Freeze Plug Block heater reviews

[Sansocal]

Its that time of year again, when I assume many people who own diesels start using a certain group of vocabulary. Lately it has been in the teens here around my parts and the silly wabbit does not like it- at all. Partly because the battery isn't top notch anymore, partly because the injection pump and injectors are in dire need of an overhaul, and the glow plugs could probably use some TLC as well. I bought a "Kat's" freeze plug block heater today to mitigate the effects of owning a volkswagen    (nothing working) 

Does anyone have experience with this brand of block heater? How long do these things need to be plugged in for to get the 1.6 good to go?

[nissannx]

I would also like to know. My first winter with my 1.6. Need to plug it in soon

[TylerDurden]

I prefer the in-hose style (bypass hose), the block versions are harder to service. Both kinds can die early. Zero-start brand seems better than Katz, IMO.

Engine heaters are nice when you need em, way easier than an engine overhaul.

[njdub]

I would be very interested in hearing what brands people have had sucess with. I wanted to invest in one and was curious about what is the best.

[nissannx]

How long do you plug it in for before you start it? An hour, two, three? All night?

[Sansocal]

How long do you plug it in for before you start it? An hour, two, three? All night?

This is exactly what i'm wondering... I know 3 hours should be plenty, but I was wondering if 30, 45 minutes... 1 hour was enough?

It would be nice to just wake up get the coffee started, plug in the block heater, and then roll after 45 minutes.

[RunninWild]

I was under the impression your supposed to leave them on all night. You can always test it and see how long youd need to have it plugged in to get an ideal start. You could then put it on a timer if electricity is a concern for you. Keep in mind its just a small heating coil meant to keep your coolant above freezing. I'd think it would need to be on a decent amount of time to heat -20c coolant to above freezing levels with a heater the size of a few inches but I don't have any real experience to add.

[acidtonic]

Well the 1980 I just purchased apparently has a block heater already installed. It hangs on the left side of the engine bay almost like factory. As-is the car will not start without the block heater plugged in for roughly 10 minutes. It's about 20 degrees out right now and we did have snow on the ground. (Michigan).

This car is getting 4 new glow plugs right now. 2 down tonight and finishing the next 2 tomorrow after work. I hope this solves my cold start issues but I will say that the block heater gets the entire engine and coolant hoses warm to the touch after about 30 minutes. I left it plugged in while working on the car out in the freezing cold then just grabbed the hoses to warm up.

It runs around the side of the block and seems to attach low on the block between the firewall and the lower passenger strut area.

Unless your plugs are bad I'd say only 30 minutes should be fine for all but the worst weather if your pump is anything like mine.

[TimpanogosSlim]

My coupe, when i bought it, had the middle freeze plug on the back of the block replaced by a heater of provenance that i do not recall. I still have it. I even worked out what size o-ring it needs. There was plenty of evidence that it had been leaking (rust on the block). Got the cord too. It's all in pretty good condition and i verified that it's still functional. If anyone wants it, let me know. You could probably just silicone it in. of course it has a locking mechanism to attach it to the block from the inside, too.

That freeze plug heater, and most freeze plug heaters far as i know, is just a heating element you attach to power. No control.

At the advice of a trusted friend i found (no small feat) and installed a Philips/Temro/Zero-Start 400w 1-inch bypass hose heater. We haven't been getting hard freezes yet in utah, and my engine starts hard when not-hot (various reasons on my new AAZ-head-on-1.6-block build), so i can't say how well it works. But it does have a built in thermostat.

The advice i got from my friend, who owned a whole series of mk1 diesels in the 80's, was an hour or so in the morning.

The one day so far when there was snow on the hood, only about an inch, an hour was enough to melt the snow above the engine. *shrug*.

You'll note that Kats' reviews on Amazon are very, very mixed. about 50/50 "just what i needed" and "died in less than a month".

Their bypass hose heaters are just the freeze plug heater in a T fitting, compared to the nice cast zinc housing you get with the zero-start.

There's also those silicone things that you slap onto the oil pan, but all that does is heat the oil. You could argue that this is still a good thing, but maybe you should just run multigrade oil.

[RabbitJockey]

my experience with one was that it didn't make the coolant super warm or anything, but it definitely aided starting, and allowed me to skip putting glow plugs in until a nice warm day.  i only used it occasionally, and most of the times i just plugged it in for a half hour or so to help get me going.

[TimpanogosSlim]

I can say for sure that my bypass hose heater makes the coolant a lot warmer, but i can say that because it's so close to the upper rad hose. Also if i spill diesel on it, it smokes.

.:Sent by pneumatic tubes

[libbydiesel]

I have found that the freeze plug style do a faster and better job than the in-hose version, especially when it is really cold as they place the heat where it is actually desired rather than relying on the thermosiphon effect to get the heat to the head and cylinders.  With the ALH or newer TDIs, there are no freeze plugs so the in-hose Frost Heater is the way to go.  I have found that turning on a freeze plug heater for 45 minutes to 1-hour before starting the vehicle makes a significant difference in the cold running but also gives passenger heat much faster.  I wired an exterior outlet with an interior switch and run an extension cord from that outlet to the vehicle.  If the heater is run all night it does not make starting or passenger heat noticeably better than running the heater for 1-hour or so but it makes a noticeable difference on the electric bill. 

With the VW diesels, if everything is functioning properly, they will start down in the sub-zero-F temperatures without issue.  That said, cold starting an engine is the absolute worst 'normal' thing you can do.  EVERY engine benefits from a block heater, gas or diesel, and using one consistently will significantly extend engine life.  My rule of thumb is that if I want to use the passenger heat when driving then I should use the block heater to make cold starts easier on the engine.   

[TimpanogosSlim]

The freeze plug heater also depends somewhat on thermosiphon, doesn't it? It does also have direct conduction from block to head tho.

.:Sent by pneumatic tubes

[libbydiesel]

Heating the coolant that is within the block and head is the desired end result and what has the direct impact on cold starting.  An in-hose heater that heats the coolant in the bypass hose will not have any positive effect on starting or passenger heat until there is enough heated coolant that is hot enough to reach the head and block.  The in-hose heater and the bypass hose being surrounded by ambient temperature air will result in a significant amount of additional heat loss that is not present with the freeze plug style heater.  The freeze plug heater will certainly create thermosiphon currents to move hot coolant up into the head but unlike the in-hose heater, those currents are not in a hose that is surrounded by cold ambient air.  I also tend to work on vanagons where the engine is tipped an additional 35 degrees so that the bypass hose ends up being the high spot and in that application the negative effects of the in-hose heater vs. freeze plug heater are magnified. 

[mtrans]

I have tried everything but block heater.
That I find,in my case is:
w/o pump -nothing you get for xxx time.
So,my 2 kw 220 heater with pump and thermostat,make 50 c for 15-45 min.