AltFuel Long Range fuel tank heater?

[Radd Cruisers]

Looking for ideas to put a heater element or something inside a long range tank.

I have been asked to build a tank and put a heater in it for the extreme cold winters and the customer wants to run bio.

Rob

 

[The Dude]

Oil tank heater with a threaded bung. Well that would be ok when parked.

How about a rad in the tank that circulates the coolant

I think it might be tough to find something 12 or 24 volts

 

[zander]

Neoteric Biofuels sells one...
http://www.biofuels.ca/page12.html

there are many designed for veggie oil conversions. Espar makes some diesel fired ones if it needs to work for long periods without power.

 

[lowenbrau]

It pretty much has to have a coolant heat exchanger in the tank for driving. I'd choose Webasto, Espar or Proheat for when its not. If you want something electric you could use a water heater element but you'd have to be sure its immersed. That would likley mean being sure the rig stayed at least above 1/4 tank.

 

[aamiggia]

I'm not an expert or anything, but those veggie oil tank heaters are pricey and you would have to route cooling lines through the truck.

What about a radiant floor heating style setup. Electric radiant tubes run in the bottom of the tank. You could weld a connector into the side for a quick connection point so it can be removed. One hot line in and ground the tank. I'm not sure what type of plastic the tubes are made from, but SVO is not corrisive. With a 24volt system you can get a lot of heat with realatively low amps.

You could also run a switch from the dash and/or a thermostat with a temp read out.

 

[lowenbrau]

By compairison, it takes 1500W to keep a 50 gal horse trough above freezing in the winter. That's about twice what a stock Cruiser alternator is capable of producing. I believe the waste veggie oil will need to be quite a bit warmer than 0C. I just can't see an electric system working very well. ( Unless we are tallking about California winters )

 

[Radd Cruisers]

I am not sure if the customer is looking for a plug in heater for when its parked or a heater for when its running.

You veggie oil guys would know whats best for this application?

Would a coolant line run through tubbing in the tank and then a good under hood heater such as Wabasto circulating heater be effective enough for start ups, then the head of the engine coolant should sufficiently warm the fuel?

Rob

 

[Satamax]

Hi everybody!

Radd, is your guy going biodiesel or vo, if the first, you need an heating element which would avoid gelling when the truck is stoped, something like a wattlow heating blanket on 110 or 220 V stuck under the tank, but would only work where he can plug. No other electric system would work with bio. If using dual fuel, likke diesel for startup and VO for traveling, a coolant line going to the tank or an exaust pipe run (complex!) underneath the tank should do!

Best regards.

Max.

 

[crushers]

do you think that maybe the exhaust might cause boiling if too close? i was actually taken by your idea and was envisioning a complex setup with the exhaust running into a set of smaller pipes, simular to in floor heating, and then back into the larger one pipe exhaust when this concern popped into my head... would that be a concern or am i out in left feild?
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cheers

 

[Satamax]

Hi everybody!

Wayne, i like this idea! Doing a kind of pipe organ into which teh exaust gases travel all the same way and in the same time (nothing like a coil) , that would be good in terms of heat disipation etc As well, the surface of several small tubes being greater than the surface of one big tube, the surface temp would be lower, thought in realy cold weather, would it be enough? IIRC, i've heard of some guys using the pipe directly through the tank! And another one having the fuel feed tube coiling around the exaust pipe, thought that was for wvo.

Best regards.
Max.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Looks like he is running Bio diesel, so he is just looking to keep the fuel from gellin.

Are you gellin, cause Im gellin........


Little commercial humour..

Rob

 

[Greg_B]

Why not simply use a commerical anti-gel in the winter months.

As someone mentioned, what about one of the oil pan heaters under the fuel tank when parked and near a plug in.

I believe it was Deny that said they started having issues when below 0C this last winter with 100% Bio...none before that, and afaik they add nothing.

gb

 

[zander]

I use antigel with my bio and have never had any problems even when sitting in Tahoe for the weekend while snowboarding. Unless he is the Yukon territory or something I think this should work fine. And if he is that far North, it would be a good idea to run a 50/50 to 80/20 mix of Petro/Bio unless he can always be sure of being somewhere near mains electricity or use a fuel fired heater like the Espar.

 

[Deny]

I'm sorry for pulling this one out, it's just that I sort of have nothin to do at work, so I'm just looking at old stuff I missed, and want to clarify what Greg said. We started getting trouble at 0c with my dad's little nissan pickup, but the old 3B can suck it up at 100% bio till -10c. I usually run some regular stuff in the winter just to be safe, but my cheap ass brother ran 100% all winter, then the one time it dipped below -10c he couldn't start, even tried taking a torch to some of the lines and filter! he then borrowed another vehicle and we pushed the 60 into the shop to warm up on good old wood heat!
Cheers,
Deny

 

[jfc]

I woulda got her going with the torch I was just late for work, probably good thing for my pump though

 

[Radd Cruisers]

I'm sorry for pulling this one out, it's just that I sort of have nothin to do at work, so I'm just looking at old stuff I missed, and want to clarify what Greg said. We started getting trouble at 0c with my dad's little nissan pickup, but the old 3B can suck it up at 100% bio till -10c. I usually run some regular stuff in the winter just to be safe, but my cheap ass brother ran 100% all winter, then the one time it dipped below -10c he couldn't start, even tried taking a torch to some of the lines and filter! he then borrowed another vehicle and we pushed the 60 into the shop to warm up on good old wood heat!
Cheers,
Deny

Thanks, I will forward my customer this information.

Rob