Does hot WMO burn better?

[discbrks]

I have this idea, but I'm sure its not a new one. You always hear of someone wanting to route heater hoses to their wmo tank to help it flow in cold weather. And in the wvo world, the wvo is heated to 165+ degrees before entering the IP to help it burn. What about routing the wmo thru the trans cooler in the bottom of the radiator to heat it up before it goes to the filter & IP? Would it burn better? My guess is that it would be about 150ish degrees by the time it gets to the IP, which has got to be better than it being 80 degrees (or whatever the outside temp is).

Opinions?

 

[oregon101]

I mounted a heat exchanger from a commercial refrigeration unit on my truck. It raised the fuel temp to 120-180 depending on the temp. It runs much cleaner with a lot less smoke.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

I have this idea, but I'm sure its not a new one. You always hear of someone wanting to route heater hoses to their wmo tank to help it flow in cold weather. And in the wvo world, the wvo is heated to 165+ degrees before entering the IP to help it burn. What about routing the wmo thru the trans cooler in the bottom of the radiator to heat it up before it goes to the filter & IP? Would it burn better? My guess is that it would be about 150ish degrees by the time it gets to the IP, which has got to be better than it being 80 degrees (or whatever the outside temp is).

Opinions?

Great idea. Putting an automatic radiator in a manual transmissioned truck would essentially give you a dedicated fuel heater circuit. A couple of well placed thermocouples or maybe even just some approximations using an infrared handheld thermometer would tell you how well it works.

I say go for it, take lots of pictures and let us know what you find out.

 

[subway]

yes heating the oil makes it burn cleaner with more power. i dont think you can go wrong with a free built in heat exchanger. i would be tempted to insulate the line going to the engine to keep as much heat as you can.

 

[milner351]

Man - that's a great idea.
I've already replaced my radiator, and as I recall - they only offered one for AT/MT - you just plug it off for the MT --- which is what I have...

what a great idea - now the trick will be not loosing a bunch of heat between the outlet of the "fuel heater" and the pump...

Generally a mechanical pump works better as a "pusher" than a "puller" so if using the stock pump in this scenario - it would make the most sense to route the outlet of the pump to the radiator - then to the filter head?

 

[mankypro]

You might also consider coiling some 3/8" rubber hose from the heater line around the fuel filter just pipe it with coolant.

That's part of my fuel heating project coming up soon.

 

[discbrks]

I have the Carrier electric pump. My idea was to come from the pump outlet to the radiator, out of the the radiator and up to the filter. If I use metal 3/8 fuel line, then I could insulate it with 3/8 rubber fuel hose... well, that might be a tight squeeze. 1/2 hose might be better.
If this dang rain would quit I'd go try it out. But it looks like it will have to wait 'til the weekend.

 

[h2odrx]

just remember the cooler water is at the bottom of the rad. the whole reason the trans cooler is there to lower the temps?

 

[mankypro]

Why not come right out the block line to the heater core - wanna talk about hot coolant?

 

[discbrks]

just remember the cooler water is at the bottom of the rad. the whole reason the trans cooler is there to lower the temps?

True, but after running for 15 minutes it would still be hotter than the outside temp. I was just looking for an "economical" (i.e. free) heat exchanger. I really have no idea if it will make much of a difference. If it does, then I can spend some $$ and get it really hot.

BTW, does it hurt regular #2 to get hot? Does it lose some lubricity? I've heard that it does, but never seen any facts.

 

[69dieselfreak]

I mounted a heat exchanger from a commercial refrigeration unit on my truck. It raised the fuel temp to 120-180 depending on the temp. It runs much cleaner with a lot less smoke.

tell us a little more on this deal that you have im very interested thanks

 

[greg_a_morton]

I have got my 4bt running in my 72f350 and I am running my fuel lines now. Coming out of the tank It goes over to the 4"stack and I have a foot long run of copper wrapping around the stack then wrapped with header wrap then going down to the first filter then into a holley red. After that the copper goes all the way to the front and into the bottom of my radiator. It goes into the mech pump and then I have the return line going back to the tank that is keeping the fuel temp up. After I get the truck road worthy I still might run two 5/8" water lines back to my tank because I already have a copper heater that I built in it also. I beleave I will not have a problems with thick fuel but I am starting to worry about my injection pump and red pump getting hot and crapping out. What is yalls thoughts on my setup and about the pumps??

 

[h2odrx]

I'd say no to the copper, other than that sounds good.

 

[greg_a_morton]

why no on the copper? I have had tons of old trucks that I bought that had copper for fuel and they looked good for there age. My factory radiator is all copper and I think all hotwater heaters and fixtures use copper with water and fuels?

 

[mankypro]

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html#copperstudy

why no on the copper? I have had tons of old trucks that I bought that had copper for fuel and they looked good for there age. My factory radiator is all copper and I think all hotwater heaters and fixtures use copper with water and fuels?