Hyd Res Heaters

[xc23]

I have a 94 Ford 555D Backhoe & a 01 246 Cat ss. Looking to add hydraulic reservoir heaters to booth machines. Operators are waiting around to long for the machines to warm up and hydraulic flow lights to go out. Any one have any experience with these heaters ? What type, stick on adhesive or magnetic ? Also the cat has a poly hydraulic tank the backhoe has a steel one so either type would work .I would rather not drill and tap any holes for a threaded element. And does anyone think I can wire the block heater and the reservoir heater together in water proof junction box so I can only have one plug to think about or would they draw to much for one twenty amp breaker. Thanks for any help.

[Grassman09]

I had one of them silicone pad heaters put on a backhoe I'm using this winter. Tried it out last week and I saw smoke and there was a funny smell. I thought it was just oil running down onto the pad and being burned off as the tank leaks. Looked further and noticed the pad had bubbled. I'm not sure if it was put on incorrectly.

They make some that are small that go on the fuel filter or oil filters. That might work for you seeing as the skid steer tank is plastic.

[SHAWZER]

I have a block heater and a circulating heater pluged into a heavy short ext. cord , then out the back of the loader . Stay under 1500 watts total should be fine with 20 amp. breaker .

[White Gardens]

One thing you need to consider also is that to best utilize these heaters, you need to plug them in as soon as you turn the machine off.

Otherwise it's way to hard to try and heat up a full tanks of sub-freezing fluid. It's just easier to maintain an already heated fluid.

Another thing you might want to consider is changing out the fluid to a low viscosity winter fluid, especially if you only use the machines in the winter. Something around a 32 ISO fluid would do the trick.

But, if the machines are used in the summer, it might not be cost effective.



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[xc23]

Thanks for the responses so quickly. the machines are readily used in the summer so the fluid change would probably not be cost effective as you stated . The machines are also plugged in at the job sites constantly . As for the wattage I don't know what they are for the units if any one can give a site to purchase the units or at least check the specs. I have not checked with the dealers yet , they may have units for the specific machines. The machines are out working for this season so I wont tackle the project until I get them home to the shop after the season.

[Grassman09]

titan pad heaters