However, I am a little cautious about the the idea of powering the block heater with a battery.  This all boils down to the power consumption of the block heater itself.  I honestly don't know what the power consumption is of my tractor, but if anyone wants to try, it is a JD2038R with a 37HP engine.  I did find some block heaters (it was for a diesel Ford F-350) and it consumed over a kilowatt!  Also, the details on that specific block heater stated that the truck should be plugged in for several hours for the block heater to thoroughly warm up.  If I guess at 1.2Kw for 4 hours, then I get a whopping 4.8 KwH.  My battery box I am working on at home (slowly I might add) is a 12v, 100 AH, yielding a 1.2 KwH of total capacity or 1/4 of what was suggested for that truck!  Now I know that that specific engine is huge compared to mine and being plugged in for an hour might warm the engine enough.  But either way, I would want to find the specific numbers on the wattage of the engine block heater and from there get an idea of the size of a battery or battery system you would need.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, I just want to get the specifics right before I try something like this,


Good luck and please tell me what you think!!


Eric

Running a block heater off grid, seems like a non-starter. We go nowhere below -30F. Propane in tanks less than 40lbs will not function, generators have to come into the house at night, heating anything that's been outside all night is very tough.
This is a clear day at -27F, after a cold snap. Needed to get  a truck started. Blanket over the engine, propane milkhouse heater, battery charger. Torch heats the propane tanks to keep the vapor flowing as req'd.
Drop the hood for couple hours, go have coffee.

Tommy, the situation you describe  is the exact set of circumstances that come to mind when I think about how challenging it would be to power a block heater with a battery while off grid.

Though I do have to ask about this....While I think that a battery might not be the best option for the block heater unless it was huge, would a little inverter (or regular) generator work?  I was thinking a out the inverter generator just because of how efficiently they sip the gas.  And a single gallon of gas is going to hold a lot more energy than a similar sized battery?  Granted, the setup you have there is going to heat not only the engine block, but also pretty much everything under the hood.



Nice picture by the way.



Eric

Yes, we've had that discussion. That little ONAN P4500i is pretty good on fuel and will pull 3kw. Red truck does not have a block heater, grey one does, only one is up north at any given time.
Grey Dodge block heater is like 1200W. Need to have that truck plugged in early to turn around a few days of -35-40F cold soak. Cannot obviously have it on overnight.
Milkhouse heater warms block, intake, battery. I'll even bring battery indoors when I know the -40's are on the way.
This is also the process for starting the bulldozer. Fuel tank gets water condensate drained in October, keep a couple spare fuel filters in case the Power Service does not stop waxing, use only winter fuel after September, which is when my local distributor starts getting progressively lighter winter blend.
Along the lines of your heater, I bought a 12V 'heating pad' for an RV wastewater tank. Intended to use it for the 'dozer fuel tank, but not rigged it up yet. Runs 75W, so not necessarily a leave overnight thing on a tractor battery.
Also, the guys at Coombs Country, who import those Delicas 4x4 vans I've highlighted here, told my wife they will not install block heaters in those little diesels because of some sort of overheat that cost them bigly. They glue a flat heating pad to the bottom of the oilpan, draws a bit of power, but works well.
I can start them down to at least -20F, usually with some trouble.

Tommy,

The block heater for my tractor (which is obviously diesel) is located in the coolant tank.  I can't imagine it would possibly catch anything on fire.  Of course I could be mistaken.  And I have had to warm up an engine using techniques that looked somewhat like you posted in your picture, though not as extreme.



Eric

I'm not exactly sure what happened to the Delica, but what I gather was the heater overheated in the block and blew itself or a freeze plug out.

Mart Hale wrote:Looks like this is another option for heating the oil in oil pan..

https://www.amazon.com/1190X-Magnetic-Machinery-Vehicles-Surface-Thermostat/dp/B0DQ6Y18PR?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LkeJPjOcGgxVtkjDTeOBn8p4jWbS4_wBZq5Q6TZ45WtXSEn1wdvCOMu_sjXNakOirdegmsYs_CW2sDhGVcYTCEI19jFCsqX9lbppZFe0Mh98VZeLZEE6GUlHbZlUM9O14hp1XyrrSesthK11zx9n8u5Wt2hQqM-Ta_c7wyltIzkT4vIitGOsW-Nst2YF4DCu2MIgemw2K7zrazIoW9vZVCD_ncdQ8iS-vpEuvdoFgpg.-01jLZSbviBeCwe1wesltdZ03aUnc-UtvDrbbJc06Qc&dib_tag=se&keywords=magnetic%2Bblock%2Bheater&qid=1770186733&sr=8-14&th=1

I have one of these (200w) kicking around but rarely use it. The challenge is to find a perfectly flat surface on the engine block to ensure efficient heat transfer. Otherwise it costs me money and doesn't do much.

Something not mentioned is synthetic or semi-synthetic engine oil. Both my vehicles and tractor run a semi-synthetic. This eases starting and ensures instant lubrication. Of course they are less grumpy when they get a bit of a warm-up from a block heater.

Thing is, synthetic oil doesn't congeal into "solid grease" at cold temperatures. I know guys who have vehicles sitting out at -40 C/F on remote sites for 12 hours; they run full synthetic and their vehicles fire up just fine.

Re block heaters, I have had good luck hooking up a timer that kicks in for 15 minutes per hour. Just enough warmth for a happy start, but not wasting energy/money on a tea kettle that doesn't make tea.

Tommy Bolin wrote:I have the brother to that DR brush hog out here, '82 vintage or so. Was my dad's. Thing is a beast, digests about anything. Maintenance welding repair and a carb kit, the only real work ever done to it.

Indeed. Those old DRs (or their predecessors, the Bachtolds) are great. Regular greasing along with the occasional oil/belt changes have been the only real things I've done for it in the past 5 or so years. There's a finish mower attachment for it that I would love to get, but they're rarer than hen's teeth.

+1 on the synthetic oils. The trucks, sleds, equipment get them. 'dozer and backhoe use almost 5gal./change, so I stick with the standard stuff.
Had an equipment operator who worked the Alaska pipeine in the 70's told me they just let the heavy equipment idle overnight in the -50F stuff. He backed his blade up to his trailer and with some lines, hydraulic connects, and a radiator of sorts, used the cooling system of his grader to help heat his house.

That attachment is really cool, never seen one live, never knew they existed. Like to see the underside of it.
That old hog has been reimagined with a Honda engine awhile ago.
Mine differs from yours in that you appear to have an aluminum carburetor, mine is cast iron. I love these things, they were hand built in a shop, not rolled from some asian assembly line. Thanks for the share.