EricE

Being concerned about bio gelling during the cold season, I did a bit of reasearch and posted some questions here. The alternative to running a lower percentage of bio seemed to be an additive and an aftermarket heater on the fuel lines and/or fuel filter. Then I discovered the following in the owners manual for my '97 CTD. It says: "The . . . engine is equipped with several features designed to assist cold weather starting and operation:
*Engine Block Heater . . .
*A 12 volt heater built into the fuel filter housing will aid in preventing fuel gelling. It is controlled by a built in switch.
*A heated intake air system . . .

Anyone know how and how well this fuel filter heater works? Does it only operate when the engine block heater is plugged in? Even with a fuel filter heater, couldn't the bio still gel in the fuel lines overnight?

kawi600

I think the fuel heater comes on automatically when the temps are cold. This wont help gelling in the tank and lines though. You can try running power service diesel treatment that should help with gelling, but there has to be at least a small amount of petro diesel in the tank also.

infidel

The fuel heater comes on when fuel temps drop below 50F and shuts off at 70.
BD doesn't actually turn to gel unless it's arctic cold, mostly it just turns cloudy. It's still pumpable and will flow but will clog the filter.
Fuel heater prevents this from happening but if it gets below -30 there is no way you can run more than B20 even with additive as it will gel solid.

Katmandu

The fuel pre-heaters are very prone to overheating and leaking.

Mine was leaking on my truck and after ALOT of research I ended up eliminating the heating element out of it.

My research showed the major concensus was that the Pre-Heater was NOT that effective and therefore could be eliminated.

FYI, The ONLY application where Cummins uses Pre-Heaters is in our Dodge Rams! They are NOT used in Marine or Industrial applications (to my knowledge).

jrs_dodge_diesel

SIXSLUG

I would imagine if its gelling in the fuel lines its gelling in the tank and would figure you'd need to heat it from the furthest point away from actual combustion to ensure complete fluidity throughout the entire system.Just a thought

the_fox_man4

hey I live in MN and I have thought about putting a rv holding tank heater on my fuel tank to heat up the #2 diesel it would work the same with bio but ya. you can get the rv tank heater that are just like sitckers and stick them to the bottom side of the tank. they even have dual voltage. 12 volt dc and 120 ac . so you could pre heat and us it going down the road. just throwing ideas out there. I have seen the heaters on ebay for like $75

XLR8R

I'm not sure how well the plastic fuel tank would conduct the heat from the surface heater to the fuel inside...

I'm curious which one of you guys used a hot-water tank immersion heater in your fuel tank? Or maybe someone knows who got that Darwin Award

infidel

The heat conducts just fine on plastic RV holding tanks.

the_fox_man4

hey it works on the rv holding tanks fresh water and waste water, even some for abs plastic pipes. this things shut off at like 54 degrees so over heating is not a problem.