Glow plug fuel heater

[EMD_DRIVER]

It's been suggested that a GP would make a good inline fuel heater. If I were to use some small diameter black iron pipe and mount a standard GP in it, would it be practical to use a resistor to cut the voltage down?

If the voltage to the GP were cut in half, wouldn't that help prevent the GP possibly burning out? Granted, it would not get nearly as hot, but would be longer lasting. I think it would take 20-30 seconds to heat the fuel properly and get it started through the filter and down to the IP.

I know that when you cut the voltage to a light bulb, the amperage draw goes up. Would this be the case, with a GP too?

This is just a thought/idea and I'm asking those that would know, if it would be possible.

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

One other question...

Would a GP for another application work better than the GP's we use in the trucks?

 

[69dieselfreak]

dont use the glow plugs from our trucks they are six volt use a mercedies one form the 80 because they are 12 volt if you want the tap size ill give it to you

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

I'll probably need it. I doubt that a MB would use NPT threads...

 

[69dieselfreak]

nope metric i have my tap at work ill get it tomrrow would you like me to pm you or post on this thread probably on this thread for others
if you want im willing to work this out with you any time ive allready built one for my volvo but not for our trucks yet

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

Let's keep it in the thread, so anyone else needing the info has access to it. With the weather getting much cooler, there may be others considering a mod like this.

If you need/want to PM me anything, feel free!

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

If this works out well enough, I may make two of them for my truck. One to heat the fuel pre-lift pump and another one pre-fuel filter.

 

[69dieselfreak]

ya that be good im going to make a coolant fuel heater also havent figured that out yet though but it should be easy

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

My reason for asking about using a resistor to bring the voltage down to 6v, is so that they would work in constant duty. They could work off a relay that gives them power when the key is on. I have my electric fuel pump wired that way and that alone would make sure the GP would always have fuel flowing by it.

 

[69dieselfreak]

i asked the same question to the shop forman/mechanic he said you couldnt find a resistor that would be small and compact and plus those things would get hotter than **** this is why i went to using a mercedies glow because its 12v and i ran a relay and a toggle
when i get home from work ill take a pic of the one i built for the volvo it definitly needs refining but im having to do a clutch in my truck and my concentration has been on that project but ill be done friday so that wont be to bad

 

[Agnem]

Correct. A resistor with enough wattage would look like something that came out of one of your GP-10's. However, you could run 2 of our standard glow plugs in series. That would give 6 volts to each. All you would need is 2 pieces of pipe, seperated by lenghts of hose. Connect the Battery 12V to the first piece of pipe, the tip of the glow plug on that pipe, to the piece of pipe on the other side of the hose, and then that second glow plug tip to the battery ground. The only down side to that arrangement is if one burned out, they would both quit working.

 

[Ironman03R]

The 86 I bought has a powerstroke GP right in the filter head. The PO said it worked great and never burned out, I didnt get a chance to test it in the cold weather.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

ya that be good im going to make a coolant fuel heater also havent figured that out yet though but it should be easy

Do you have a manual transmission? My truck had A/C but that never worked right, even with the engine fan locked and drawing the full 13000 cfm or whatever monstrous amount of air they move, so I flushed the A/C condenser and ran the transmission cooling lines to it, then I rerouted my fuel lines so now the diesel flows through the old transmission cooler in the radiator before it goes to the lift pump. In other words my A/C condenser became one big transmission cooler, and the heat exchanger in the bottom of the radiator from a transmission cooler became a fuel heater. The fan is still locked, there's cardboard before the radiator and grille blanket in front of the A/C stuff, so nothing overcools and nothing overheats, all works nice.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

If y'all look at the aftermarket electric fuel heaters, many of them seem to use glowplugs as heating elements. I got a set of AC Delco 12V plugs from my buddy's 86 (they didn't work well in that, hell if I know why), I gotta measure them up see which ones are still good, but those are supposed to be continuous duty plugs so they may work good.

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

The only down side to that arrangement is if one burned out, they would both quit working.

Wouldn't wiring a small indicator light into the circuit be sufficient to alert you to a burned out plug?