F A Q:
2 Will
it burn the fuel or catch fire. Not sure about running a glow plug all the time
4 Are there any copper bits as I have heard they react with WVO?
5 What if the plug burns out or it breaks?
7 How long will the plug last. How much for a replacement plug?
8 Direct or indirect heating of oil?
9 Why don't you answer my EMAILS?
1
I have bought a similar 12v fuel heater for around £20 and it didn’t
get very hot. Is this similar to them?
NO. I know the type you mean
as I have one myself! They only heat up to 10oC. This one gets a lot hotter. If
you have one of the other types of heater or a heater pad and it’s not hot
enough then you will not be disappointed with this one. ASK ABOUT OUR STANADYNE
UPGRADE KIT. Only for STANADYNE owners.
2
Will it burn the fuel or catch fire. Not sure about running a glow plug
all the time?
NO. It will turn itself off
when it gets hot enough. The supply voltage is fused as well. The flash point
(Bursts into flames) for WVO, BIO, DIESEL is much higher than 90oC. The plug is
less stressed in this application than it would be if it were in the engine.
3
How efficient is it? I have heard that electric heaters are not as
efficient as water heat exchangers?
OK two points. Some electric
heaters are not as efficient at raising the fuel temp. THIS ONE IS. This unit
will have the fuel up to temp long before water powered heaters start to heat
up. A water heated one will reach the same temp once it has warmed up. (You
could always run both but this one is more than capable on its own.)
4
Are there any copper bits as I have heard they react with WVO?
No. No copper at all. Yes WVO
does seem to react with copper. Some reports of green sludge and others
reporting oxidisation of the fuel.
5 What if the plug burns out or breaks?
If it breaks then contact me for spares. If the plug burns out then remove it with a 12mm spanner and replace with a suitable plug. Use some PTFE tape to ensure you get a good leak free fitting on non + units.
This set of units was not designed with a specific car or van in mind. You need to determine if your engine will run on heated oil. They should fit any diesel vehicle but you may however find that on bigger diesel engines it will not be able to maintain the heat. IE on 2.5 and above you may need a water heater as well or tin plugs. Most cars put out about 50Amps or more from the alternator. this should be enough to run the 2B and 2D units. As long as you have a good battery you should not experience any problems. Using heaters or alternative fuel is completely at your own risk and we accept no liability for any incidental damage.
7 How long will the plug last. How much for a replacement plug?
Should last a year or more but this depends on the car and how much it is used..
8 Direct or indirect heating of oil?
It has been claimed that indirect heating of veg oil is both safer and as effective as direct contact heating. This just isn’t the case. The Vow1 was an indirect contact heater but was discontinued due to poor performance. It failed to heat oil to give adequate heating under high fuel flow conditions.
Indirect heating
As the fuel is only heated by the surface of the bore while it is passing through the block the heat exchange potential is very limited. The oil will not start to heat until the block has started to get quite warm. Only the oil in contact with the surface of the bore will heat and the fuel in the centre of the flow will still be cold. The oil at high fuel flows will spend such a short time in the block it will hardly be heated at all. This will become more evident in the winter months. No matter how well fitting the plugs are in an indirect heater there will be air around the plug. A glow plug in air will fail very quickly. The speed at which an indirect heated block can get fuel up to 90oC under low load conditions on a 1.9 TD was about 10 mins. Under higher load conditions fuel fell back to 30oC.
Direct heating.
The fuel absorbs all the heat from the plug as it passes through the unit. The unit absorbs heat from the fuel in order to heat up. Once up to temp the fuel has a much bigger and hotter surface area where it can absorb heat. As the plug passes through the middle of the fuel flow oil in the center of the flow is heated. Oil touching the surface of the heater will also be heated. At high fuel flows the direct heating unit will maintain a much higher average fuel temp. This is because the plug is still in direct contact with the fuel and the fuel is in contact with the surface of the heater. As the plug is immersed in liquid all the heat is absorbed. In this way the plug never reached the very high temps that cause plug failure. The speed at which direct heating can raise fuel to 90oC under the same test conditions was 180 seconds. Under high load conditions temperature of the fuel fell back to 70oC.
Safety
It has been indicated that the direct heating of oil is not as safe as indirect heating. This simply isn’t true. Both ways of heating use a sensor to turn of the plugs. Both turn of before 100oC. Cooking oil has to been a lot hotter than this before it ignites. Ask you wife the next time she makes chips how hot the oil needs to be. Deep fat fryers use indirect or direct heating depending on the design and both have passed safety tests. I use both direct an indirect on the twin chamber models. The indirect is suitable as a pre heater while direct is more suitable for heating before the pump.
Reliability
I use an over rated relay and cable for each glow plug. On the twin plug unit’s twin relays, Cables and fuses are used. In this way a level of redundancy is included to ensure if one system fails the other will continue to heat until it is repaired. As the plugs are immersed they will last much longer than indirect heating plugs.
Control
You can control the units in any way that suits your application. The gray ignition live wire can be connected to an ignition live for fully automatic use. If manual control is also needed adding a switch to the gray gable gives full manual control as well. I do not supply this switch as every car has a different type of fascia. You can select a button of your choose for a couple of pounds.
9 Why don't you answer my Emails?
I try to answer all emails as soon as I get them. Sometimes it can take a few hours to answer them.
If however you haven't hared from me within 24Hours I am not ignoring you but am unable to Email you. Some email account use SpamCop and occasionally I have all email sent to your address returned undelivered. This is very frustrating for both me and you. Why this is happening I don't know but it is something to do with my ISP being blocked so any mail I send can't get through.
The solution is simple, Add a phone number or fax number or use an alternative Email address.