Engine Frost Plug Block Heater

[TOMG]

I have been trying to install a new frost plug block heater in my G1900 diesel. When it gets cold enough to put the snow blower on this cold natured beaste will not start without warming it up first! After I got the old heater out and tried to put the new one in, I found that the new heater interfers with the front cylinder. After looking at the old heater again, it looks like the old one was modified by bending the element to the side and flattening the inside with a hammer! All these years I have been under the impression that these type heaters could not be treated this way with out destroying them, however this heater lasted almost 18 years. Does anyone have any information about modifying these heaters with a hammer?

 

[noma]

morning Tomg

I'm not a expert, but i would think you would be alright as long as you don' t smash the tube so the you didn't put a crack in the tube so it leaks i think there is liquid in there not sure what's in there. :licking:

 

[bakerg]

Your filament wire runs through the tube with insulation around it. If the insulation used is ceramic, when you hit with a hammer you would damage the insulation and could cause a short to the filament. If you are gentle enough you can sometimes bend the heater a little but I would not recomend using a hammer. Maybe a vise but there is no garuantee it will work. It may work or it may short out. Good luck in what ever you do.:biggrin:

 

[KennyV]

The wire inside Most heating elements are blanketed with silicone, so they are okay to bend a bit... Rigid ceramic heaters should not be bent, like bakerg said....
But if it is silicone & you mash them too much the resulting pinch could shorts it out.
You might check the other core plugs for better fitting... or go with a tank type heater.

Are your glow plugs working? I have never needed a block heater with kubota diesel engines..:smile:KennyV

 

[TOMG]

The wire inside Most heating elements are blanketed with silicone, so they are okay to bend a bit... Rigid ceramic heaters should not be bent, like bakerg said....
But if it is silicone & you mash them too much the resulting pinch could shorts it out.
You might check the other core plugs for better fitting... or go with a tank type heater.

Are your glow plugs working? I have never needed a block heater with kubota diesel engines..:smile:KennyV

This is a new engine in an older tractor. When I priced a new tractor with the attachments I now have, none of which will work on the new model tractors, I could almost buy a new house!
Far as I know everything is new on the engine, except for the frost plug block heater!
The old frost plug heater that was reinstalen in the new engine showed hammer tracks where the element had been flattened to give it clearance when it was installed before I bought the tractor. How can you tell if the insulation inside the heater is sand or ceramic?

 

[KennyV]

I guess I didn't follow where you were thinking of bending or flattening your heating element...
Silicon (rubber) is used at the ends of the heating element ... the element length will be electrically insulated using a plaster like ceramic, that conducts heat from the wire to the outside & it keeps the wire from shorting out to the outer shell... there is very little smashing that the plaster will tolerate, a short to the shell will burn it out.

If you are lacking a Small amount of clearance, you might get by with it... but if it requires much you might short it out...
Are there glow plugs in that new engine?

:smile:KennyV