Will power inverter run block heater?

[Maine372]

Winter is bearing down and I'm headed back into the woods. I have a 700watt block heater in my 3-53 Detroit skidder motor. Rather than  carrying a generator with me I've been looking at the power inverters that connect to your pickup electrical system. Has anyone used such a setup? Will the inverter handle the load a block heater will put on it?

[barbender]

It should, as long as you get a large enough inverter. 1000 watt? 

[chevytaHOE5674]

In theory a 1000w inverter should do it. Having said that a 700w load will draw nearly 80amps off the battery depending on inverter efficiency and such. That is a substantial load on the truck battery and alternator seeing as how you would need to have the heater plugged in for a significant amount of time.

I would look for a used Webasto/ProHeat and hook it up. 

[bigblockyeti]

Would a radiant propane heater not work better?  It seems starting with a cold engine, putting 700 watts to it would be best done hours before firing it up.  Taking gasoline (or diesel) then converting it into electricity then back into heat will have good losses in the form of heat, none of which will make it into the 3-53 engine block.

[Southside]

Any of the inverters I have had will not run any type of filament heater, definitely want to ask before buying it. 

[Ed_K]

I have a 2800 watt inverter made by Yamaha it looks like a regular geny but it worked till the carb got dirty. I would take it to the woods plug it into the same 700 watt block heater and at 10° it took 45 mins to heat up and my 4-53 started like it was summer  8).

[doc henderson]

in college the physics guy took the students on a ski trip.  they got foil pans and started charcoal and slid them under the engine in the am, with a blanket over the hood.  worked ok.  not long term, but just heat without all the energy changes.  you would sure not want to shut off your pick up if it is powering the inverter.  a radiant propane might work, just make sure not a bunch of fuel leaks under.  Diesel would be relatively safe.

[Log-it-up]

Not sure what the inverter cost bot I use one of the 2000w suit case generators from harbor freight half the price of the name brand 
It's Honda like and you get a few more uses out of it, I've had mine for about four years now built half my house on it ( will run chopsaw/skill saw as long as it plugged in direct they are cold blooded I put mine on floor of the pick up on the way to work so it warms up 
I think I paid $525 not sure what they are now  

[C5C Tree Farmer]

Heating my 3-53 was a 10 minute job using coolant coupling hoses to a warm PU engine. The carbureted 300 Ford 6 was ideally suited for the job.

[Ianab]

Any of the inverters I have had will not run any type of filament heater, definitely want to ask before buying it.

Some filament heaters are very low resistance when they are cold, and increase as they heat up. (Filament light bulb for example). Means the inrush current can be a LOT higher than the steady load. So the inverter sees a near short circuit at power up, and shuts down to protect itself. Same sort of problem as starting a large motor, might take 2X the normal draw at start-up. 
A straight resistive load should be OK as it wont change a lot as it warms up.
You can buy power inverters up to pretty much any size if you have the the $$. 700 watts @ 12 volts = about 58 amps. Add a bit more because you loose some power in the inverter, but a decent alternator can make that power. Can you set the truck to a "fast idle" to keep the alternator output up? Otherwise you are leaning on the battery for the extra power. 
But a cheapo generator might cost similar and work better?

[charles mann]

Heating my 3-53 was a 10 minute job using coolant coupling hoses to a warm PU engine. The carbureted 300 Ford 6 was ideally suited for the job.

That is a heck of an outside the box thinking. 

[Southside]

Naa, that's old school. We called them "spit swappers", and they work excellent.

[chevytaHOE5674]

"Spit swappers" used to be real common on equipment. Now on modern trucks with various different coolants (some that turn to sludge when mixed), numerous coolant sensors, aluminum heads, etc they aren't really used anymore. If you drove around in an "old school" truck then swapping coolant is the quickest way to warm an engine up. 

[charles mann]

Naa, that's old school. We called them "spit swappers", and they work excellent.

Nvr heard of that old school technique. Iv heard of using a torpedo heater or building a fire under equipment/tcks. My 5tn has capped water bibs on the coolant line. I figured it was for draining and coolant flushes, maybe it was, or maybe it came from a military base that got really cold and they might have installed the bibs for coolant transferring in them colder regions. 

[treemuncher]

Your best bet, to avoid a dead battery in a remote location, would be to install a diesel fired hydronic heater that will pre-heat the coolant with minimal battery drain. I have an Eberspaecher heater on my Lamtrac mulcher that I really like in colder weather to preheat the engine and hydraulics. I can program the timer and arrive to a pre-warmed machine when I get on site. I do have a heat exchanger in the hydraulic tank - that is the most expensive part in my system.

The German made stuff is pricey, at normally over $1k+ but Chinese heaters have come out on Ebay for under $300 delivered. This plumbs directly into your coolant and has a small pump that circulates the coolant throughout the entire system meaning that even your cab gets heated if it has a heater core. You could also go with a Chinese diesel fired air heater for about $125 ( I have those, too) but they are not as efficient for an engine as a hydronic system is. These systems are extremely energy efficient in relative terms and use very little battery power. By the time you get done with a block heater, inverter and wiring, you would likely be most of the way into a good heater unit, moneywise. I don't like humping batteries out of the
woods.

Ebay link and offsite photo removed by admin. Read the rules please.

[Log-it-up]

I found the "spit swapper"is way too go it's  what I do now just self contained hard to explain but I'll give a go 
  I took a 2" metal pipe necked it down too 1" barb fittings connected hose with quick disconnect on the other end that matched up too the skidder 
I have a 12 volt water pump that circulates the coolant and I heat it with a propane weed burner style torch I put legs on the metal pipe about the height of a 20 lbs propane cylinder and vice grip the torch to the top of the tank it's kinda a scab together system but it works about 20 minutes in -20 weather and it starts like it's new 

[Log-it-up]

The 2" pipe part that I heat is about 3 feet long 

[scsmith42]

Naa, that's old school. We called them "spit swappers", and they work excellent.

Nvr heard of that old school technique. Iv heard of using a torpedo heater or building a fire under equipment/tcks. My 5tn has capped water bibs on the coolant line. I figured it was for draining and coolant flushes, maybe it was, or maybe it came from a military base that got really cold and they might have installed the bibs for coolant transferring in them colder regions.

I've personally used a torpedo heater to preheat a truck crane in 10 degree weather.  Its not fast (takes an hour or more), but it works.  One of the problems with this method is that your waste a lot of heat, but the plus side is that you're warming up the transmission and hydraulic tank if it's located near the engine.
Block heaters plugged into a portable generator also work well.  The block heater in the Kubota engine on Tom's Baker mill seems to heat the block up pretty quickly if I forget to plug it in overnight.  Takes around 15 minutes or so after I plug it in to where she will start easily.

[Southside]

With a modern truck and older equipment a guy could rig up a heat exchanger and a 12V circulator pump on the equipment side then only the BTU'S get exchanged and the coolants remain in each machine. 

[charles mann]

With a modern truck and older equipment a guy could rig up a heat exchanger and a 12V circulator pump on the equipment side then only the BTU'S get exchanged and the coolants remain in each machine.

So like a liquid to liquid cooler? My 5 ton uses a liquid to liquid cooler to cool the xmsn by plumbing the xmsn fluid into a pipe, that is in a bigger pipe and eng coolant is circulated through the bigger pipe, cooling the xmsn fluid. A chinook has a similar devise using fuel to cool the eng oil while using the oil to warm the fuel before going through the filter then into the combustion chamber

[Southside]

Exactly

[Nebraska]

My Vet truck box uses a spit swapper type system to keep the box thawed and my water tank warm during cold weather.  Hot water is a blessing when it's below zero out.. less fuss than a generator or inverter set up.

[barbender]

Hmm maybe I have a new use for my old sidearm water heater🤔