Block heater

[makeithot]

I have a job coming up in the northern climes. And need to install a block heater in my welder that part is straight forward. But a few years back I worked for a guy who had it set up so your welder was heated through your truck engine as you drove out to the job. Unfortunatly I have forgotten exactly how that was hooked-up so it would circulate . Has anyone seen this done and can help refresh my memory . Thanks

[SkidSteerSteve]

If it were me, I'd just put two tees, and cut off valves in the lines going to the heater core and run some hose back to the bed and tie those into the coolant lines on the machine. This would work if you don't mind inter mixing the coolants of the machines. Otherwise, you would have to get some sort of liquid to liquid heat exchanger. If you went the route of the exchanger, I don't know if you would have to have some sort of circulatory pump on the welder side. If may have enough circulation just due to the heat differences to work well enough. Similar to the the way a block heater works without a pump.
Another thought would be to step up the line size pre tee in order to keep enough flow to the heater core to keep the cab toasty. Or, depending on the engine and pump design, there may be unused ports that are just plugged. If that is the case, just tie into the block somewhere and return back pre water pump. Don't leave out the cut off valves! If something snags a line out in nowhere, then you want to be able to isolate that system and keep the truck going. I'd sure hate to freeze to death because a rock found a hose and my truck left me stranded. SSS

[makeithot]

block heater

SSS

Thanks that makes sence now. I do remember that the lines were hooked into the heater core I'm not sure how this effects the cab heat though. Sure would hate to loose all the heat in there.

[50bmgshooter]

all you have to do to keep the heat in the cab the same is, when you do your hook up to the welder just make sure that the coolant flow goes through the heater core first then the welder.

[SkidSteerSteve]

I agree, if you run the parasitic heat loads in series, then put the heater core as the primary load and the welder as the secondary load. I would prefer to put the loads in parallel, though. This way if something goes down on the the welder side, you can isolate that system and maintain the supply to the heater core. If they are in series, when you lose one, you lose both. Also, if there is a need for a heat exchanger instead of coolant swap, then you would want as much heat energy as possible at the other end to keep the convection process going. Another thing that I would do is to not hard plumb the lines to the welder, but instead use two pipe unions and cut off valves. This way if you need to lift the machine off the truck, you don't have to mess with lost coolant and everything else. All you do is throw the two valves under the hood, the two valves on the machine and disconnect the unions and you only lose a few ounces of coolant at the valves. If the unions are oriented in opposite directions, they can be connected back on to themselves. The will seal the connections and prevent accidental spillage or contamination when the welder is removed. SSS