Funny things, Block Heaters
So after a year I finally have it figured out "I Think"
The old L185DT that I owned before I just tossed on 2 of the 200W magnetic heaters and all was good.. These do have some issues but all I cared about was getting a 24k hours tractor to start in the cold snowy mornings
The L3600 came with a Block Heater wow worked great the first month, right up until I got the Electric bill
that was not a great idea after all leaving it plugged in
So I think
Thermo-cube just like I use in the pump house would do the trick... But honestly it seemed that it was on when not needed (Cold Clear Nights) and off when the snow was falling (32° - 36°) I tried two different ones but it just didn't work for me...
Next step was a remote switch, and after the second one, a Thomas & Betts 150' range rated good down to -20° ($16) I finally had a system working..
I added a Nightlight inline so that on a morning like we had today (9° and snowing), I could get up at 4:00 am hit the remote and see the indicator light come on so I knew the block heater was on also.. I got up went downstairs and got a pot of coffee on, tossed the Coldweather gear in the dryer to warm up...
At 4:30 am I went out and fired up the Tractor came back in and had a cup of coffee and browsed the Forums and News.. At 5:00 am I went and cleared the road...
I added one of the old 200W Mag Heaters to the bottom of the Transmission, not sure how much it really helps warm up the Hyd fluid but it comes on with the remote also... Maybe it is all in my head but everything seems to function smoother and faster now that I added it
One thing that has stood out from reading not only this forum but a few of the others... What most of us have are "Chore Tractors" which means they pretty much sit, until we have a chore they need to do. Warming them up completely before we make them work is the least we can do...
