Dressing the V3 for winter

[lancaster,pa]

Want to do some more insulating before winter sets in. My long runs of HOH are in good shape but my question is what to do about places in the system where the coolant hose and the fuel hose are separated (both ends of the V3 and at the tank). At these points, the fuel hose will not be receiving heat from the coolant lines. I realize that these places are short lengths and I'm not worried about losing heat once the system is warmed up. However, it has occurred to me that if my truck sits for two days in 15F temps, a slug of very solid WVO may form there and make it difficult or impossible for the pump to move (also wondering about possible damage to the pump). Although I plan on wrapping the fuel hose separately at these points, it still seems that sitting that long with those temps could cause a blockage as all the heat is lost even with insulation.

Probably just over thinking this but, it will be my first winter with the V3 and it is just something I've been wondering about. Any advice will be appreciated. - Patrick

[Elvia]

Patrick
Move South. 15 deg can be cold at times.

[skyskijason]

Insulation can not hurt. Don't worry, aside from starving it of fuel, a chunk of even cold VO should not hurt it. The only concern I would have is switching over before enough VO in tank is thawed to keep up w/engine demand. I guess you'll be one of the first to report, uh?

[greasyX]

Patrick have no fear the V3 is very well suited for cold weather.I installed mine in the beginning of march.We have snow until late april,last year was the coldest,and snowiest winter in NH since 1865.Two days after install i looked out the thermometer.-19 with a good wind.I let the GreasyX warm up at high idle for 15 min,hopped in 3.5 miles down the road I was greasing.The only advantage I have is interior tank,but all my plumbing is outside like yours.When I drove truck we used 12 volt heat tapes and 110 tapes run off a power inverter. If you feel the need either application would be safe on Goodyear or eqivielent hose............greasy

[Clay]

When you purge the sytem, there is no VO to freeze up from the module forward. That said, you can insulate the fuel line from the module forward to help hold in the heat it gets after passing through the V3.
I also need to put some insulation on my lines as i have not done that yet.

[Jack_Toepfer]

When you purge the sytem, there is no VO to freeze up from the module forward. That said, you can insulate the fuel line from the module forward to help hold in the heat it gets after passing through the V3.
I also need to put some insulation on my lines as i have not done that yet.

I thought when we purge some diesel might get back to the tank? Wouldn't that purge then be through the module and through the back lines as well? Does it also purge the return line?


Along with the block heater, what other 110v heater can I run in the morning for a couple hours that would speed up the switch over time?

[Clay]

I thought when we purge some diesel might get back to the tank? Wouldn't that purge then be through the module and through the back lines as well? Does it also purge the return line?

I'm not sure of the fuel roputing inside the module but yes, some of the module would have diesel in it and some vegi i think. I don't think the purge will clear all the passages in the module in other words. The entire fuel line from the module, forward and the return line from the module to the tank all are cleared of vegi.i do not think the pump portion of the module gets purged but it matters no because upon startup the next cold day, the module will be nice and toasting after a few miles of driving on diesel so when it kicks on, the oil left in the module will be hot.

Along with the block heater, what other 110v heater can I run in the morning for a couple hours that would speed up the switch over time?

Unless your heating the coolant with a secondary heater, theres not anything i know of that will speed switchover in the morning.

[lancaster,pa]

Great info, thanks. Didn't really think about the purge replacing veg at some of those critical points. Seems like that narrows it down to only a concern where the veg supply comes into the V3 (for the short distance that my coolant hose is away from the veg supply line) and possibly the short vertical fitting coming out of the tank.

I have also thought of putting 110v heater tape under my tank to supply some heat before start-up. This could be plugged in with the block heater. While it may not help much with increasing the switchover time, it should help in getting cold veg heated and flowing around the fuel pick-up.- Patrick

[greasyX]

If you want the best,Webasto-blue heat-Around $1300 dollars last i checked.This unit keeps coolant in operating range always,runs off a little diesel powered heat pump plumbed on truck.My experiances were great,had them on TT's and straight trucks.Stopped from having to idle overnight when -15F.good luck.greasy

[Clay]

Great info, thanks. Didn't really think about the purge replacing veg at some of those critical points. Seems like that narrows it down to only a concern where the veg supply comes into the V3 (for the short distance that my coolant hose is away from the veg supply line) and possibly the short vertical fitting coming out of the tank.

I have also thought of putting 110v heater tape under my tank to supply some heat before start-up. This could be plugged in with the block heater. While it may not help much with increasing the switchover time, it should help in getting cold veg heated and flowing around the fuel pick-up.- Patrick

It will not help switchover at all. The temp switch is in the module in a coolant passage and will only monitor and react to 140* coolant which simply has to become hot from the hot engine. A webasto is expensive and i have heard they drink lots of fuel so you would be paying to speed your switchover time...not at all feasible IMO.
The only way to eliminate using diesel on startup is to make you some bio-D and use that for startups but you still can't use 100% bio-D in winter because it will get up also. A second block heater might be your answer...they are installed in a freeze plug hole i believe and there should be any reason you couldn't put a second one in on the drivers side.

[lancaster,pa]

It will not help switchover at all. The temp switch is in the module in a coolant passage and will only monitor and react to 140* coolant which simply has to become hot from the hot engine. A webasto is expensive and i have heard they drink lots of fuel so you would be paying to speed your switchover time...not at all feasible IMO.
The only way to eliminate using diesel on startup is to make you some bio-D and use that for startups but you still can't use 100% bio-D in winter because it will get up also. A second block heater might be your answer...they are installed in a freeze plug hole i believe and there should be any reason you couldn't put a second one in on the drivers side.

Seems like heating the veg tank could help with switchover some. If the veg tank is hot before starting, cold coolant will flow through the hot veg tank and pick up some heat. That heat should circulate through the engine and then to the V3. Seems like the engine and the V3 would warm up more quickly and therefore decrease switchover time. How much it would help would depend on the size of the veg tank and the temp it was raised to before starting.

Even if the coolant is warmed by the use of the block heater, a warmed veg tank should result in the coolant losing less heat as it passes through the tank and therefore increase the temp in the whole system. Wouldn't heat added anywhere to the system before starting shorten the switchover time? - Patrick

[Jack_Toepfer]

Yes, any and all heat would help, but you'd have to seriously heat the VO for it to play that large of a role.

[Fordnut74]

Normally it would make perfect sense that heating the engine would help switch over time, but my expriance shows that it makes a very minimal differance. In the testing i did having the block heater plugged in vs not plugged in only made about a 1/2 mile differance in switchover time. A garage is the best way to help. Not sure how to explain the "why" without sounding confusing. But basically, for every 10 degrees above ambient you try to heat the uninsulated motor and cooling system the power required goes up exponentially. For example, where it may only take 100 watts to raise the engine temp 20 degrees above ambient, it may take 1000 watts to achieve 40 above ambient.(rough numbers for illustration only). And it may take 10,000 watts to maintain 100 degrees above ambient.

On the flip side, it is starting from ambient that the engine heats up the quickest. Say ambient is 20f. The motor at an idle may go from 20 to 100 in a matter of 3 minutes, but that 100-200 as it approaches operating temp will slow drastically. So that part of the cycle could take upwards of 10-15 minutes or longer depending on variable factors(wind, temp, accesories, thermostat, rpm, etc).

Unless you go crazy, adding warming devices only mitigates the part of the warmup that occurs the quickest anyway. That is why the block heater makes very little differance in switchover time. And if you go crazy with heating devices, you will be defeating the whole point of why you are doing it to begin with.

My advice, just use the factory block heater only when needed for cold weather starts as with any diesel. Anything beyond that you are just wasting time and effort with very little return.

Remember, the WVO warms up with the engine, and has very little affect on the warm up time of the engine. Keeping the WVO warm without a hot engine-pointless. Keeping the engine hot- not pratical. Cheers!