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Post by Oatking on Nov 30, 2022 21:04:33 GMT -6
How many of you use these heaters on your trucks or other equipment and how long do you let them run to effectively match a block heater? I dont have much experience using these heaters and wondered how long it would run to drain a decent battery.
any info on these webastos would be appreciated. It is on a 6 year old 579 pete.
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Post by megrizzly on Nov 30, 2022 21:29:16 GMT -6
Have webastos on all our trucks. They will easily warm your coolant to 135 in about 2 hours. If you really needed to start a truck, 45 mins would do it. We've left them on all night before and routinely leave a spare truck with one running if hauling any distance. Ours are just he simple switch style, no timers. Nice to be able to start a truck anywhere in any condition without being hard on it. Trick is to run them every so often even in the summer.
We've had very little issues with them and they are well worth the money. Should be standard on any diesel truck.
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Post by kevlar on Nov 30, 2022 21:47:19 GMT -6
We have one in our grain truck but no longer use it. A block heater doesn’t hold a candle to a Wabasto. Problem we had was we didn’t use it enough so it would give us grief, and with no timer it wasn’t real handy having to go out and turn it on at 4 in the morning if I was leaving at 6, for some reason there was a sticker on the dash saying to not run it more than a few hours at a time, not sure why that was. If it had a timer it would have been great, now just use a circulating heater. Our old Freightliner I put in a block heater and circulating heater, that worked great when it got really cold.
What would be great is if they made a portable unit that you could hook to anything with quick couplers, as long as the coolant was all the same. I worked with a guy that worked for a construction outfit that had a way to hook their service trucks to the equipment and circulate the trucks coolant through the machine, said it worked great.
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Post by totaledmygn on Nov 30, 2022 22:03:43 GMT -6
They are about 3 times the btu's of a block heater...15-18k btu's. Had a breaker at a remote yard tripping with both engine oil heater and block heater plugged in. Decided to plug in oil pan heater and use webasto. In -30 Celsius 30 min. wasn't long enough...truck would start but Cummmins Isx shook the whole truck badly, 45 minutes better but still ran rough, 60 minutes and truck started fine. I use 5w40 full sythetic.
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Webastos
Nov 30, 2022 22:20:32 GMT -6
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Post by carlos on Nov 30, 2022 22:20:32 GMT -6
I have 1 in my semi and FWA tractor. Both were installed when I had bought them. I have timers on both. Set my semi one the night before I need it. Usually 2 hours is plenty. Instant heat and engine doesn't even go to high idle when started.
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Webastos
Nov 30, 2022 22:46:32 GMT -6
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Post by meskie on Nov 30, 2022 22:46:32 GMT -6
Ours will only run for two hours at a time. But you could set the timer to come on again. It has a thermostat on it so it will shut off if the coolant temp gets to a certain temperature. Then turn back on once it cools down.
I have the timer set to run for an hour in the morning during harvest and seeding also. Keeps things working and then the engine is warm when you go to take off.
In the winter I will plug the truck in then have the webasto fire up a couple hours before I’m gonna leave. I also have the exhaust pointing onto the oil pan so it is heating that also. Seems to warm it up pretty decent. It’s also nice to have the heater blowing warm air when you fire the engine up. I know guys who were driving vac trucks in fort Mac that would turn them on with engine running to keep engines warmer.
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Post by SWMan on Nov 30, 2022 23:51:11 GMT -6
Never ran one. Maybe I don't know what I'm missing but a good block heater, oil pan heater and 0W40 synthetic oil works fine as long as it's out of the wind. My trucks are parked in the shed and start fine well below -30 even but why would anyone want to haul grain at those temps is beyond me, just wrecks all kinds of stuff below -30 and the engine is the least of your problems!
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Post by Oatking on Dec 1, 2022 6:59:29 GMT -6
Thanks guys for the info. I will use mine more often to take advantage of that added heat. I did notice some antifreeze leaking probably from the sudden change in temperature from the hoses. I am amazed of the noise coming from the webasto, it sounds like a portable diesel heater !
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Post by hardrockacres on Dec 1, 2022 7:21:20 GMT -6
TH4ey do work really well, but I would add a oil pan heater as well. Pan heater saves the wear and tear on an engine in cold startups vs a block heater/webasto which really only helps the engine start better - does nothing to warm the oil to save on brg wear or spinning a main due to the cold. Obliviously not as big of an issue with synthetic winter grade oil, but it is defiantly what I want to make sure is working to snuff on my trucks.
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Webastos
Dec 1, 2022 7:35:00 GMT -6
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Post by meskie on Dec 1, 2022 7:35:00 GMT -6
If we didn’t haul at -30 we wouldn’t move a lot of grain in the winter. Also not as many people haul at that temps so line ups are small. We are the guys that haul when they call so get put to the top of the list to move grain when movement is slow
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Webastos
Dec 1, 2022 8:06:08 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by kevlar on Dec 1, 2022 8:06:08 GMT -6
We haul quite often at those temperatures as well, haul all our barley directly to hog barns so need to go when they need it. Of all the grain we’ve hauled in the cold, I can’t think of any breakdown because of it.
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Post by victory on Dec 1, 2022 11:02:42 GMT -6
Webastos are very nice, but having the oil warm is very important. Using 0W40 makes a huge difference for getting proper lubrication of the engine on startup. One thing I was curious about was how much would the oil warm up from the engine being warmed up from a webasto. I would still want an oil pan heater I think.
When I drove a log truck for a couple winters my boss had his truck sitting outside at his place and I parked the truck I was driving at my place. I parked in an unheated quonset (so out of the wind). My boss was very surprised how much of a difference that made. We just had block heaters and oil pan heaters, no webastos.
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Post by meskie on Dec 1, 2022 12:22:43 GMT -6
If you point the heaters exhaust at the oil pan it will warm the oil up just about as much as an oil pan heater. Having things parked inside makes a huge difference on how well a block heater works.
Our trucks sit outside but if it’s really cold or there is some wind we use an old canvas to put around the hood and cab of the truck to keep the air from blowing under and taking the heat away.
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Post by hardrockacres on Dec 1, 2022 12:34:15 GMT -6
Having the unit out of the wind does play a huge role in block heater or any other heaters performance. I see it with my gasser half ton when it is parked in a unheated garage plugged in or outside the garage plugged in.
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Post by Beerwiser on Dec 1, 2022 21:52:18 GMT -6
What is the reason for running the webastos in summer? I have a used one that was meant for the freightliner, but I think it would be better on the FWA.
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