Remote block heater

[Weave]

If you live in a cold climate and park your truck away from any electric power, and want to run your block heater a bit for sure winter startups, the Coleman Pulse 1850 generator works great. I measured the resistance of my block heater circuit and used ohms law to determine the current draw to be 11 amps, and the 1850 will do that fine. It also puts out 15 amps of 12V DC and comes with battery cables so not only will it run the block heater, but will charge up the batteries a bit too at the same time. In about 2 hours you are warmed up and ready to go. The 1850 sells for about $500 new at stores, but I found mine on e-bay new in the box for $300. It can be used for other things too such as camping or for power outages at home so I thought it was a good write-off investment.
-Weave-

 

[RichM]

Weave I might want to get one of these generators,looks like you could put that 15 amps through an inverter and get enough 110 to power a small electric heater.Is it very noisy when running??

 

[Weave]

I was surprised how quiet is is, as it was made for campgrounds and has a large muffler. It's not silent, but quiet enough to put into a truck tool box. Large rubber feet on the bottom of it keep it from vibrating or walking around. As it puts out both AC and DC, you would not need the inverter to run a small 120 volt heater off it.
-Weave-

 

[geo]

i have a proheat gen set works great, park truck 5 miles from the house and when i get to where i park truck turn on gen set takes 10 mins to warmup the truck, plus also helps with starting the truck to
with the genset running. plus genset will help save money on the road to, go to proheat and see the latest they have

 

[SHARP327]

HEY WEAVE! YESTERDAY I WAS OUT LOOKING FOR A GEN. AND GOT TO THINKING ABOUT YOUR TALKING ABOUT THE GEN. YOU HAD BOUGHT SO I TURNED AROUND AND CAME HOME AFTER GOING TO A COUPLE OF STORES, I ALREADY HAD IN MIND WHICH ONE I WANTED BUT VALUED YOUR ADVICE ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT IT WAS THE SAME ONE! IT'S A NICE UNIT AND COST $375.00 AT HOME DEPOT. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO GET IT IN YOUR SIDE BOX? UNLESS YOU'VE GOT A REAL LARGE ONE? AND DID YOU HAVE TO MOTIFY IT TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE CONTROLS-RECOIL PULL, AND DID YOU HAVE TO VENT THE SIDE BOX? SO FAR JUST TO GET THINGS GOING I PUT MINE IN THE CARGO AREA AND BOUGHT A CHEAP HAND CART TO WHEEL IT IN AND OUT AS NEEDED. YOU MENTIONED A COUPLE OF HOURS AND IT WOULD BE WARMED UP, DOE'S THAT HELP IN GETTING THE HEAT IN THE CAB FASTER? WELL THANKS ALOT WEAVE! HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A GREAT NEW YEAR SO FAR! SHARP327

 

[Weave]

I haven't been using my generator in the truck itself, just for block heating and battery charging at the lot I park it at when I am home, but it could be used on the truck in a larger tool box. After 2-3 hours mine heats the truck's coolant to about 100 degrees, not really hot enough for a lot of heat but it does start quickly and warm up much faster without a lot of wear on the engine. It is a must for me here in Buffalo- we have had 10-20 below wind chills the last couple of weeks, and I doubt the truck would have started without the pre-heating. The Pulse 1850 is also sold as the Sport 1850 but the two are identical except for color.
-Weave-

 

[Midnight Mover]

Here is a manufacturer of diesel powered heaters for large trucks:

http://www.espar.com/htm/applies/trucks.htm

They have done vehicle heaters for 30 years. Mainly for Volkswagen in the early days.

I wanted one of the smallest systems to put on a VW turbodiesel Jetta.
http://www.espar.com/htm/Specs/water/D4Wspec.htm

The Freightliner Sprinter vans have a preheat system optional. I don't know if it's made by them?

Anybody ever see an Espar/Eberspacher heater on a truck?

Edit: I guess Freightliner/Sterling dealers have them. That must mean they are an option for Sprinter vans.

 

[DooWop]

Was thinking about this on the way to the 2nd job last nite. Thot about why not buy a generator at home depot and mount that on side rails on the truck chassis and use that to either A) an auxilary power source, ala "rigmaster" or B)as an electrical power source to start truck on cold mornings? My late Uncle Skip owned a GMC diesel sometime in the late 40's - early 50's--I'm not sure exactly when-he was a steel hauler- and told me that he had a small gasoline motor to start the diesel...I seem to recall that he termed it a "pony motor."

Regards

DooWop