Block heater humm?

[04_6.0]

So its gonna get cold tonight. So i figured why not plug in the block heater. Well when i did it buzzes kinda loud. When i unPlug it the buzz goes away? Is this normal for the idi? None of my newer diesels do this? Any help i dont want the idi to catch on fire or something.

 

[94f450sd]

just give your cord a quick check.other than that it should be makin a sizzling kinda noise.hot heating element against liquid will make some kinda noise.kinda like an electric hot water heater for your home.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

In my entire diesel-driving career, big trucks, little trucks, tractors, dozers, and such, I have never heard a block-heater make any noise at all.

My theory is that possibly the coil inside the element is broken and "buzzing" as the electric is jumping the arc.

If that be so, then the heater is shot.


Does it "bite" you when you touch chrome when it is plugged in ??

 

[Worstenemy453]

Mine makes some noise too, with no issues. She works just fine.

 

[Fozz]

Yep, mine too.

 

[matt-jenkins]

I get a soft humm, always just assumed it was the coil heating up and never thought much of it. Been using it problem free since I bought the truck

 

[Dieselcrawler]

my cat forklift hums when plugged in. does it all the time. havent had an issue with it. never heard one hum before that though.

 

[Exekiel69]

I can clearly hear (on every diesel I own but the 05 psd) the coolant around the element either bubbling or hissing softly, not the element but the liquid around reacting to the sudden change in temperature from the element itself. An element could vibrate in side the casing, you see, it is a simple wire inside a tube and surrounded with sand or a shield of some sort to keep it from touching the tube so You can't get shocked when you touch the bumper on the vehicle or the engine itself.

I know they work bc the coolant temp changes and the obvious ease the engine starts with.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I can clearly hear the coolant around the element either bubbling or hissing softly

You must have ears like a Border Collie.


With the constant 24-hour-a-day, seven days a week, for as long as I can remember, ringing in my ears, I do well to hear the engine running.

 

[SparkandFire]

I've worked on process heaters and noticed some things that might be related to the humm your talking about.


I've noticed that if the ceramic coating or the steel sheath on the element gets even the slightest crack, water can get in and cause issues depending on the conductivity of the water. If you have nice, clean and pure coolant (good clean antifreeze and distilled water) then your conductivity is probably quite low (100-300 micromhos) then very little current will flow through the water to the block (ground)

If you have really nasty water with high conductivity (over 600 micromhos) then much more current will flow out of the crack in the element and through the water to the block.

I've seen inline process heaters do this, and we can usually tell when they are getting ready to take a dump once they start humming alot. Once that thin ceramic coating is cracked (or with the steel sheath heaters, a pinhole opens up in the metal), water gets to the inner element and can fry it in short order.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

What sparkandfire said.

Which is why I asked if it bit you when you touched any un-insulated part of the truck.


Another indicator is the effect that the heater has on your electric bill.

These heaters consume VERY LITTLE electricity, until that pin-hole develops; then, that meter starts to spin; the worse the leak, the quicker she spins.

 

[SparkandFire]

I believe the block heaters on our trucks are 1 kW, or 1000 watts.

So, if you had nothing else in your house powered up, the heater would consume 1 kWh.

Meaning in 1 hour, the farthest right dial on your meter would have moved up by one digit. (unless you have a smart meter, then it would show you digitally)

They sell cheap clamp ammeters that you can clamp on the hot wire running to the block heater (might have to build what we call a fanout box, basically a way to separate the hot wire from the neutral)

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482369000P

Using the rule Amps = Watts/Volts, 1000 watts at 120 volts should show 8.3 amps on the ammeter. If it's pulling more than 8.3 amps, then there is leakage current.

Another good test for a wasted heater element is to plug it into a GFCI outlet. If there is leakage current through the element, the GFCI will trip right away.
(although most GFCI's trip at like 50 mA, even a marginal heater might leak enough to trip a GFCI)